"The Day She Returns" — Hong Sang-soo's Slow-Burn, Boozy Meditation
Hong Sang-soo, the prolific lo-fi master of Korean cinema, delivers another familiar yet mysteriously addictive work with his new black-and-white film about the return of an actress on hiatus.
According to the Guardian's review, the new black-and-white film from prolific Korean cinema master Hong Sang-soo, 'The Day She Returns,' won't surprise his devoted followers — and that's a good thing. Long takes, a fixed camera angle, conversations over restaurant tables, and abrupt, inexplicable zoom-ins are all right where they should be.
Song Seon-mi plays an actress trying to return to cinema after a long break. Torn between former colleagues, would-be new directors, and a love that's on the verge of being forgotten, the character confronts her past over bottles of soju in Hong's typical "daytime drinking" scenes.
What does it get right? As the Guardian notes, "no one shows daytime drinking quite like Hong," and these repetitions create a kind of meditative rhythm in the film. What the characters leave unsaid matters as much as what they say; long silences, hesitations and unfinished sentences form the film's emotional backbone.
Verdict. 'The Day She Returns' may not add a new masterpiece to Hong Sang-soo's nearly-thirty-film filmography — but that was never the point. As the Guardian puts it, it's "as mysteriously addictive as ever," another Hong experience. It's not a bad starting point either for those entering his universe for the first time.
Source: The Guardian