Jeonwonsa Film Co. Production
With his latest work, director Hong Sang-soo creates a peaceful meditation on living in the moment and appreciating the mundane.
Directed by: Hong Sang-soo
Year: 2021
Country: South Korea
Length: 85 minutes
‘Thank you for this peace and sparing me pain’ is the first sentence we hear in the South Korean drama In Front of Your Face. It perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the film and gives a hint of what is to come in the next 85 minutes. From the 26 films in Hong’s filmography, In Front of Your Face is among the more accessible entries, providing a clear narrative, with a relatively conventional structure, a gripping emotional buildup, and a strong focus on story.
Sangok (played by Lee Hyeyoung), a former Korean actress, returns to her homeland after having resided in the United States. She has recently moved in with her sister, who feels alienated from her, after a long period of the two them having had no contact with another. When asked why she has returned to Seoul, Sangok quickly responds that she just missed her sister and nephew and had nowhere else to go to. Little does her sister know that Sangok carries a secret with her. One that forces her to look at life in a different way. In the span of a single day, Sangok goes on a journey to make peace with people and places from her past.
Through several long takes, featuring conversations and meetings Sangok has with her sister, her nephew, a filmmaker and the woman who now lives in the house Sangok hass grown up in, the audience gets to experience a day in the life of the main character. We follow her footsteps through a Seoul that has changed since the last time she set foot there. In every one of these scenes we get to know Sangok a little better, with each conversation telling us more about her identity.
In a scene where she takes a walk in the park with her sister, it becomes apparent that Sangok takes in everything she sees around her. A bee, a railroad bridge, flowers in nature; all those things make a strong impact on Sangok, who has learnt to appreciate all that’s surrounding her in the here and now. Likely regretting her past and knowing what the future has in store for her, she wants nothing rather than to stay in the present. ‘Save me from fears about the future and keep me in the present. let me stay here in the present’, she says.
Viewers of In Front of Your Face may connect with its characters very easily, especially after having experienced lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the film is not explicitly set during this time, there are similarities in how the world of Sangok is portrayed and the way many have experienced our world during the past 1,5 years. By placing scenes in a tranquil and quiet environment with very few people to be distracted by, Hong gives the viewer the chance to focus on the beauty in mundanity and to look at the magical parts of life that have been taken for granted. Those aspects would have been left undiscovered by both the audience and the film’s characters, had it not been for an unexpected catalyst event happening.
Hong’s films have typically been centering dialogue between characters, featuring some of the most realistically written and mundane conversations in cinema. While that is definitely an essential part of what In Front of your face goes for, there’s a certain aspect that makes the film stand out from the rest of the director’s work. In between Sangok’s meetings with several people, in addition to external conversations, we get to hear snippets of what’s going on in her mind. Whenever she’s alone, Sangok expresses her gratitude to an unnamed deity and asks of him to let her live in the moment. This internal dialogue adds another layer to the character and the story of this intriguing woman in a profound character study.
In Front of Your Face premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Cannes Premiere selection. Distributor The Cinema Guild has picked it up for a US release.
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