A more melancholic piece than some of Hong’s breezier offerings as he explores fictive ideals and sad realities through the idea of cinema as a mirror image. 

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Rather underwhelming and at best a minor effort, Hong’s latest explores the nature of being an artist, be it writing, filming or performing, while also functioning as a genteel love letter to his star and muse Kim Min-hee. 

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One of Hong’s longest films but certainly one of his finest as two friends share over drinks the bittersweet details of their own separate trips to the seaside town of Tongyeong, as the uncertainties of love and conflict control the narrativisation of their memories.

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Structured like a diptych, Hong’s work here is more meditative than usual as his protagonist tries to find the grace and psychological clarity that have eluded her all her life.

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A minor work from Hong, though this time he shifts his primary focus to women-centered conversations which act as a collective bubble that shields them from the annoying intrusions of men. 

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Hong’s fifth feature is all about seeing what lies beneath the surface: life is empty and unfulfilling, but his film lets us peel the layers to reach into something deeper—and something elusive.

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Hong’s work about love, lust and life is hilarious and oddly touching insofar as one finds an English-speaking Isabelle Huppert trying to communicate with awkward Korean men funny.

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A light-hearted, even breezy drama centering on two lovers, told in random fragments by South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo.

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Another light and whimsical entry into the Hong Sang-soo canon, and as usual, musing on the intricacies of romantic relationships.

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A more melancholic work by Hong than usual, shot in beautiful black-and-white.

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