***/****
starring Kwon Hae-hyo, Lee Hye-young, Song Sunmi, Seok-ho Shin
directed by Hong Sang-soo
by Angelo Muredda A winding staircase serves as the connective tissue linking the disparate segments in Hong Sang-soo's Walk Up, a melancholy and self-deprecating profile of the Artist as a Depressive Loner that neatly tracks a middle-aged director's relationships, career, and health across his time spent on the various floors of his building. The prolific filmmaker's latest riff on his usual motifs--among them, social drinking, doppelgängers, and the awkwardness of film culture--sees him in a downcast mood, reflected in the minimalist set-design and black-and-white digital photography, as well as the none-too-hopeful attitude towards making and promoting art in a pandemic.
