Easily one of Hong Sang-soo's shortest features (running 105 minutes), Introduction nevertheless feels distinct within Hong's oeuvre with its black and white footage, relatively large cast, and slightly more active camerawork. Which isn't to suggest that this doesn't bear his hallmarks. It's just that most scenes despite the single shot POV feature more zooms and pans, and even occassionally splice in other material. Introduction also has a young protagonist: a former actor (Shin Seok-ho) with intimacy issues on camera and relationship issues off.
His girlfriend (Park Mi-so) has problems of her own. She's relocated to Berlin to pursue a degree in fashion, her mother (Seo Young-hwa) is a bit of an underminer, and she's been recently diagnosed with uveitis. Unless that last part is a drunk dream experienced by her beau after too many drinks with his mom (Cho Yun-hee), an old actor (Gi Ju-bong), and a cigarette-bumming best friend (Ha Seong-guk). Neither has an easy road ahead. Maybe his acupuncturist father (Kim Young-ho) can help, although he's been known to forget clients with inserted needles behind the curtain. Better to seek assistance from the new roommate (Kim Young-ho) who -- behind the scenes -- is also serving as still photographer, production manager, and script supervisor.
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