Capital Celluloid - Day 285: Friday Oct 14

The Day He Arrives (Sangsoo, 2011): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.45pm
This film is also on at the ICA Cinema on Sunday 16 Oct at 6.45pm. Details here.

The movie is screening as part of the London Film Festival. Here is my general introduction to the Festival. Over the next 15 days I will pick a film a day. I am as confident as I can be that this is the pick of the movies within the parameters I have set - the movies you are likely to get a ticket for and the ones you are unlikely to see in London very soon unless you go to the Festival.

Sight & Sound review:

'Having long ago moved away from the scripted complexities of his initial hit The Day the Pig Fell Down the Well towards a more semi-improvisatory approach to filming the social life of his often semi-autobiographical protagonists, Hong Sangsoo has hit a productive groove in recent years with tales of brief encounters that often lead to social embarrassment.

But while The Day He Arrives does play narrative games of a similar kind to those that have enlivened his recent films such as Like You Know It All (2009), Oki’s Movie (2010) and HaHaHa (2010), it feels much more sombre in tone, and that’s not just down to the choice of a monochrome palette. The idea of showing the same day re-run with different consequences each time here dodges the moral weight a Kieslowski would give it but finds a rather more poignant sense of dysfunction and melancholy. There’s a feeling about this film that the director is pushing himself harder than ever.'
Nick James



Look at this great trailer to get a feel of the unique tricks pulled in this film.

Here is the LFF's main website for the general information you need. Don't worry if the film is sold out as there are always some tickets on offer which go on sale 30 minutes before each screening. Here is the information you need to get those standby tickets.



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