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The Day He Arrives

Book-chon-bang-hyang

South Korea

2011

79 Min
Black and White
1.85:1
Korean
  • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Hong Sang-soo

PROD Kim Kyoung-hee

SCR Hong Sang-soo

DP Kim Hyung-koo

CAST Yu Jun-sang, Kim Sang-jung, Song Sunmi

ED Hahm Sungwon

MUSIC Jeong Yong-jin

SOUND Kim Mir

Cannes (Un Certain Regard), Karlovy Vary (Another View), Melbourne (Accent on Asia), Vancouver (Dragons & Tigers), London (World Cinema), FFCF (Avant-Premières), AFI FEST (World Cinema), São Paulo (International Perspective), Stockholm (Asian Images), Rotterdam (Spectrum), Istanbul (From the World of Festivals), BAFICI (Trayectorias), San Francisco (World Cinema)

Synopsis

Sungjoon heads to Seoul to meet a close friend who lives in the Bukchon area. When the friend doesn’t answer his calls, Sungjoon wanders around Bukchon and runs into an actress he used to know. The two talk for a while, but soon part. He makes his way down to Insadong and drinks makgeolli (rice wine) by himself. Some film students at another table ask him to join them—Sungjoon used to be a film director. He soon gets drunk and heads for his ex-girlfriend’s house.

Whether it’s the next day or some other day, but Sungjoon is still wandering around Bukchon. He runs into the actress again. They talk and soon part. He eventually meets his friend and they head to a bar called Novel with a female professor his friend knows. The owner of the bar has a striking resemblance to Sungjoon’s ex-girlfriend. He plays the piano for her.

Whether it’s the next day or some other day, Sungjoon goes to the Jeongdok Public Library with his friend and mentions that it was the first place he chased after a woman. Later, they have drinks with a former actor who had been doing business in Vietnam. The same female professor joins them and the four go to the bar called Novel. Sungjoon gets drunk and ends up kissing the owner of the pub…

Sungjoon may have spent a few days in Seoul with his friend, or it may still be his first day there. He may have learned something from the encounter with his ex-girlfriend, or may have to meet the woman that resembles her again, for the first time. As life presents itself in no more than today’s worth of time, Sungjoon also has no other choice than to face his “today”. –Cannes Film Festival

Director

Original

Hong Sang-soo

A regular on the international festival circuit, Hong Sang-soo is one of Korea’s most highly regarded contemporary directors. His mostly improvised, innovatively constructed films conceal rich layers of meaning beneath deceptively simple surfaces, and reveal a filmmaker with a unique, individual style. A rather notorious figure on the Seoul film scene, Hong has a fondness for alcohol that is almost as legendary as his talent for filmmaking. He’s been known to get familiar with his actors before shooting by taking them on drinking binges, and, for verisimilitude, the many drinking scenes in his films normally include actually drunk performers (who sometimes don’t remember these scenes after they’ve been shot).

Born in 1960, Hong began his film studies at Joongang University in Korea, then moved to the United States, where he received his BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His debut feature, The Day a… read more

Wall

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Matthew_Lucas

18Apr12

Time passes imperceptibly in Hong Sangsoo's deeply personal tale of a filmmaker who, while waiting to meet an old friend, wanders the streets of Seoul and has a series of random encounters. Deftly plays with time and perception to create a portrait of coincidence and random chance as the director takes stock of the direction of a life that no longer seems to make sense, and the days begin to blend together.

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sharunasbresson

7Apr12

you'll never guess what this movie is about... well there is a director who come visit a friend and then... okay okay, only joking! Hong Sang Soo is like Cezanne, always painting Sainte Victoire Mountain, always with enough variations to make it worth. and the more lighthearted he became the more profound and affecting it feels.

X.A. Coronel and 2 others like this

Cedric, Arsaib

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kelvanE

1Apr12

Beautifully toned film, acute observance of certain social dynamics and a lovely love story contained within. I couldn't help but identity with the main character (Yoo) in the film, and some of his challenges.

Arsaib likes this

Ezgi M

17Mar12

Through a few days in Seoul, it is shown that life is a sequence of repeatings. Repeating women, repeating habits, foods, drinks and sentences...

CAPSULE© likes this

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Hong Sang-soo's Spatial Quirks, or Where's That Piano?

By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on April 25, 2012

On the repetition-obsessed filmmaker’s wonky sense of space.

read article
W184

Hong Sang-soo in New York

By David Hudson on April 16, 2012

Oki’s Movie runs all week and The Day He Arrives opens on Friday.

read article
W184

Movie Poster of the Week: The Best of the Rest of Cannes 2011

By Adrian Curry on June 3, 2011

As I’ve mentioned before, movie posters are not much in evidence around the theaters of Cannes. One striking exception though was this

read article
W184

Wrapping Cannes 2011. Un Certain Regard

By David Hudson on May 31, 2011

High time to round up the films at this year's Cannes Film Festival that never saw entries of their own and send them on their way. Today

read article
W184

Cannes 2011. Rushes: "Melancholia", "The Day He Arrives"

By Daniel Kasman on May 21, 2011

Films by Lars von Trier and Hong Sang-soo.

read article
W184

Catching up with Hong Sang-soo

By Gabe Klinger on May 10, 2011

Hong Sang-soo’s new film, The Day He Arrives, premieres in Cannes this month. We caught up with the filmmaker at the Jeonju International

read article

Cannes 2011: Hong Sang Soo is Going Backwards with THE DAY HE ARRIVES Trailer

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
South Korean director Hong Sang Soo is a bit of an acquired taste; one that I’ve certainly acquired over the past five years of regular festival entries. His relationship-and-drinking dramas are not big
read on Twitchfilm.com

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