The Woman Who Ran

Three encounters — two planned and one chanced — segment this deceptively simple work from master director Hong Sang-soo. Gam-hee, played by Hong’s frequent collaborator Kim Min-hee, visits old friends during what appear to be her first days apart from her husband in over five years. Each visit is a variation on the theme of female friendship and male intrusion. Hong’s usual modulations are on display, where banal conversations quickly turn knotted with tension and moments of emotional outburst break the passive-aggressive chill in the air. But it’s the grace and subtlety of Hong’s unfussy style that make his films a source of such beguiling wonder and a welcomed tonic in our hyperactive media landscape. Some critics describe Hong’s filmmaking as decidedly anti-cinematic, but, after over twenty films in as many years, his static compositions and unvarnished cinematography have come to distinguish a cinema all his own. ~Travis Weedon