Hotel by the River (2018)
Hotel by the River (2018)
Hotel by the River (2018)
Hotel by the River (2018)
Hotel by the River (2018)
Hotel by the River (2018)
(Gangbyeon hotel, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea 2018, 96 min., DCP, Korean w/subtitles)
Rochester Premiere. An aging poet (Ki Joo-bong) summons his two estranged sons to a solitary hotel beside the Han River because he feels his death is near. While waiting for them to arrive, he meets two women out walking in the new-fallen snow and is struck by their angelic beauty. But the women have come to the hotel to do some healing of their own. As the poet moves between the women and his bickering sons, he also moves between his two minds: one that walks on the street and the other that communes with the eternal. Shot in gauzy black-and-white with a strikingly untethered handheld camera, Hong’s film interweaves the various dramas of his characters in a quiet, straightforward way. Small coincidences and privileged moments combine to create a powerful meditation on family and death.