Audience Member
This is a wonderful film with standout performances by Kim Min-hee and Yung Jae-young. Splitting the general events of the day into two parts, showing how the same day can unravel, change, evolve even between the same few people, is clever and makes for very a insightful, empathetic movie.
The two leads have a remarkable chemistry together. The film certainly has it powerful dramatic element, but there's also some nice comedic moments, with at least one absurdly funny scene.
There are strong 'if we had met before' and 'if circumstances were different' aspects to the movie, which director & screenwriter Hong San-soo plays on like a virtuoso musician. I loved it. 4 stars
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I feel like Song Sang-Soo is slowly revealing his filmmaking style to me as clever, prone to subtle irony (especially about himself and the film craft), greatly specific and idiosyncratic in his aesthetic choices and ultimately humanistic.
His 2015 quirky romance (?!) tells the story of a man and a woman meeting and connecting in a Korean small town. He is an alcoholic art house movie director (ahem), deepy unhappy and self-absorbed. She is a wide-eyed and misguided ex model trying to make a living painting. I won't give you any spoiler, especially about Song's chosen form for the film, which I think is its absolute hightlight, but his actor direction and the utter credibility and relatability of the two protagonists and the events going on in their lives partially make up for a self-indulgent romantic ode to the heart.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/17/23
Full Review
connor s
This film is a beautiful character study and exploration of human interaction. It is at times awkward, at others perfectly at ease, and is truly a tale of two halves.
The acting is exceptional; Kim Min-hee, in particular, is mesmerising.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
With a running time of two hours, the picture is divided into two. At sixty minutes, we have seen all there is to see in the meeting of strangers. At minute sixty-one, we are thrusted back into the story, title card included, where Cheon-soo is looking around an unfamiliar place-but now familiar to us-just as he did when we first laid eyes on his unconfident demeanor. And therein lies the magic of the film: It is a second chance to look at something... but this time more closely, more intensely. We note of similarities and differences, obvious and subtle: the placement of the camera, when it decides to go in for a closeup, how characters react to one another and what they choose to reveal or keep hidden depending on the flow of conversation. We have all been in a situation where we wondered what might have happened if we have done or said something differently, had been more honest, more daring or straightforward.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This film overthinks the consequences of real life interactions, giving insight in the 'mechanics' of relationships in a society. Interesting.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It is a story retold twice about an art house director meeting a painter in a provincial town.
In the first part, the director is not 100% honest in his interactions and that leads to a disappointment. In the second part (a repeat of the same circumstance, but with protagonists behaving differently), he is more open about his opinions and the
outcome is charming.
I don't know how much of the real-life movie director's (Sang-soo Hong) romance with
the main actress (Kim Min-hee) is reflected in this movie, but it is an honest look at a
real life circumstance.
It is a variation on Ground Hog Day, but the differences between the 2 parts and the style
are more subtle.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
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