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Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo‘s latest Berlinale competition entry “What Does That Nature Say to You” has secured distribution deals across multiple territories, Seoul-based sales agent Finecut has revealed. The film has been picked up by Arizona Films (France), Ama Films (Greece & Cyprus), Minerva Pictures (Italy), L’atalante Cinema (Spain), Cola Films (Taiwan) and The Cinema Guild (U.S.).

Hong’s minimalist drama, which follows a young poet who spends a day with his girlfriend’s family, marks the director’s 12th film to screen at the Berlinale. The pic stars Ha Seongguk and Kwon Haehyo.

According to Finecut, the film’s world premiere in Berlin was met with laughter and enthusiasm, with Hong’s signature subtle humor resonating strongly with audiences and international buyers alike.

The prolific filmmaker has become a Berlinale darling in recent years, collecting an array of Silver Bear awards. Hong won the Silver...

What Does That Nature Say To You by prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sangoo has secured distribution in key European territories following its premiere in Competition at the Berlinale.

Sales agent Finecut has closed deals for France (Arizona Films), Italy (Minerva Pictures) and Spain (L’atalante Cinema) as well as Greece and Cyprus (Ama Films). The film has also been picked up for Taiwan (Cola Films), having previously been sold to the US (The Cinema Guild).

The story centres on a young poet who drops off his girlfriend at her parents’ impressive home and bumps into her family, leading to...

Finecut has sold Hong Sangsoo’s Berlinale premiere What Does That Nature Say To You to the South Korean filmmaker’s regular US distributor Cinema Guild.

‘What Does That Nature Say To You’ review

Hong’s 33rd feature stars his longtime collaborator Kwon Haehyo in the story of a young poet who unravels after a boozy day at his girlfriend’s family house. Ha Seongguk, Kang Soyi, Cho Yunhee and Park Miso round out the key cast.The drama scored 2.7 on Screen’s Berlinjury grid.

Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters this year. Company president Peter Kelly negotiated...

On the heels of its premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, Hong Sang-soo’s “What Does That Nature Say to You” has found U.S. distribution with Cinema Guild.

The movie marks the prolific South Korean director’s 33rd movie and follows an impressive streak of six consecutive years at the Berlinale.

Cinema Guild, which recently collaborated with Hong on his previous film “A Traveler’s Needs,” will release “What Does That Nature Say to You” in theaters in the U.S. later this year. Produced by Jeonwonsa Film, the fim is represented internationally by Finecut.

“What Does That Nature Say to You” follows Donghwa (Ha Seongguk), a fledgling poet in his thirties who rejects material aspirations and seeks to lead a life dedicated to truth and beauty. On a lazy afternoon, he drives his girlfriend, Junhee (Kang Soyi), back to her parents’ home outside Seoul. In the driveway,...

Working in the Korean film industry for more than 30 years, veteran actor Kwon Hae-hyo has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the scene and witnessed Korean cinema’s rise as a global cultural powerhouse.

Throughout those three decades, Kwon has also developed a formidable pairing with prolific filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, appearing in 12 of his films so far. Besides starring in Hong’s films, Kwon has acted in titles like Train to Busan sequel Peninsula, crime thriller Bogota: City of the Lost and legal drama Juror 8.

Arriving at the Berlinale for the world premiere of Hong’s latest film, What Does that Nature Say to You, Kwon tells Deadline that he is drawn to Hong’s distinct long-take, pensive style, which repeatedly offers a fresh and liberating challenge for him as an actor.

“With other films, you know from start to finish what it’s going to be, but with director Hong Sang-soo,...

The last time Hong Sangsoo failed to feature in a Berlinale program, Childish Gambino’s “This is America” was in the charts and Green Book was on its way to beating Roma at the Oscars. In just those six years, the festival has witnessed three different creative directors, weathered a global pandemic, and buckled under the weight of its own political fealty. Which is to say: some things change, but the Hong remains the same. He is still tiring to his detractors. He is still a reassuring ever-presence to his devotees. If, like I, you happen to be one of the latter, you’ll probably find much to enjoy in What Does that Nature Say to You, the director’s latest comic melodrama and the closest he has yet come to remaking Meet the Parents.

As low-key and delightful as last year’s A Travelers Needs, but without Isabelle Huppert to steal the show,...

No figure in world cinema is as productive as South Korean one-man band Hong Sang-soo, or as consistent in exploring variations on similar themes, always from a fresh angle. With such a prolific output — he has 33 features under his belt, all but three of them made since 2000 — they can’t all be perfectly formed jewels. But when the pieces fit together, they can be uniquely satisfying, finding nuance in simplicity, poetry in the mundane, deeper meaning in the most seemingly innocuous exchanges. What Does That Nature Say to You (Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani) is one of Hong’s more captivating recent entries.

