In Front of Your Face

A luminous, poignant, wry and typically exploratory drama from Hong, set against the shifting skyline of Seoul. A middle-aged former actress, Sangok returns to the city after spending several years abroad. Reconnecting with her estranged sister Jeongok, she also plans to meet up with Jaewon, a celebrated director. All the while, a personal circumstance shed a new light on things for her, which prompts her to look and look again at what she sees. Set over a day and a half, this has the clarity and simplicity of a short story. Exploring distance and closeness of all kinds – physical, temporal and emotional – it’s perhaps one of Hong’s most accessible films to date and a love letter to Seoul.

94% – Rotten Tomatoes

7 / 10 – IMDB

” there is something new and special about this film, namely Lee Hyeyoung, who in her first collaboration with Hong plays Sangok, a fiftysomething former actress who has returned to Seoul to visit both her sister Jeongok (Cho Yunhee) and a filmmaker, Jaewon (Kwon Haehyo)”

“Lee and Cho are masterful in their use of body language, making the way the characters interact seem like a kind of dance.”