There is a sequence at the centre of Hong Sangsoo's cinematic riddle where a writer (most of the characters here are writers, actors or both) is seen repeatedly going up and down a staircase. Her indecision, catching her in a strange limbo between here and there, might as well serve as the key motif and mood of this slippery, ambiguous film.

Different characters drift in and out of a back-alley cafe in Seoul, looking for new inspiration or accommodation, speaking of their hopes and regrets - while A-reum (Hong's regular muse Kim Minhee) eavesdrops on their conversations, typing up her observations into what she describes as "sort of a diary, but not a diary." Episodic and meandering - Grass finds Korean master Hong Sangsoo setting up a fascinating narrative problem for himself and solving it as only he can.

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