BY THE STREAM

(director/writer: Hong Sang-soo; cinematographer:Hong Sang-soo; editor:Hong Sang-soo; music:Hong Sang-soo; cast: Kim Min-hee(Jeon-im), Cho Yun-hee (Jeong), Kwon Haehyo (Chu Sieon),Ha Seong-guk (Jun-woo); Runtime: 111; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Hong Sang-soo; Jeonwonsa Film; 2024-S. Korea-in Korean with English subtitles)

“This wonderful, breezy film like all Hong’s others is about trying to make art despite it being such a messy process.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The prolific South Korean director Hong Sang-soo (“Grass”/”Visitors”), in his 32nd feature, is up to his usual tricks in this chatty, iconoclastic drama about the creative process, in which he writes, photographs, edits and composes.

Jeon-im (Kim Min-hee, the director’s muse & partner in life) is an art lecturer at a women’s college in Seoul and a textile artist. She has invited her uncle Chu Sieon (Kwon Haehyo), someone she has not seen for ten years, once a respected TV actor and director but mysteriously banned from the industry because of a possible sketchy political scandal involving those in power positions who objected to his politics, and is now a bookstore owner in Gangneung, a remote small village by the sea. She wants him to create for the school’s annual mandatory school contest a 10-minute theatrical skit for the 4 remaining members of a troupe of 7 from her Western Art Class to perform in at the end of the term. The last student director (Ha Seong-guk) was removed in disgrace for sleeping with three of the student cast members in the skit (the girls stay together and refuse to participate in the new play).

Jeon-im’s mentor at the university, Professor Jeong (Cho Yun-hee), is a fan of her uncle. The divorced Uncle and the loner Jeong hit it off and openly flirt with each other, which bothers Jeon-im. The trio spend time together eating, drinking and conversing, and in their boozy moments suddenly reveal intimate things about themselves that they normally wouldn’t. We also learn that Jeong loves to make drawings in her spare time, as she sits by the school’s stream.

Hong’s unique art film is about the perils artists face when tackling art despite their faults and their narcissism, and trying to make sense out of their own crazy ideas while trying to make a connection with society.

This wonderful, breezy film like all Hong’s others is about trying to make art despite it being such a messy process.

It played at the Locarno Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 11/29/2024  GRADE: B+
dennisschwartzreviews.com