Cannes Director Spotlight: Hong Sang-soo

Hong Sang-soo
New Film: In Another Country
Country: South Korea
Age: 51
Best Known for: Being South Korea's answer to Woody Allen. Not only are his films typically thoughtful blends of comedy, drama, and romance, but he's also a strenuous worker who's churned out 11 films since the turn of the millennium

Cannes History
In Another Country is Hong's seventh film admitted to the festival. Hahaha won the 2010 Un Certain Regard Award, while Tale of Cinema and Woman Is the Future of Man were Competition entries in 2005 and 2004, respectively. The rest of his Cannes titles played in the Un Certain Regard program but went home empty-handed.

His Resume
Known for character-driven stories, Hong employs ambiguity and unconventional timelines in many of his pictures. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, for example, depicts the same relationship developing twice, but with subtle differences that mark the ways the male lead and female lead approach life and love. Tale of Cinema, meanwhile, involves a film within a film and characters who lead their life based off of what they—and we—see onscreen.

Hong wrote the screenplays for all but his first feature, 1996's The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well. He's worked with an array of different actors and craftsmen—mostly South Korean. His regular editor for much of the 2000s was Sung-won Ham, and he's worked on three straight films with actor Jung-Sang Yu.

Hong Sang-soo On-Demand
Hulu Plus: N/A
iTunes: Night and Day
Netflix Instant: Woman is the Future of Man, The Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors
Vudu: N/A

In Another Country
"French thesp Isabelle Huppert ... play[s] three different characters named Anne who consecutively visit a seaside town, stay at the same small hotel by the shore, venture onto the beach and meet the same group of people" —The Playlist

In Another Country appears to fall in lock-step with the rest of Hong's filmography, based solely off that description. The film likely won't be one of the festival's big breakout hits because Hong's style of filmmaking just doesn't appeal outside a small niche, but the presence of Huppert (see the still photo below) certainly raises an eyebrow. There's also a part of me that thinks, after the success of Certified Copy, that films like this have a new space in the marketplace. But perhaps that's just wishful thinking because I think In Another Country sounds cool and I'd like the opportunity to see it.

Whatever the case, I wouldn't be on any awards for Hong this year, not even with Huppert in tow (don't forget, she also has Haneke's Amour). But props to Hong for seven out of 13 films getting accepted to play at the festival—not an easy feat by any standard.