The Day He Arrives (reviewed)

Writer-director Hong Sang-soo likes to make films about filmmakers who drink a lot and get involved with women who’re variously attracted to their sexual ploys. His Writer/director Hong Sang-soo likes to make films about filmmakers who drink a lot and get involved with women who are variously attracted to their sexual ploys. His “Woman on the Beach” (2006) and “Hahaha” (2010) worked very well and not so well, respectively, and this luminous black-and-white rom-com falls somewhere in between, following a Seoul-based auteur (Yu Jun-sang) who reunites with an old flame while indulging his drinking and insatiable horniness. A regular at the Cannes Film Festival, Hong is an artist to whom — despite or because of his familiarly booze-fueled preoccupations — one does need to pay respect. 79 min.) 3 1/2 out of 4 stars. Rob Nelson