The lives of artists, chance meetings, leisurely meals, cigarette breaks and drunken humiliations are all staples of Hong’s films that resurface in this account of the unplanned introduction of a young poet to the family of his girlfriend of three years, who has somehow never mentioned his existence to her parents.

The Hong Sangsoo universe has always orbited artists of one stripe or another — wandering filmmakers, poets, and other writers, some more erratic than others. A recurring theme is the serenity and emotional salve that art can provide, along with an alternative to more ordinary, well-traveled roads through life. But in What Does That Nature Say to You, Hong takes a hard look at the artistic pursuit and at sincerity in relationships, with a seemingly straightforward story that has a bit of a sting in its tail.

The opening scene has a charming ambiguity: a man and a woman sit in a car parked at the side of a road, as if it’s the shy farewell at the end of a date. In fact, Donghwa (Ha Seongguk) is dropping off his girlfriend, Junhee (Kang Soyi), at her family’s home after a long drive. Impressed by the big house Donghwa joins her for an impromptu visit. And in the serendipitous manner of Hong’s films, a “meet the parents” scenario soon gets underway.

Part of the appeal of Hong’s deftly scripted films is being in the moment with characters who, beyond perhaps some vague idea of taking a trip, seem to be reacting on the fly with a beguiling openness. That organic quality can wear on those who (for some odd reason) have gone to a Hong film expecting a plot that moves like clockwork, and What Does That Nature Say to You does hold its cards close. For a long time, Donghwa is simply getting to know Junhee’s father (Kwon Haehyo), a friendly man who is full of kind words for his daughter’s boyfriend (and even his beat-up 1990s car).

Donghwa is a poet by profession, as he keeps saying, and that delights Junhee’s father, whose wife (Cho Yunhee) also writes poetry. Junhee’s family is well off — her father apparently owns the hill where the house sits — and there’s an echo of the class undertones in Hong’s A Traveler’s Needs, in which Kwon Haehyo played an affable, wealthy man with a fondness for music (and a wife who’s a bit skeptical of their visitor). Gradually Donghwa’s hang-time with the girlfriend’s fam starts to show small signs of strain during an outing to a temple and restaurant, and then a home-cooked chicken dinner.

The problem is that Donghwa’s life as a thirtysomething poet begins to look less and less substantial, maybe more of a lifestyle choice than a full-fledged calling. Junhee’s homebody sister keeps pointing out, with some satisfaction, that Donghwa has a fallback plan because his father is a wealthy attorney. The sort of sentiments that sound like bohemian wisdom in other Hong movies have a try-hard ring from Donghwa: “A life spent pursuing beauty is good … right?” he says, as if reassuring himself as well. When he prostrates himself at the memorial tree for Junhee’s grandmother, the gesture impresses her father, but again, it’s a bit much.

Hong has never been above puncturing the pretensions of his shambling artist characters, but it’s striking how the family’s open-hearted welcome eventually pales before Junhee’s mother’s doubts at the dinner table. Hong again employs the long table-time takes that have witnessed the mortification of so many drunken characters, this time skewering Donghwa. But in the process we come to understand the father’s initial sincere embrace as a real form of trust, one that is granted but can also be withdrawn. These parents might love poetry but they’re also vetting their daughter’s suitor, and their hilariously withering post-dinner evaluation shows they are not naive.

But before that, this multi-chapter film unfolds for so long as a relatively mild encounter between the young couple and her family that one keeps wondering when the other shoe will drop. Unlike some of Hong’s trickier narrative schemes, the visit unfolds in a linear manner over just about 24 hours. Given Donghwa’s increasingly apparent unremarkability, the story coasts for a while on the family’s subtle interplay: the subtle passive-aggression among the sisters (as Junhee gets increasingly frustrated with her boyfriend), and the way the warmth of Hong all-star Kwon Haehyo prevails until Cho Yunhee cuts in with motherly reality checks.

It’s all a big contrast to the portrayal of the older poet in Hong’s In Our Day, a lone but lionized figure who happily tipples the afternoon away. Donghwa might not even have the chops for his chosen career, judging from reactions to his poetry. In the end, What Does That Nature Say to You lands as a quietly bruising portrait in failure, not lacking in compassion but also not indulging in easy romantic illusions.

Title: What Does That Nature Say to You (Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani)

Festival: Berlin (Competition)

Director-screenwriter: Hong Sangsoo

Cast: Ha Seongguk, Kwon Haehyo, Cho Yunhee, Kang Soyi, Park Miso

Sales agent: Finecut

Running time: 1 hr 48 mins...

