The Day He Arrives

a film by Hong Sangsoo
2011, 79 minutes

Poster

Synopsis

A film director who no longer makes films, Seongjun, arrives in Seoul to meet a close friend. When the friend doesn't show up, Seongjun wanders the city aimlessly. He runs into an actress he used to know, shares a drink with some film students and against his better judgment, heads to his ex-girlfriend's apartment. The next day goes very much like the last; Seongjun meets the actress, has drinks with friends, and falls for woman who looks remarkably like his ex-girlfriend. Each new day plays out like a flimsy copy of the previous one, but only Seongjun knows why. Infused with a playfulness and dry wit that recalls the films of Eric Rohmer, The Day He Arrives is a delightful meditation on relationships, filmmaking, and the unknowable forces that govern our lives.

Reviews

"A beautiful and melancholy film... I fell into a sympathetic reverie with this film. If The Day He Arrives is a comedy, it's a human comedy like Balzac had in mind: a record of how people live, talk, strive and pass their days."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Critics Pick! "An exploration, both playful and rueful, of desire, narrative and the idea beautifully expressed by Faulkner in ‘Absalom, Absalom!’ that ‘maybe nothing ever happens once and is finished.’"
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

"At his best — and his new movie, The Day He Arrives, is among his very best — Hong offers a strange mixture of magic, mystery, rueful melodrama and dry comedy that’s like absolutely nothing else."
– Andrew O’Hehir, Salon

"Brilliant and touching."
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Press Materials

High Res Stills and Press Kit

Where to watch

Playdates

April 20 - Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY

May 4 - SF Film Society Cinema, San Francisco, CA

June 1 - Bill Cosford Cinema, Miami, FL
June 8, - NW Film Forum, Seattle, WA
June 15 - Lake Worth Playhouse, Lake Worth, FL
June 29 - Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH

July 6 - Time & Space Limited, Hudson, NY
July 9 - Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
July 13 - Cinema Salem, Salem, MA
July 20 - Brattle, Boston, MA