A novelist discovers new creative possibilities after striking an unexpected friendship with a conflict actress in a meta drama from Hong Sang-soo.
Nov 3, 2022 • Subscribe
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Walk Up (탑, Hong Sang-soo, 2022)
An insecure director tries on a series of different personas while moving through several floors of the same building in Hong Sang-soo’s elliptical drama.
Introduction (인트로덕션, Hong Sang-soo, 2021)
A lost young man discovers he’ll need to make his own introductions when faced with parental distance in a minor departure for the prolific Hong Sang-soo
In Front of Your Face (당신얼굴 앞에서, Hong Sang-soo, 2021)
An ageing actress returns to Seoul after many years abroad carrying with her a sense of melancholy vulnerability in Hong’s gentle character study
A Good Lawyer’s Wife (바람난 가족, Im Sang-soo, 2003)
Sexual repression and rigid patriarchal social codes slowly dissolve a “normal middle class” family in Im Sang-soo’s extremely frank treatise on contemporary gender roles.
Heaven: To the Land of Happiness (행복의 나라로, Im Sang-soo, 2021)
A chronically ill thief and a “poetic fugitive” find themselves on the run from a “philosophical gangster” in Im Sang-soo’s playful existential drama
The Roundup (범죄도시 2, Lee Sang-yong, 2022)
Ma Dong-seok returns as maverick cop Seok-do this time righting wrongs abroad he tracks a vicious Korean ganger offing tourists in Vietnam.
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Cat Kiss (고양이 키스, Hwang Soo-bin, 2022)
A widowed single father’s life is suddenly thrown into disarray when his son’s decision to take in a local stray cat forces him to confront the trauma of…
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Stellar: A Magical Ride (스텔라, Kwon Soo-kyung, 2022) [Fantasia 2022]
A cynical man makes peace with his father’s memory while driving his possibly haunted and very rundown Hyundai Stellar in Kwon Soo-kyung’s charmingly quirky road movie.
I Haven’t Done Anything (좋.댓.구, Park Sang-min, 2022)
A former child star makes a bid for YouTube success in Park Sang-min’s hilariously ironic meta dramedy.
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An irresponsible and self-interested carpenter ensures a separate but connected existence in Lee Jeong-hong’s quirky indie drama.
Project Wolf Hunting (늑대사냥, Kim Hong-sun, 2022)
Vicious criminals and thuggish cops are trapped aboard a cargo vessel with the embodiment of the unresolved past in Kim Hong-Sun’s bloodthirsty thriller.
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All the Songs We Never Sang (Chris Rudz, 2023)
A young woman finds herself diving into the past after receiving a less than enthusiastic welcome on visiting her mother’s island home in Chris Rudz’s gentle indie drama.
12.12: The Day (서울의 봄, Kim Sung-soo, 2023)
A righteous general stands alone against an authoritarian insurrection in Kim Sung-soo’s intense exploration of the 1979 coup that brought Chun Doo-hwan to power.
Pure Japanese (2022) [Film Review]
Pure Japanese; or, Bilateral Frenzy Raised right paws beckon fortune, raised left paws beckon people. Both paws raised means beckoning ...
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The Monk and The Samurai (2022) [Short Film Review]
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Gangnam Zombie (강남좀비, Lee Soo-sung, 2023)
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Güle-Güle (귤레귤레, Ko Bong-soo, 2024)
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Tales from the Occult (失衡凶間, Fruit Chan, Fung Chih-Chiang, Wesley Hoi Ip-Sang, 2022)
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Tanada offers a compelling exploration of the emotional turmoil a female subject caused by the sudden death of someone important.
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