The second installment of Shin Yeonsik’s middle-aged romance trilogy unfolds like a tragic Russian novel, in a visual monochrome with understated audio. A writer, who had lapsed into unconsciousness at the age of 27, miraculously regains consciousness after a 27-year coma and wakes to a world where he is a literary sensation, a prestige writer representing the period. The book, <The Russian Novel>, has earned him legendary status. It just so happens he did not write the book. In a reflective scene near the end of the film a character explains the basics of the Russian novel: long, complicated and so many characters. The same can be said ofthe film. It has a relatively long running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes and a complicated narrative structure, unfolding in order. There are so many characters in the film that it’s impossible to remember them all. Although long, it is never boring; complicated, certainly, but never difficult; and packed characters, yes, but never to the point of distracting. (JEON Chanil)