‘In Front of Your Face’ Review: The Difference Is in the Details in Hong Sangsoo’s Latest
Jessica Kiang Hong Sangsoo characters have a habit of — you might even say a genius for — diffidence in the face of profundity. In that way, they’re very like the films in which they appear: outwardly casual, slight, polite, holding pain and truth and existential observation in check with an airy gesture, a sad smile or, in “In Front of Your Face,” the South Korean auteur’s second film this year (after the Berlin-awarded “Introduction”), an unexpected peal of utterly genuine, soul-repairing laughter.Certainly, Sangok (the luminous Lee Hyeyoung, who, like her character, gained considerable fame in South Korea decades ago but has not acted much recently) laughs at the strangest moments.