Reviewed at
Berlin International Film Festival 2021.
Hong Sangsooâs films are too charming to be loathed, so their notorious divisiveness forms two camps: fans and the indifferent. Iâve been either side of that equation, but Introduction has me raising the soju glass and drinking deep. One flaw of his rarer, weaker films is the overloading of conversation with characterâs backstories, but in this richly compact 66-minute tale of parents trying to guide their young adult children into an uncertain future, itâs whatâs left out of its few scenes â including a two-year jump â that makes how much we come to know and feel about its characters seem miraculous.
Introduction Review: A Narrow but Deceptively Deep Cut of Hong Sangsoo Simplicity Introduction Review: A Narrow but Deceptively Deep Cut of Hong Sangsoo Simplicity
The Korean auteur s latest modest miniature makes no demands of the viewer, but beneath its pleasant, placid surface wait rich rewards.
Jessica Kiang, provided by
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Director: Hong Sangsoo
With: Shin Seokho, Park Miso, Kim Youngho, Ki Joobong, Seo Younghwa, Kim Minhee, Cho Yunhee, Ye Jiwon, Ha Seongguk.
Running time: Running time: 66 MIN.
Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film Co. Prod.
Like cracking a window in a stuffy room, it sometimes feels as if Hong Sangsoo’s films are where festival lineups go when they need to breathe. The 2021 Berlin Film Festival takes a quick, deep lungful with “Introduction,” an airy 66-minute sampler of everything the Korean director’s fans admire, which is coincidentally everything his detractors dislike. But despite the familiarly strange, gossamer-spiderweb patt
Anyone looking to demonstrate the range of this year’s competition might set Hong Sangsoo’s Introduction next to Dominik Graf’s Fabian: Going to the Dogs.