In this sensitive Cannes-premiering drama, Hong Sang-soo reaffirms his status as a master miniaturist of the human condition.

In Front of Your Face sketches out 24 hours in the life of Sang-ok, a formerly famous South Korean actress now living in anonymity in the US. She has returned to Seoul to reconnect with her estranged sister and revisit her childhood haunts, but also to maybe revive her acting career at a meeting with an eager director. In typical Hong fashion, the day is filled with quiet internal reflections, strained interpersonal conversations, emotional revelations and, of course, a marathon drinking session.

The second of two Hong titles to premiere in 2021, In Front of Your Face shows this incredibly prolific filmmaker – and beloved MIFF regular, who has two titles in this year’s festival – in full command of his deceptively slight, laid-back style. Here, Hong (Hotel by the River, MIFF 2019; Right Now, Wrong Then, MIFF 2015) assumes even greater control over cinematic expression, serving not only as writer/director, but also co-producer, editor, cinematographer and composer. At once ecstatic and elegiac, pensive and poignant, the film features a plum role for Lee Hye-young, noted star of 1980s South Korean cinema, who invests the thoughtful Sang-ok with a depth of wisdom and spirited humour.

“One of the South Korean director’s most open films of late, poignant in its use of a simple structure to touch on the eminently difficult question of how to live happily between past, present, and future.” – The Playlist