Walk Up

Hong Sang-soo's 2022 Korean film is a story in four parts set inside a multi-storey building. An established film director arrives with his daughter, who is interested in interior design, and each section moves one floor higher while time advances indistinctly. The same characters appear in different relationships and different lives, and which section is real is never stated. Hong's method here is as bare as possible: black-and-white photography, a static camera, zooms, and long conversations at a table. The film's interest lies in the same man being someone else on each floor; identity is not fixed but changes with the room he is in. Kwon Hae-hyo's performance carries that variability. Who it's for: viewers who like Hong Sang-soo's cinema and structural experiment. Who it's not for: anyone wanting narrative explanation, or who will find the long scenes of drinking and eating wearing.