HOTEL BY THE RIVER
The screening will be introduced by Tony Rayns.
Director: Hong Sang-Soo
96 minutes. South Korea. 2018. Subtitled. B&W. D-Cinema.
Winner: Best Screenplay, Gijón International Film Festival 2018; Official Selection, Locarno International Film Festival 2018; Toronto International Film Festival 2018; New York Film Festival 2018
Prolific South Korean master director Hong Sang-Soo crafts another elegant tragi-comedy. A chamber-piece unfolding in less than 24 hours at the labyrinthine riverside Hotel Helmat, where renowned and ageing poet Younghwan (the marvellous Ki Joobong) resides. Sensing his imminent death he summons his two estranged sons, Kyungsoo (Kwon Haohyo) and Byungsoo (Yu Junsang) a popular filmmaker. A young woman Sanghee (Kim Minhee) holidays at the hotel. She is depressed, having been betrayed by the man she loved. Her friend Yeonju (Song Seonmi) comes to comfort her. They pass the time drinking and chatting, observing magpies, a black cat and the sudden heavy snowfall. They also meet the poet Younghwan. Filmed in startling black-and-white by Hong’s regular DOP Kim Hyung-koo, and with his regular actors, this is a fresh, humanistic exploration on family, life, love and death.
Hong Sang-Soo (b. 1960, South Korea) has directed over twenty films. His debut feature The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (1996) won the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, while several of his next films including Woman is the Future of Man (2004), Tale of Cinema (2005), Claire’s Camera (2017) and The Day After (2017) were selected at the Cannes International Film Festival. Hahaha (2010) won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes International Film Festival. Our Sunhi (2013) won the Silver Leopard Award for Best Director at the Locarno International Film Festival; Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) earned Hong Sang-Soo the Golden Leopard award at the Locarno International Film Festival;Yourself and Yours (2016), Best Director award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival; and On the Beach at Night Alone earned actress Kim Min-Hee, the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017.
