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‘By the Stream’ Review: Hong Sangsoo’s Wry, Strangely Sweet Ode to Art, Love and Eel
A has-been actor tries to get back in touch with his creative side — but awakens his romantic one more — in Hong Sangsoo's 'By the Stream.'
Distinguished from other Hongs like it by its light autumnal chill and accompanying russet palette, this subtle comedy of actors, academics and dreams set to one side welcomes the director’s steadfast fans like a gentle but hesitant embrace. (It would be a stretch to describe this droll, low-stakes film as any kind of statement on cancel culture, but one can detect a sly metatextual allusion to the Korean tabloid scandal that greeted his affair with Kim — now his partner and production manager — several years ago.) Sudden emotional spillages come at unexpected points, as in one oddly moving scene when Sieon asks his quartet of young amateur actresses what they want to become, prompting a range of earnest responses from “a person who loves truly” to “I’ll light the smallest lamp in the corner and protect it until I die.” This kind of tender sentimentality isn’t par for the course with Hong, a filmmaker whose essential feature template may be close to self-parody in its consistency, but allows for a fluid, ever-expanding spectrum of moods, feelings and foibles.
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