Walk Up (now playing in New York and Los Angeles) doesn’t represent any major deviation in that sense, but it’s uniquely pleasurable in how self-contained it is. The prolific Hong is famous for his long takes of alcohol-lubricated conversations, for playful narrative structures and tales of romantic disappointment, and for characters who work in the film industry. Kim muses, and over the course of this ingeniously constructed movie, you come to understand how much Byung-soo frets about this very thing. “Maybe the person he is outside is more genuine,” Ms. Over what is definitely not their first bottle of wine, the two women talk about the absent Byung-soo and whether his big-shot persona or insecurity at home represents the real him. Kim may actually use the cellar space to drink, which, in a Hong film, gives her plenty of company. By the time the trio make their way down there and Byung-soo abandons Jeong-su to attend a nearby meeting, it starts to seem as though Ms. ![]() Kim doesn’t live in the building, but she keeps the basement as a place to work and, as she puts it, to rest. Kim (Lee Hye-young), who’s initially flattered to be visited by such an illustrious old friend - though her pleasure visibly dims as she realizes Byung-soo has looked her up in hopes that she’ll hire his daughter, who harbors vague aspirations of entering Ms. They’ve come to see the building’s owner, an interior designer named Ms. When he first rolls up to the small Seoul apartment building where Walk Up takes place, he’s in the company of his daughter, Jeong-su (Park Mi-so), whom, we soon learn, he hasn’t seen in five years. Byung-soo (Kwon Hae-hyo) is, like Hong, a respected maker of realistic, enjoyable comedies as well as the recent recipient of a major prize. Like many of Hong Sang-soo’s main characters, the protagonist of Walk Up is a filmmaker himself.
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