HIll of Freedom (2015) - The fact that it’s hard to find any screencaps for a Hong Sang-soo movie that do not contain mildly tipsy people around a small table packed with soju bottles speaks volumes about the atmosphere of his movies, and Hill of Freedom is no exception.
However, instead of a prodigal son or daughter we now have a Japanese man returning to Korea to find his estranged lover, while also encountering some colorful characters in what seems to be a bit of a Groundhog Day-esque universe (also a recurring feature in Hong’s work). Anyway, for all the lukewarm reviews it received, I quite enjoyed it. My favorite thing about it was probably the way Hong captured little moments of intercultural short-circuits between the main character and people around him and his skillfulness at exploring profound themes with very little at his disposal. In the end, the movie got a bit weak and was overall riddled with that idle 30-something male wanderlust that just bores me in general, but if you are a fan of his work in general, I don’t doubt you will enjoy this one.










