This article examines the formal specificity and evolving dynamics of montage in Hong Sang-soo’s Introduction by considering both its overarching architecture and the micro-level organization of its shots. Although Hong’s cinema is conventionally ...
This article examines the formal specificity and evolving dynamics of montage in Hong Sang-soo’s Introduction by considering both its overarching architecture and the micro-level organization of its shots. Although Hong’s cinema is conventionally situated—following a Bazinian taxonomy—within a mise-en-scène-oriented tradition rather than a cinema of montage, his work persistently experiments with nonlinear temporal configurations that unsettle classical narrative continuity and activate montage in subtle yet decisive ways. Introduction stands out within his oeuvre for its radical use of ellipsis, producing a singular temporal logic even in comparison with his already discontinuous films. Attention is given here to the film’s distinctive modality of point-of-view construction and its temporal leaps across the tripartite form, foregrounding the constitutive force of the off-frame realm that intrudes upon fictional time and generates a renewed experience of duration. Ultimately, these procedures crystallize Hong’s sustained pursuit of new modes of representing everyday life.