The simple structure, unwinding over roughly 36 hours, unassumingly encompasses a lifetime of disappointment and inescapable male foolishness. It's quite a rich, absorbing spectacle.

Acutely perceptive and mournful character study.

Hong has a grace and stealth of his own, and his scenes tend to tilt in directions that few of us would dare to predict.

Whatever else it may be, the film is an unflattering portrait of this egotistical, self-important professional layer in South Korea, conformist but bullying.