Festival favorite Hong Sang-soo returns to MSPIFF with Walk Up, the acclaimed director’s delightful study of family, friendship and the spaces in which people live.
Byung-soo (Kwon Hae-hyo) is a filmmaker reunited with his daughter, Jeonsu (Park Miso), who is studying to be an interior designer. Ostensibly they are meeting to visit the four-story walk-up owned by one Ms. Kim (Lee Hye-Young), also an interior designer, who was once a good friend of Byung-soo. Over drinks, Byung-soo and Ms. Kim flirt and reminisce (they also haven’t seen each other in years), and then, awkwardly, Ms. Kim takes her guests on a tour of the building, floor by floor, as we slowly slide into alternate realities or potential destinies through Hong’s beautifully unfeigned storytelling. Director Hong Sang-soo has crafted a melancholy, heartwarming and thought-provoking film that will entrance filmgoers. “[A] sparkling diversion about alternate lives that runs circles around even his recent output for storytelling satisfaction.” –Jessica Kiang, Variety
Director Biography
Born in Seoul in 1960, Hong Sang-soo is the son of film producer parents. His many films include Hill of Freedom (2014), Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), On the Beach at Night Alone (2017), Hotel by the River (2018), In Front of Your Face (2021), all of which have screened at past MSPIFFs.