The Korean cineaste Hong Sang-soo has delivered another seemingly simple, but in truth complex puzzle of human relationships (between a father and daughter, film director and several important women in his life) which, alongside a lot of wine and soju, plays out during different life stages in a house in Seoul. The Korean Rohmer spells out a new chapter in his visual diary, returning to familiar characters and spaces, but in a new, multi-storey perspective. A seemingly plain and banal place becomes a charming locus in fabula where life opens up, made up exclusively from accidental encounters and tipsy chatter. The cinematic ascent starts at the entrance of a renovated three-storey building. A famous middle-aged director Byung-soo and his daughter, whom he hasn’t seen in years, visit the elegant lady Kim, his long-time friend and the building’s owner. Lady Kim is a designer and Byung-soo wants her to meet his daughter, who wants to study interior design. The three of them explore the house floor by floor, clumsily bumping into the lives of other tenants. Four stories on three storeys, or in fact four, because in the ground floor has to be counted in too, in which we find out a lot about things we usually consider trite – desires and small wishes, petty complaints and grudges, even towards the film itself – and absorb their everyday magic which easily slips by us. (DP)

Awards and festivals: 

Toronto IFF (2022) – world premiere; San Sebastián International Film Festival (2022); Viennale (2022)