HOTEL BY THE RIVER

Hong Sang-soo

South Korea 96 min. min Catalan premiere

Synopsis

An old poet staying for free in a riverside hotel summons his two estranged sons. This is because he feels, for no apparent reason, like he’s going to die. After being betrayed by the man she was living with, a young woman gets a room at the hotel. Seeking support, she summons a friend. The poet spends a day with his sons and tries to wrap up the loose ends in his life. But it’s not so easy to do that in one day. But then he sees the young woman and her friend, after a sudden, unbelievably heavy snowfall.

Themes

Asian CinemaComedy

Filmmaker

Hong Sang-soo

An essential name in contemporary cinema and a regular at major festivals, Sang-soo debuted in 1996 with The Day a Pig Fell into the Well and since then has written and directed more than twenty feature films. His cinema, with a simple appearance and a traditional spirit, exudes a humanism that has captivated audiences around the world and has led him to win, among others, the award for Best Direction in Locarno, Berlin and San Sebastián.

 

Filmography: In Water (2023), Walk Up (2022, D’A 2023), The Novelist's Film (2022), In Front of Your Face (2021, D'A 2022), Introduction (2021), The Woman Who Ran (2020, D'A 2021), Hotel by the River (2018, D'A 2019), Grass (2018, D'A 2019), The Day After (2017, D'A 2018), Claire's Camera (2017, D'A 2018), On the Beach at Night Alone (2017), Yourself and Yours (2016), Right Now, Wrong Then (2015, D'A 2016), Hill of Freedom (2014, D’A 2015), Our Sunhi (2013, D'A 2014), Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013), In Another Country (2012), The Day He Arrives (2011), List (short film, 2011), Oki’s Movie (2010, D’A 2011), Hahaha (2010), Visitors (co-directed, 2009), Like You Know It All (2009), Night and Day (2008), Woman on the Beach (2006), Tale of Cinema (2005), Woman is the Future of Man (2004), Turning Gate (2002), Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (200

Hong Sang-soo

Film information

Original Title: Gang-byun Hotel
Director: Hong Sang-soo
Script: Hong Sang-soo
Contact: Finecut
With: Ki Joo-bong, Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Kwon Hae-hyo, Yu Joon-sang
Country: South Korea
Year: 2018
Format: DCP
Length: 96 min. min
Language: Korean
Subtitles: Spanish
Edition: 2019

Awards

Best Actor in Locarno | Grand Prix Asturias for the Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Actor in Gijón