By the Stream Review: Hong Sangsoo Excels in a More Narrative-Driven Mode

By the Stream — Hong Sang-soo [Review]

In “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema,” André Bazin famously argued that depth-of-field marked a dialectical leap forward in the development of the artform. His argument involved two principal points. On the one hand, there was a “psychological” point: the use of depth of field, as in the films of Welles and Wyler, created [...] The post By the Stream — Hong Sang-soo [Review] appeared first on In Review Online.

By the Stream Review: Hong Sangsoo Excels in a More Narrative-Driven Mode

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Locarno coverage. By the Stream opens in theaters on August 8, 2025. The death of the author is the birth of the reader, as we know from post-structuralist thought; then again, there are Hong Sangsoo’s public remarks. A charming video I often revisit shows the South Korean filmmaker outlining his working method: script dialogue completed the day of (also common on big Hollywood prod…