Drunk on romance and soju: the prolific Korean filmmaker HONG SANGSOO

His latest -- well, not really, one of 3 he's made in the last year -- opens in NY on Friday. See whatever you can.

https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/11/13/on-the-beach-at-night-alone-is-an-agonizingly-personal-portrait-of-an-affair/

I saw In Another Country recently. Very interesting

oh no, not the dreaded "interesting"! That's among the best recent ones, I think he's up to 21 features.

appraisals:

http://sensesofcinema.com/2016/great-directors/hong-sang-soo/

http://quarterlyconversation.com/the-films-of-sangsoo-hong

I have to see it again. I definitely think it's a movie that I would like more on a second viewing, especially since it took me ridiculously long on first viewing to figure out the 'same characters in slightly different stories' aspect. I did appreciate the almost surreal feeling of it.

There are four others of his that I've been able to find on Netflix – Woman on the Beach, Night and Day, The Day He Arrives, and Right Now, Wrong Then. I thought I would watch them in chronological order.

That's good, but you might wanna space em out a little. Ther surface "sameness" might be more frustrating seen too close together.

"'same characters in slightly different stories' aspect"

otoh, there's more of that. lots.

I saw In Another Country in an empty college theater the afternoon before Christmas Eve, laughing periodically.

I liked Woman on the Beach best. Right Now, Wrong Then struck me as an example of exquisite timing wedded to a thin premise.

Woman on the Beach is one of his best, but Right Now, Wrong Then has what is probably his best comic setpiece. You all know what I mean, right?

i think underwear might be involved

that one seemed like treading water to me

It seemed like almost the purest distillation of what a Hong Sang-soo film is, but yeah, I was a bit bored as well.

A friend of mine did a good interview with him:

https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/there-are-mirarcles-a-conversation-with-hong-sang-soo

That's so wild about him writing in sequence DURING production, which i didn't know about til i saw him at a NYFF Q&A/interview this year. "Terse" indeed, it was like pulling teeth to get him to talk about his intentions etc.