The average South Korean consumes around 80 packets of ramyeon a year. The rehydrated mix of dried, curly noodles, freeze-dried vegetables and a sachet of powdered soup is one of the country’s most beloved comfort foods, a quickly-whipped, heartwarming meal that sits at the tricky intersection of tasty and convenient. The characters in Hong Sang-soo’s “In Our Day” are in the minority who takes their ramyeon extra spicy, with thick gochujang paste seeping through the clear soup and tainting it red. 

Continue reading ‘In Our Day’ Review: Cats And Rock Paper Scissors Make Up Hong Sang-soo’s Charming Chronicling Of Routine [Cannes] at The Playlist.

Hong Sang-soo shows no signs of slowing down, does he? After two feature films a year for the past two years, the South Korean director will do it again in 2023, with his 30th film, “In Our Day,” ready to close the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25. Hong’s latest comes after “In Water” premiered at the Berlinale in February to universal acclaim.

Continue reading ‘In Our Day’ Trailer: Hong Sang-soo’s 30th Feature Film Closes Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight On May 25 at The Playlist.

Last week, the initial lineup for the Cannes Film Festival was released. There were some heavy hitters involved in that announcement, as per usual when it comes to one of the biggest showcases of cinema in the world. Following suit, the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2023 lineup announcement also includes a couple of big names surrounded by a ton of up-and-coming talent.

READ MORE: Cannes Critics’ Week 2023 Lineup: New Films From Jason Yu, Amanda Nell Eu & More

For many film fans, a couple of names will definitely stand out above the rest in the announcement of the 2023 Directors’ Fortnight.

Continue reading Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2023 Lineup Includes New Films From Hong Sang-soo, Michel Gondry & More at The Playlist.

Many of Hong Sang-soo’s films are structured around a woman’s solitary wanderings. The single ladies played by Kim Min-Hee in “On the Beach at Night Alone” or “The Woman Who Ran,” or Lee Hye-Young in “In Front of Your Face,” are free radicals, moving from encounter to encounter and disrupting the equilibrium of the people they meet, as meandering conversations reveal a friend’s dissatisfaction or a couple’s disagreement.

Continue reading ‘The Novelist’s Film’ Review: Hong Sang-Soo’s Latests Is Yet Another Charming, Focused Autofiction [Berlin] at The Playlist.

While somewhat arbitrary and beholden to what’s finished, what’s available, and what’s ready, film festivals tend to have good years and bad years, depending. And well, after several good years, where the Berlin Film Festival has re-established itself as a significant player in the world cinema film festival sweepstakes, the Berlinale has really upped the ante in 2022 with a terrific line-up. Today, the festival revealed its complete wares with its Competition section, an Encounters section, and Special Galas program.

Continue reading Berlin Film Festival Adds New Films By Claire Denis, Andrew Dominick, Lucretia Martel & More at The Playlist.

South Korean film director Hong Sang-soo is cinema’s reigning poet of strained politeness, awkward confrontation, and space-filling chatter. In film after film—there are two Hongs at this year’s New York Film Festival, which is about average for the prolific South Korean—characters meet in the street or on a beach, in restaurants or hotels, and talk about the weather or the food in front of them, in banal and repetitious dialogue.

Continue reading ‘Introduction’ Is Hong Sang-Soo Stripping Down His Artistry To its Simplest, Most Telling Gestures [NYFF Review] at The Playlist.

Not even a global pandemic could stop prolific South Korean director Hong Sangsoo, but his latest film deals with ideas and tensions that echo questions and perspectives brought to the surface by this global health crisis. Playing in the Cannes Premiere section of this year’s Festival de Cannes, “In Front of Your Face” only slowly reveals its hand.

READ MORE: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Preview: 25 Films To Watch

The film opens in a bare highrise apartment, where a beautiful woman watches another as she sleeps.

Continue reading ‘In Front Of Your Face’: Hong Sang-soo Poignant Drama Asks How To Live Happily In The Past, Present & Future [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

When we talk about fast, prolific filmmakers that are able to get a film made in a short amount of time and never sit around and let years go by without a new feature, we often talk about Steven Soderbergh, for example. However, you could argue that no one is as prolific or as fast as filmmaker Hong Sang-soo. Just since 2011, he’s written and directed a total of 15 feature films, including his upcoming Cannes selection, “In Front of Your Face.”

READ MORE: ‘Introduction’: A Smaller, Quieter Addition To Hong Sang-soo’s Already Intimate & Delicate Touch [Berlin Review]

With the premiere of “In Front of Your Face” happening soon at the Cannes Film Festival, we now have some clips and a trailer from the new film that are made available.

Continue reading ‘In Front of Your Face’: Watch The First Trailer & 3 Clips From Hong Sang-soo’s Cannes Selection at The Playlist.

As industry guests enjoy the Berlinale from home this year, eagle-eyed viewers will take pleasure in spotting a familiar location in the latest film from South Korean auteur and festival-regular Hong Sang-soo. If we can’t stroll around Potsdamer Platz this year, at least the characters in “Introduction“ can share a moment there. 

