A Traveler's Needs. 2024. South Korea. Written and directed by Hong Sang-soo. With Isabelle Huppert, Lee Hye-young, Kwon Hae-hyo. DCP courtesy Cinema Guild. 90. In English, French, Spanish; English subtitles min.
Minimalist, eccentric, and populated with quirky characters in absurd—often booze-enhanced—scenarios, Hong Sang-soo’s films are like chapters in an ever-growing volume that explores human behavior, desires, and the art of screen storytelling. Isabelle Huppert, in her third collaboration with Hong, appears as a traveler in South Korea who gives private French lessons to make ends meet, and whose unorthodox teaching style both confounds and amuses her students. The thrill of A Traveler’s Needs, the auteur’s funniest film in recent years, lies in its ambiguity: Is the foreign traveler a source of intrigue or confusion? Is she a genuine oddball or a crafty con artist? It’s all in the eye of the beholder. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival.