Right Now, Wrong Then
Grasshopper Film | Release Date: June 24, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJun 22, 2016
Right 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. Read full review
91
The PlaylistKenji FujishimaMar 3, 2016
Hong’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. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 23, 2016
No filmmaker better understands the revelatory properties of small talk and soju, and few could make the art of repetition seem so rife with possibilities. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijMar 3, 2016
Taken 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. Read full review
90
The New YorkerRichard BrodyMar 3, 2016
Either 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. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineJames LattimerMar 28, 2016
Spotting and processing the countless differences between the parts offers pleasures on various levels. Read full review
83
The Film StageNick NewmanMar 3, 2016
In 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. Read full review
80
Time OutDavid EhrlichJun 24, 2016
The first half of Right Now, Wrong Then fits the usual mold, but the real joke begins when the movie abruptly starts over and our hero — seemingly aware of his Groundhog Day do-over — makes subtly different (and smarter) choices the second time around in a rich and playful revision. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 23, 2016
Contemplating both tales in succession can induce a far from unpleasant sense of vertigo, a feeling of standing at the edge of an abyss of wide-open philosophical questions and deep psychological mysteries. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeMar 3, 2016
There’s an element of playfulness here – Hong challenges us to identify the subtle shifts in emphasis and interplay between the two versions of the story. The narrative expands into an intricate game of spot the difference. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMar 3, 2016
No 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. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaJun 24, 2016
If all I saw was the first half, I would have given it a shrug and left in a semi-foul mood. But the whole is greater for being two parts in this case, making me glad that I have finally lost my Hong Sang-soo virginity. Read full review
75
ConsequenceBlake GobleMar 3, 2016
The 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. Read full review
70
VarietyGuy LodgeMar 3, 2016
Right Now, Wrong Then is a film of minute observations rather than grand revelations, less concerned with butterfly-effect consequentiality than the variable human foibles that can turn a bad day into a good one. Read full review
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