81
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloRight Now, Wrong Then — which won the top prize at 2015’s Locarno Film Festival, and is heroically being released by brand-new distributor Grasshopper Film — is not only his finest work to date but also the very best film released in 2016 so far.
- 91The PlaylistKenji FujishimaThe PlaylistKenji FujishimaHong’s two-part structure in Right Now, Wrong Then, instead of just being a cute formal trick, reveals a character’s troubled inner life in fiendishly clever ways.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijTaken separately, these two medium-length works would be diverting but also rather minor Hong, with their typical dry humor and observations about life and love. But taken as a single, 120-minute work, the small differences in the dialogue and attitudes of parts one and two reveal nothing less than the humanity, inner life and subconscious decision-making processes of the characters, turning the whole into one of Hong’s strongest features to date.
- 90The New YorkerRichard BrodyThe New YorkerRichard BrodyEither hour alone would be a wry, incisive, quietly painful drama, set at the intersection of art and life, about foregrounded action and the weight of personal history. Together, the two parts make a radical fiction about the crucial role of imagination in lived experience. Hong’s narrative gamesmanship reveals agonized regret.
- 88Slant MagazineJames LattimerSlant MagazineJames LattimerSpotting and processing the countless differences between the parts offers pleasures on various levels.
- 83The Film StageThe Film StageIn building a mystery, comedy, romance, occasional melodrama, and even a study of the artist’s foolishness that defies expectations well after we’re familiar with its brilliant conceit, Hong has yet again proven the vitality of his voice. At this point, it seems unlikely he’ll ever make a bad film.
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinNo director working today can carry out this kind of heavyweight emotional excavation with such feather-light flicks of his trowel. That’s Hong’s gift, as counterintuitive as it is unique: he makes molehills out of mountains.
- 75ConsequenceBlake GobleConsequenceBlake GobleThe way Right Now, Wrong Then yields different results, moods, and beats as the result of minor shake-ups in the opening scenes is beyond fascinating, often charming, and at times amusingly uncomfortable.