Introduction | Under the appearances, a real quest ★★★

Seeking to navigate his way between his dream of becoming an actor and the expectations of his parents, a young man leaves for Berlin to join his lover, seeing in it the opportunity for a new beginning.

Marc-Andre Lussier
The Press

For his 25^and feature film, the prolific Hong Sangsoo (A day with, a day without, The woman who got away) offers a minimalist poetic essay in black and white, rather minor in its work, but which nevertheless manages to mark the spirit thanks to its evocative power.

Divided into three parts, Introduction recounts the existential questioning of a young man who relies a little on others to choose the best avenue to take to lead his life. In her quest are a doctor father, a young lover who left for Berlin as part of a student exchange and a well-known actor whom her mother has arranged to meet in the restaurant of a hotel by the beach.

Crafted by the veteran Korean filmmaker from every angle (Hong Sangsoo penned the script, direction, cinematography, editing, music and production!), this visually stunning short-lived (66-minute) feature film , stands out above all thanks to its seemingly evanescent style. At the heart of the subject is also a meeting between people from different generations having, it seems, more and more difficult to understand each other. A discussion between the mature actor and the young man will remain the most eloquent illustration of this, in a film where ellipses and innuendo prevail.

Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the Berlin Film Festival last year, Introduction is showing at the Cinémathèque québécoise and at the Cinéma Public in its original Korean version with French subtitles.

Drama

Introduction

Hong Sangsoo

With Shin Seokho, Mi-so Park, Kim Young-ho

1:06 a.m.

★★★