Grass

A gently meandering tale of eavesdropping on the intimate relations of others but in the most public of places (a cafe). Sang-soo makes use of black-and-white photography in a very pleasing way - it serves a clear purpose in setting the suppressed tone - and the same goes for the classical music which is used to dramatic effect. The Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee combo again gives a benevolent yet sporadically harsh feel to the film.

A film about people coming together (old friends, new acquaintances, colleagues, lovers, siblings) and the connections that they try to form, sometimes successful and sometimes not.

the greatest and darkest of the hong-kim films, suspended in a liminal space between fiction and the real which brings to mind the OTHER two french directors beginning with R. many of his pet themes are here, but there's a heightened emphasis on suicide and voyeurism, and the vibe is haunting, an almost purgatorial wander from one small, violent rupture to the next. no film's final shots had a greater impact on me than these over the past year, although i'm not sure i could explain why.