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The Day He Arrives
The Day He Arrives (Korean: 북촌 방향; Hanja: 北村 方向; RR: Bukchon Banghyang; lit. "In the direction of Bukchon" or "Bukchon-bound") is a 2011 South Korean drama film written and directed by Hong Sang-soo.[3][4] The film is in black and white.[5] It premiered on 19 May 2011 in the Un Certain Regard section of the 64th Cannes Film Festival.[6] The film received 45,223 admissions on its domestic release. PlotSeong-jun heads to Seoul to meet a close friend who lives in Bukchon (North Village; Korean: 북촌), Jongno District. When the friend does not answer his calls, Seong-jun wanders around Bukchon and runs into an actress he used to know. The two talk for a while but soon part. He makes his way down to Insa-dong and drinks makgeolli (rice wine) by himself. Some film students at another table ask him to join them—Seong-jun used to be a film director. He soon gets drunk and heads for his ex-girlfriend's house. Unclear if it is the next day or some other day, Seong-jun is still wandering around Bukchon. He runs into the actress again. They talk and soon part. He eventually meets his friend and they head to a bar called Novel with a female professor his friend knows. The owner of the bar has a striking resemblance to Seong-jun's ex-girlfriend. He plays the piano for her. Again unclear if it is the next day or some other day, Seong-jun goes to the Jeongdok Public Library with his friend and mentions that it was the first place he chased after a woman. Later, they have drinks with a former actor who had been doing business in Vietnam. The same female professor joins them and the four go to the bar called Soseol (lit. "Novel"). Seong-jun gets drunk and ends up kissing the owner of the pub. Seong-jun may have spent a few days in Seoul with his friend, or it may still be his first day there. He may have learned something from the encounter with his ex-girlfriend, or may have to meet the woman who resembles her again, for the first time. As life presents itself in no more than today's worth of time, Seong-jun also has no other choice than to face his "today". Cast
ReceptionThe Day He Arrives holds an 83/100 average on Metacritic.[7] American writer and critic Nick Newman placed The Day He Arrives on his 2022 Sight and Sound list of the greatest films ever made, calling it "the closest a movie has come to telling us the meaning of life."[8] See alsoReferences
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