: The film opened in select U.S. theaters, including Film at Lincoln Center , on August 8, 2025 .
As with The Novelist’s Film (2022), the narrative spirals around a small-scale artistic production. Rehearsals are interrupted by personal confessions, misinterpreted glances, and the gentle absurdity of everyday conversation. Hong’s signature zooms (both in and out) punctuate static long takes, while the monochrome photography—courtesy of his regular cinematographer—lends the winter setting a stark, contemplative beauty. by the stream hong sangsoo 2024 sub eng work cracked
Here is a radical suggestion: Use the interim to rewatch Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) on MUBI. Read critic Jonathan Romney’s essays on Hong’s use of repetition. Then, when By the Stream finally arrives legally, watch it properly—on a television, not a laptop; with clean subtitles, not mangled ones; without the guilt of a torrent client running in the background. : The film opened in select U
: Sieon is a formerly blacklisted actor-director who now runs a bookstore. His return to the university—where he directed a play 40 years earlier—allows him to rebuild his bond with Jeonim and start a new connection with Professor Jeong (Cho Yun-hee), Jeonim's colleague. The Stream Read critic Jonathan Romney’s essays on Hong’s use
In his thirty-second feature, By the Stream