Hong Sangsoo and the role of chance in life

The Korean film-maker returns to the Official Selection after Ha Ha Ha took the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize a year ago in 2010. Filmed entirely in black and white, The Day He Arrives explores the role of chance in life.

Hong Sangsoo is an enigmatic director who likes to impregnate his films and characters with an air of mystery and poetry. His characters shy away from expressing their emotions. Love, often portrayed as solitary and melancholic by Hong Sangsoo, is a recurring theme in his filmography. In The Day He Arrives, faithful to his usual style, the director embraces romantic comedy.

The film follows the tribulations of Seongjun, a university professor in Seoul to visit a friend. The central character, a former film-maker, roams the hot spots of Bukchon village, falling into conversation along the way, and meets the owner of a bar who happens to bear a striking resemblance to his long-time girlfriend, Kyungjin.

How long has it been since ‘the day he arrived’ in Seoul? Hong Sangsoo prefers not to say, instead stressing the important role played by chance in our existence. “Our lives are made up of chance events. We choose from these to form trains of thought,” observes Seongjun, the main character in the film, played by Yu Junsang who also had a leading role in Ha Ha Ha. The feature film was awarded the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2010 by the President of the Jury, director Claire Denis.

B.P.

The film is to be screened at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the Debussy Theatre.