South Korean director Hong Sang-soo, ever since making his debut as a director at the age of 35 in 1995, has been a staple among the international film festivals. Every time a Hong Sang-soo movie comes out, it is bound to appear in the circuit even if the films themselves never make it into the mainstream consciousness. Hong has been the source of personal controversy in his native country, as he had an ongoing affair with one of his favorite actresses to cast, Kim Min-hee, but his movies belong to a specific style that can only be attributed to Hong.
One can see a Wes Anderson movie and know that it belongs to Anderson, while a Hong film, too, has its stylistic trademarks. With an education background in theater, elements for the stage, as well as twists, can be spotted in movies like Right Now, Wrong Then. A healthy dose of social realism, too, anchors Hong’s work and contextualizes it with autobiographical elements to make it come across as more authentic. Whether the protagonist is a director, actress, or writer, the actor and Hong draw on personal experiences to amplify the story and role. With two new films appearing at the Berlin Film Festival and TIFF in 2022, Hong shows he still has stories to tell. These are Hong Sang-soo’s best movies.
6 In Another Country
In Another Country shifts the focus from Korean characters and contexts by adding a foreign star. Starring Isabelle Huppert, one of the most iconic French actresses of contemporary cinema, she plays three different characters who are all named Anne. A film student (Jung Yu-mi) and her mother (played by Youn Yuh-jung) are in North Jeolla in an attempt to escape from their debtors, so the student devises a screenplay utilizing a foreign protagonist — all named Anne — to escape the mundane boredom of the countryside.
5 Right Now, Wrong Then
Split into two different parts that invert the story as the viewer knows it, Right Now, Wrong Then stars Jung Jae-young, Kim Min-hee, and Youn Yuh-jung. A director (Jung) arrives in Suwon, where a local venue will be screening one of his films. While walking around the streets, he sees a woman (Kim), who then shows up at the screening. The two starts chatting, she reveals that she is a painter, and they strike an unlikely romance that crashes and burns when she discovers he is married. The film then twists the story around in the second part, retelling it and swapping out the details to show a different outcome to the story.
4 The Power of Kangwon Province
Released in 1998, The Power of Kangwon Province was Hong’s second film. Despite it being his sophomore effort, it still landed a slot at Cannes Film Festival that year, which is impressive for a newcomer to the industry. However, this film is one of the more underrated ones in Hong’s filmography and is often forgotten in favor of his newer works. In The Power of Kangwon Province, three girls take a trip to Kangwon Province, and one of the girls, who recently had a breakup, gets tangled up in an affair with a local police officer.
3 The Day He Arrives
2011’s The Day He Arrives was shot in black and white and holds some of the same kinds of characters seen in Hong films. Its protagonist is Seong-jun (Yoo Jun-sang), a film studies professor, who is visiting a friend living in the historical villages of Seoul. He runs into an actress on the streets, then wanders the streets of Seoul’s historic districts in search of a purpose and his ex-girlfriend. The Day He Arrives is contemplative, offering more food for thought than mindless entertainment.
2 Tale of Cinema
Tale of Cinema stars Kim Sang-kyung, in his first major role after appearing in Bong Joon-ho’s film Memories of Murder, Lee Ki-woo, and Uhm Ji-won. A college student on a holiday (Lee) meets a former girlfriend at a store, then goes to see a play while waiting for her to get off her shift. This is juxtaposed against the tale of a filmmaker (Kim) who becomes obsessed with an actress appearing in a fellow student’s short film. As he begins to construct a complicated image of who she is and what she is like inside his head, desperately seeking her out in everyday life, he must come to realize that not only is this obsessive but that he needs to see what she is really like.
1 On a Beach Alone At Night
On a Beach Alone At Night features some of the best work by Kim Min-hee, a frequent Hong collaborator. She portrays a struggling actress past her glory days, and in her personal life, she is dating a married man. There is an uncanny resemblance to Hong’s life in this plot line — Kim Min-hee and Hong engaged in an affair, and she is an actress dating a director — but Kim’s performance draws on the character’s anguish and mental struggle as she heads to the beach to sort out her thoughts. Visually gorgeous and full of maturity, On a Beach Alone At Night is not a Hong movie to miss in his filmography.