There are two sides to Hong Sangsoo’s characteristic games with storytelling form and structure. The ‘objective’ side reflects his interest in the tricks and traps of narrative itself, which he always sees as a garden of forking paths: alternative events and outcomes are shown as equally real. The ‘subjective’ side is more to do with psychological truths: the way that daydreams and fantasies can become as ‘real’ to us as our actual experiences. Both sides are present and correct in Yourself and Yours, but this time the ‘subjective’ is dominant.

Minjung leaves the painter Youngsoo after a row about drinking; he was worried about his mother’s health at the time and picked the fight after hearing rumours about his girlfriend. Minjung decides to start afresh and when she runs into any of their old friends she pretends to be someone else: a twin sister or someone else entirely. Or maybe there really is another young woman who looks just like Minjung? Meanwhile Youngsoo breaks his leg and starts to miss her terribly … This is Hong’s sweetest film, taking the idea of starting over in a relationship to the cleaners and bringing it back freshly pressed. It’s so sweet, in fact, that some of it might be fantasy.  

TONY RAYNS