The Power of Kangwon Province

Hong Sangsoo
1998
110 minutes

Description

Presented in a beautiful restoration and newly translated, Hong Sangsoo’s breakthrough second feature, THE POWER OF KANGWON PROVINCE, is an early masterwork from the prolific filmmaker. Playing with structure, perspective and time – elements that would become hallmarks of his later work – the film follows a young woman, Jisook, who, fresh off her relationship with a married man, joins two girlfriends for a vacation in the mountainous Kangwon region and quickly makes the same mistakes, tumbling into bed with a married policeman. The film then shifts to her ex, Sangwon, who happens to be visiting the same region at the same time, and threatens to cross Jisook’s path.

Reviews

"Etched with precision and conveying a world of feeling, The Power of Kangwon Province is the second feature by the South Korean director Hong Sang-soo and one of the best films you can see this year."
— Manohla Dargis, The New York Times