Critics reviews

Introduction centers on interactions that lack overt narrative meaning but which firmly establish a certain tone of malaise and uncertainty... [The film is] notable for how widely [it] diverges from Hong’s conventions, while still hewing close to his typical insights and standards of excellence.

[Introduction] operates as a kind of exercise in displacement, deferral, and delay, and notably ends with a literal splash of cold water. For if we can’t quite overcome the images we are captive to, there’s still, at least, the potential shock of reintroduction, the possibility of seeing anew.

“Introduction” initially feels like a smaller, quieter addition to the filmmaker’s oeuvre. Still, it proves to be another delicate and profound testament to how our lives can always be intertwined with those from our past, to the everyday human interactions, and especially to the honesty and wide-eyed possibility of youth.

Slight and discursive even by the filmmaker’s idiosyncratic standards, “Introduction” refuses to auto-correct for anyone who doesn’t already speak conversational Hong. Which isn’t to suggest the uninitiated will find any of it particularly hard to follow, only that the movie could well be over before they recognize how its mundane detours have thawed into destinations of their own.

"Introduction" knows it does not need to be grander, larger, or longer than it needs to – a rarity in cinema. While not the most memorable tale, it enjoys its characters’ most minute musings with a wink, smile, and warm hug.

In the realm of Sang-soo, ["Introduction"] belongs to the same web of his expected translucent membranes, conjuring pleasant emotions more memorable than its depictions.

"Introduction" insinuates the various connotations of its title within this established mode: different generations introduced or reintroduced to one another, talking at cross purposes, wary of being misunderstood.

One flaw of [Hong's] rarer, weaker films is the overloading of conversation with character’s backstories, but in ["Introduction"] it’s what’s left out of its few scenes – including a two-year jump – that makes how much we come to know and feel about its characters seem miraculous.

This is a ‘minor’ Hong... but it’s still a delight, a wistful, smart, chamber piece that gently teases out questions about whether you can love someone without controlling them in some way, whether acting can be sincere or sincerity can be an act, and how much of our life in the present and future is conditioned by our life in the past.

With "Introduction," Hong pushes his signature brand of narrative minimalism to a breaking point, even by his lofty standards... Hong continues to compress the distance between himself and his actors, capturing moments of unforgettable behavioral acuity, which he fuses with his stark, expressionistic, nearly Bergman-esque compositions. The result is a modern melodrama of grit, beauty, jagged edges and resonant dead ends and false starts.

"Introduction" is a thick, tangled ball of yarn, compact but dense... But for all the deliberate choices and teasing ellipses, this is one of the director’s more meager works, appearing unfinished and misshapen rather than productively clipped at the edges... [It] finds the filmmaker stuttering in the limelight’s glare, his usual piercing insight operating at about two-thirds’ capacity.

Another intriguing and sympathetic vignette... I’m not sure it is entirely successful, but it demonstrates Hong’s delicate touch in creating films that, like a certain type of short story or poem, suggest more depth and detail than is apparent on the surface.