The Day He Arrives

Four characters in search of a drink find themselves saying the same things in the same bar, over and over again, in Hong’s most Buñuelian take on the desire for human connection. A former film director visits Seoul from his exile in the boonies, looking for an old friend; the two finally meet up and head out with the friend’s colleague and a mysterious bar owner (who, strangely, looks just like the director's ex-lover) to drink, talk, and flirt, barely. And then, just as they leave, it starts all over again. “A soju-fueled cross between Last Year at Marienbad and Groundhog Day” (James Quandt, Artforum).