Released this week, Hong Sang-Soo’s drama “In Water” has an average press rating of 3.6 out of 5 (on AlloCiné, for 13 reviews, as of June 28).
A year after De nos jours…, the very prolific Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-Soo returns with In Water, a melancholic and poetic film carried by Shin Seokho, Ha Seong Guk and Seung Yun Kim. Released this week in our dark rooms, this 1h01 drama was well received by the French press, since its average is 3.6 out of 5.
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What is it about ?
On the rocky island of Jeju, a young actor is making a film. When he lacks inspiration, he sees a silhouette at the foot of a cliff. Thanks to this meeting and a love song written years earlier, he finally has a story to tell.
What the press thinks:
According to Cahiers du Cinéma:
“Then an aesthetic revelation occurs that only Branca de neve by Monteiro or L’Homme atlantique by Duras had achieved in narrative cinema.” By Fernando Ganzo – 5/5
According to Les Inrockuptibles:
“In Water freezes here with as much clairvoyance as gentleness this cruel contradiction of the creator invaded by obsessive images, which stir in his head, while being incapable of reproducing them perfectly.” By Ludovic Béot – 5/5
According to Critikat.com:
“The generalized blur does not aim to transcribe a precise sensation, but rather represents a certain being in the world – that of an aesthetic distancing which aims to enjoy forms, lights and colors.” By Robin Vaz – 4/5
According to Cinema Sheets:
“An impressionist canvas coupled with a reflection as poetic as it is melancholic on artistic blur, Hong Sangsoo’s new stroll disarms, then overwhelms.” By Simon Hoareau – 4/5
At the cinema on June 26, these are the films to see: The Hennedricks Family with Dany Boon, The Count of Monte Cristo with Pierre Niney…
According to Libération:
“In this film of the seaside and landscape, the most successful part of the proposal is in the capture of small animated seascapes (as they are called in painting), which exude a rather poignant nostalgic sweetness.” By Laura Tuillier – 4/5
According to aVoir-aLire.com:
“This mise en abyss of cinema within cinema, dear to the prolix work of Hong Sang-Soo, reveals the director’s sensitive taste for Cézanne’s painting. In Water is a little gem of poetry on human emptiness and breakdown of inspiration for artists.” By Laurent Cambon – 4/5
According to Télérama:
“In Water is reduced a little too much to this theoretical game, unfolding a monotonous story, where the audacity of flouted clarity reveals itself almost timid in view of the pictorial challenge that it could involve. The watercolor sometimes offers, the brightness of a red parasol and a bush of yellow flowers, but formal pleasure otherwise remains limited.” By Jacques Morice – 2/5
According to L’Obs:
“To over-signify his graceful screenplay, Hong Sang-soo refuses to take stock and films everything in a blur that is certainly symbolic, but above all uncomfortable.” By Xavier Leherpeur – 1/5
