83
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The New York TimesAustin ConsidineThe New York TimesAustin ConsidineA Chekhovian study in small moments and chance encounters, which is to say it is a study of human beings as they really live: ambiguously and without exposition, spontaneously and without tidy motives or resolution.
- 90Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangThe structuring theme of The Novelist’s Film may be artistic frustration, the kind that can spur a writer to call it quits, an actor to take a break and even an established director to reconsider his calling. But it’s also very much about finding creative renewal in unexpected places — a bookstore, an outdoor trail, a movie theater — and learning to embrace, rather than resist, life’s beautifully meandering flow.
- 88Slant MagazineJake ColeSlant MagazineJake ColeThe film proves that Hong Sang-soo has yet to exhaust his methods of deriving significance and beauty from the most quotidian of details.
- 83The PlaylistMark AschThe PlaylistMark AschThough it lacks the near-spiritual dimension of the recent “In Front of Your Face” (Hong’s best in years), The Novelist’s Film is another focused, charming autofiction, well-structured yet open to the inspirations of serendipity.
- 83IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichI can’t say whether Hong has suffered any of the creative self-doubts that animate his latest heroine, but the film he’s made for her feels as revealing as the one she then makes for herself. Free your art, your art will free you in return — a nice idea, but one that the uniqueness of Hong’s career makes easier to admire than it is to internalize.
- 80Screen DailyJonathan RomneyScreen DailyJonathan RomneySome small-scale but surprising formal twists, and much playfulness, will keep his admirers happy.
- 80The New YorkerRichard BrodyThe New YorkerRichard BrodyThe Novelist’s Film is straightforwardly chronological and naturalistic, but that makes it no less intricate or sophisticated a reflection on the nature of movies, both intellectual and practical.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe deadpan edge of much of the film’s 90 minutes of prattle conceals thoughts on the insularity of creative communities, the ticking clock of an artist’s life and the importance of remaining open to finding truth even in what appear to be random connections.