Mul-an-e-seo (2023)

Opens 12/1 at Metrograph in New York City. Screening with Pedro Costa's THE DAUGHTERS OF FIRE. A trio of friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot a film together. The director, Seongmo (Shin Seokho), recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem: Seongmo hasn't decided what to make. His most overtly experimental work to date, IN WATER reveals director Hong Sangsoo at the height of his allusory powers. The story is simple: three friends set out to make a film, and then they do it. But with bold formal choices and his signature impulse toward the uncanny, Hong evokes infinite mysteries and hints at whole worlds lurking below the surface of everyday reality.