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021

At 66 minutes long, and like many of the director’s other works, the film is an exercise in frugality.

Continue reading ‘Introduction’: A Smaller, Quieter Addition To Hong Sang-soo’s Already Intimate & Delicate Touch [Berlin Review] at The Playlist.

Even with the global pandemic changing so many aspects of our life this year, some things never change, key among them being top 10 lists. One of our favorite publications to watch this time of year is Cahiers du Cinéma, as their list of Best Films is always worth paying attention to in order to see what European critics look for in a film. Because this is a French publication, some of the titles in the list were released last year in the U.S.

Continue reading Cahiers Du Cinema’s Best Films Of 2020 Includes ‘Uncuts Gems,’ 2 Hong Sang-Soo Films, Frederick Wiseman & More at The Playlist.

Among the many things suspended during these plague times of social distancing and self-quarantine is the friendly visit, those excursions we take to friends’ houses just to hang out and catch up, exchange banalities and intimacies between sips of wine on the couch. These meetings yield insights of a different nature than those gleaned from eavesdropping, or those extracted from drunken confessions at the bar—who are our friends on their own turfs? Who else will come knocking at their doors?

Continue reading ‘The Woman Who Ran’: Hong Sang-Soo’s Offbeat Film Examines The Textures Of Female Relationships [NYFF Review] at The Playlist.

With the only major US film festival to happen in 2020 being Sundance, it’s not hyperbolic to say that the New York Film Festival is poised to be one of the biggest events in American film this year. It’s kinda that way by default. That being said, with the announcement of the entire list of films that will screen at the NYC event, it’s clear that the New York Film Festival is doing its best in this uncertain time to provide a quality experience for those willing to show up.

Continue reading NYFF 2020 Full Lineup Revealed: Films From Steve McQueen, Chloe Zhao, Jia Zhangke & More at The Playlist.

We may be knee-deep in Sundance right now, but this is just the beginning of the festival season. And one of the biggest film events of the year is coming up in less than a month, the 2020 Berlin Film Festival.

READ MORE: Early Berlin 2020 Announcements Include New Film From Jia Zhang-ke & Series From Damien Chazelle, Cate Blanchett & Jason Segel

And with the fest beginning so soon, we finally know which 18 films will be competing for the coveted Golden Bear award.

Continue reading 2020 Berlin Film Festival Competition Includes New Movies From Sally Potter, Hong Sang-Soo, Christian Petzold & More at The Playlist.

Even if you’re personally unfamiliar with Korean auteur, Hong Sang-soo, you’ve probably seen his name pop up in an article, or somewhere on your social media feed. He is arguably the most prolific filmmaker working today. His acolytes are legion, but those less exposed to the art house scene likely can’t name more than one or two titles from his catalog. But now’s a pretty great time to dive headfirst into the filmmaker’s work with the upcoming “Grass.”

A stylish one-take tease in the form of a trailer for his newest venture, “Grass,” has just arrived.

Continue reading ‘Grass’ Trailer: Filmmaker Hong Sang-Soo Reunites With Kim Min-Hee In This Gorgeous Black & White Drama at The Playlist.

A new trailer for the 2018 film “Hotel By The River” just dropped after it starred in last year’s awards season. Selected for Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival before going on to win the best actor at the Locarno Film Festival, “Hotel By The River” is an engaging film on life, love, death, and family.

READ MORE: ‘Hotel by the River:’ Hong Sang-soo Returns With A Darker Rendering of Familiar Themes [NYFF Review]

Directed by Hong Sang-soo, the piece is shot in stark black and white and hailed for its expert craftsmanship, something Sang-soo has never failed to deliver.

Continue reading ‘Hotel By The River’ Trailer: Hong Sang-Soo Tackles Family, Mortality & Love at The Playlist.

With two films in this year’s New York Film Festival and five in just the last two years, Hong Sang-soo is at risk of being known as much for his prolific pace as for his movies themselves. Some critics feel his pace betrays a lack of thought and rigor, while others think it suggests an artist at the height of his powers. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but Sang-soo’s abundant output of films that all feature similar themes and motifs allow his films to be considered very differently from most American filmmakers.

Continue reading ‘Hotel by the River:’ Hong Sang-soo Returns With A Darker Rendering Of Familiar Themes [NYFF Review] at The Playlist.

The 56th Annual New York Film Festival is upon us once again, gifting the cinematic landscape with thrilling and compelling films carefully curated from all over the world.  Last year’s favorites included “Call Me By Your Name” and “Lady Bird,” the latter of which went onto become A24’s highest grossing film and earn not one but five Academy Award nominations.  This year is no different, the festival will unleash future classics like “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” directed by the Coen Brothers, the sweeping Mexican epic “ROMA,” the latest effort by Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron.

