The Novelist's Film

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The Novelist's Film

2022

1h 32m

Drama

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Tomatometer

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100%

Tomatometer

29 Reviews

71%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Junhee (Lee Hyeyoung, last seen in Hong's In Front of Your Face) is a novelist who's grown disenchanted with her own writing. On a trip to see an old friend, she runs into a film director who was set to adapt one of her novels before the project fell through. One chance encounter leads to another and soon she finds herself having lunch with Kilsoo (Kim Minhee), a well-known actress also questioning her role as an artist. It's then that Junhee has an epiphany: she will make a film starring Kilsoo. It won't be like other films. It will be the novelist's film.

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Critics Consensus

Hong Sang-soo reaffirms his ability to distill beauty and wisdom from the mundane in The Novelist's Film, a pure and delightful deliberation on an artist's creative process.

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Justin Chang

Los Angeles Times

Tense, absorbing and finally enchanting...

Nov 7, 2022

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Austin Considine

New York Times

A Chekhovian study in small moments and chance encounters, which is to say it is a study of human beings as they really live: ambiguously and without exposition, spontaneously and without tidy motives or resolution.

Oct 27, 2022

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David Ehrlich

IndieWire

I can’t say whether Hong has suffered any of the creative self-doubts that animate his latest heroine, but the film he’s made for her feels as revealing as the one she then makes for herself.

Rated: B+

Oct 25, 2022

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Stephanie Bunbury

Deadline Hollywood Daily

At a time when so many people have been isolated, it is a hymn to the galvanizing spark of collaboration.

Sep 19, 2023

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Kathy Fennessy

Video Librarian Magazine

If The Novelist's Film revolves around a writer and director who constantly surprises, Hong proves with this film, that he can, too.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 22, 2023

Full Review

Victor Esquirol

Otroscines.com

A story told with the disarming humility of someone who does not carry with them the burdensome self-imposition of sharing great revelations every time they bring us together in a movie theater. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 4/5

Apr 6, 2023

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Shahram

natural life when we just pass without observing all around us, then Hong is slowing the time and pause the moments to walk through how exactly humankind is struggling and how we lost our taste and senses. how normality of society rules us to follow paths without questioning and when we do it becomes marvelous moment. nice touch 👌.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/26/22

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Richard B

It's a nice movie about artists taking a break and trying to regenerate their energy and ideas for a new project.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/15/24

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Steve C

Seems to have been filmed and set during COVID-19 with its actors wearing masks at seemingly scripted times. I wonder what viewers years later would think, if they don't recall the time period of COVID-19. The choice to shoot the film in grayscale, save for a minute near the end, is lost on me.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

07/21/24

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gonzalo n

No hay con qué darle. Cultura y vida real de una forma tan explícita que solo Hong puede lograr.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/15/22

Full Review

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Hong Sang-soo

Director

Lee Hye-young

Junhee

Kim Min-hee

Kilsoo

Seo Young-hwa

Sewon

Park Mi-so

Hyeon-u

Kwon Hae-hyo

Hyojin

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Synopsis

Junhee (Lee Hyeyoung, last seen in Hong's In Front of Your Face) is a novelist who's grown disenchanted with her own writing. On a trip to see an old friend, she runs into a film director who was set to adapt one of her novels before the project fell through. One chance encounter leads to another and soon she finds herself having lunch with Kilsoo (Kim Minhee), a well-known actress also questioning her role as an artist. It's then that Junhee has an epiphany: she will make a film starring Kilsoo. It won't be like other films. It will be the novelist's film.

Director: Hong Sang-soo
Producer: Kim Min-hee, Lee Soyeong, Hong Sang-soo
Screenwriter: Hong Sang-soo
Distributor: The Cinema Guild
Production Co: Jeonwonsa Film
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Korean
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 28, 2022, Limited
Runtime: 1h 32m

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