Continue reading New York Film Festival: 15 Must-See Films To Watch at The Playlist.

“The Day After” is a film that we’ve been following for a long time. After its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, we’ve been waiting for the official release Stateside. And with the film finally making its debut this May, we now are pleased to bring you an exclusive trailer and poster for the film.

READ MORE: Hong Sang-soo’s ‘Grass’ Is Brief But Dense With Ideas [Berlin Review]

From filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, perhaps best known for his films “Hahaha” and “Right Now, Wrong Then,” “The Day After” is an absolutely beautiful film.

Continue reading ‘The Day After’ Trailer: Director Hong Sang-soo Is Back With His Soulful Cannes Standout Film [EXCLUSIVE] at The Playlist.

Lately, Hong Sang-soo films arrive in multiples. The director just unveiled his latest effort, “Grass,” at the Berlin International Film Festival, just as one of the three movies he premiered last year, “Claire’s Camera,” opens stateside. If the future is a Hong Sang-Soo cinematic universe, I’m all for it.

Starring Isabelle Huppert, Kim Min-hee and Jung Jinyoung, the story follows the unlikely friendship formed between a French school teacher and Korean film sales assistant who meet in Cannes.

Continue reading ‘Claire’s Camera’ Trailer: Isabelle Huppert Wants To Take Your Picture at The Playlist.

2017 was a career apex for busy filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, who released three (!) films on the festival circuit and all to effusive praise. How then does the South Korean director follow up this prolific benchmark? By making more films, of course! The first out of the gate is “Grass,” debuting in the avante-garde leaning Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Continue reading Hong Sang-soo’s ‘Grass’ Is Brief But Dense With Ideas [Berlin Review] at The Playlist.

It’s probably best not to try and keep up with the prolific out of Hong Sang-soo, but just prepare yourself for each picture as it arrives. The director’s latest, “Grass,” is set to make its World Premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival which kicks off today, and it looks like another gem from the filmmaker.

Reteaming with Kim Min-hee (“On A Beach Alone At Night,” “Claire’s Camera,” “The Day After,” “Right Now, Wrong Then“) the story takes inside a café where multiple dramas unfold before our eyes.

Continue reading ‘Grass’ Trailer: Step Into A Cafe With Hong Sang-soo & Kim Min-hee at The Playlist.

We’re gonna need to load up on more brain food, because with Sundance kicking off today, we can barely keep track of what’s unspooling in Park City. Now, to add on top of that, the folks at the Berlin International Film Festival have unveiled a staggering 44 new films as part of their Forum lineup, 35 of which are World Premieres.

The section mixes features with avant garde, experimental works, essays, long-term observations, and political reportage, making it one of the more eclectic categories in Berlin.

Continue reading Berlin 2018 Adds New Films By Hong Sang-Soo, Sergei Loznitsa, Corneliu Poromboiu, Josephine Decker & More at The Playlist.

South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo works at a clip that might leave you breathless. This year alone he’s completed three pictures — all of which have hit the festival circuit — and now they’re making their way to an arthouse near you. As per usual, they’re all worth tracking down, and you’ll want to make space this season for “On The Beach At Night Alone.”

Featuring a terrific, award-winning performance by Kim Minhee, the story is loosely inspired by the director’s own affair with the actress, and the result is a film we called both “exceptional” and “exciting.” Here’s the official synopsis:

Art imitates life in this quietly devastating masterpiece from Hong Sangsoo.

Continue reading ‘On The Beach At Night Alone’ Trailer: Art Imitates Life In Hong Sangsoo’s New Film [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

Speak of Korean cinema outside art-house circles, and the conversation will inevitably revolve around the kooky, provocatively intelligent genre-benders from the likes of Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho. The more humble and unsuspecting cinema of Hong Sang-soo is an entirely different experience, and throughout his prolific career, featuring 20+ years of directing, he has amassed a collective of ardent art film fans. Through methodical pace and rhythm, quotidian storylines entrenched in Korean traditions, and translucent warmth for his characters, Hong has developed his own brand of sensitive and thoughtful cinema and, in his own right, added a unique voice to contemporary Korean film.

Continue reading Hong Sang-soo’s ‘The Day After’ Is A Soulful & Profound Cinematic Serenade [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

For ardent Hong Sang-soo fans, 2017 couldn’t be a more rewarding year. Not just because the South Korean filmmaker has three new films ready — the first, “On The Beach At Night Alone,” launched in Berlin — or even because two of those features are on offer at the Cannes Film Festival, “Claire’s Camera” and “The Day After.” No, it’s because a fascinating new frontier has been opened up for this prolific filmmaker: international locations in “On the Beach” and, even more prominently, “Claire’s Camera.” Oh, and Isabelle Huppert is back in Hong’s orbit for the first time since 2012’s “In Another Country” (also the director’s last Cannes Competition entry).

Continue reading Hong Sang-soo Pays Homage To Cannes With The Rewarding ‘Claire’s Camera’ [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.