If you’re familiar with Hong Sangsoo, you might think you know what to expect from “What Does That Nature Say to You.” The Korean DIY extraordinaire pumps out new movies practically between meals, each with its own naturalistic observations about characters engaging in casual chatter, but whose disarming malaise resides deep within. His 33rd feature holds true to that broad approach, with soothing conversations eventually giving way to a handful of revelations stemming from repressed opinions. However, it’s also Hong’s most formally experimental work in some time, for reasons that may not initially be obvious.

Shot on notably lo-fi, blurry video, the story begins with struggling thirty-something poet Donghwa (Ha Seongguk) dropping his girlfriend Junhee (Kang Soyi) off at her parents’ suburban hillside home, only to discover that it’s much fancier and more sprawling than he’d assumed, or been led to believe. They don’t...

South Korea’s Plus M Entertainment arrives at the 2025 Berlin European Film Market (EFM) with a star-studded lineup led by “Squid Game 2” actor Kang Ha-neul in crime thriller “Yadang: The Snitch” and an international cast including Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, and “Squid Game” actor Hoyeon in Na Hong-jin’s “Hope.”

“Yadang: The Snitch,” from the producers behind record-breaking hit “12:12 The Day” and “Inside Men,” follows professional informants called “yadang” who provide covert information about the drug world to prosecutors and police. When a drug bust at a party attended by high-profile second-generation VIPs leads to a dangerous conspiracy, a seasoned yadang must fight to survive. The film pairs Kang with “Exhuma” star Yoo Hai-jin and “The World of the Married” actor Park Hae-joon.

“Train to Busan” director Yeon Sang-ho returns with “The Ugly,” a mystery thriller starring “Harbin” lead Park Jeong-min and “Parasyte: The Grey” actor Kwon Hae-hyo,...

Continuing the small trend of Korean action movies about stories of locals outside of Asia, as in “Escape from Mogadishu” and “The Point Men”, Kim Seong-je has come up with a story taking place in Bogota this time, with the film actually being shot there, at least until Covid forced the filmmakers to relocate in Korea. At the same time, however, the quality of these titles seems to deteriorate with each entry, and “City of the Lost”, unfortunately, is no exception.

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After his family is uprooted by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, 19-year-old Kook-hee (Song Joong-ki) arrives in Bogotá with his parents in hopes of a better life, only to be thrown into a brutal struggle for survival. Stripped of their savings and left to fend for himself, he takes a job under Sergeant Park, who has started as a...

Bogota: City of the Lost begins with the impact of the 1997 Asian financial collapse. For Kook-hee and his family, this economic turmoil drives their escape from a disintegrating South Korea to Bogotá’s chaotic streets. The film establishes a cultural conflict that shapes the narrative. What emerges is an immigrant story intertwined with a tense, crime-driven drama where survival tests physical and moral limits.

The story explores ambition, betrayal, and global economic pressures. Kook-hee transforms from a timid newcomer to a significant figure in a Korean-run smuggling operation in Colombia. The narrative reveals power dynamics between characters and within Kook-hee’s internal struggles.

Loyalty becomes fragile as ethical boundaries blur, leading toward an inevitable confrontation. While the central plot follows a familiar trajectory of an underdog becoming a leader, the tension between Korean immigrant experiences and Colombian surroundings creates compelling dramatic depth.

The film explores an emotional journey where Kook-hee...

I think it is safe to say that Netflix’s Bogota: City of the Lost didn’t live up to its potential, given how generic and risk-free the narrative is presented. South Korean crime dramas tend to be much more engaging, raw, and political in their portrayal of follies and vices, and Kim Seong-je’s latest venture wasn’t any of those things. As a result, despite having a good cast and premise and hence, the potential to make a better movie, the weak script renders the end product pretty forgettable.

Kook-hee Played By Song Joong-ki

Korean actor Song Joong-ki is a popular face in the small screen scene, and in his acting career spanning one and a half decades, he has starred in many diverse, acclaimed roles. Some of his notable works include playing the role of Sejong in the historical drama series Deep Rooted Tree, playing the lead...

“Bogotá: City of the Lost” is a 2024 Korean drama categorized as a Crime Thriller, and is streaming on Netflix.

Summary: Sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is bad. All you know is that you have to survive.

Why Move From One Country to Another Country to Be Lost

“Bogotá: City of the Lost”, begins with a reference to the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-1998 when “severe balance-of-payments pressures in South Korea brought the country to the brink of default”. Because of the country’s financial crisis Guk-Hui’s father uprooted the family. He, and his mother and father moved to Bogotá, Columbia. The father had a friend, Mr. Park, who lived and worked there. They were both soldiers who fought in Vietnam together. The father had high hopes. He was told that if you knew Mr. Park, your success was guaranteed. As soon as they arrived they were in a...

“Bogotá: City of the Lost,” a Netflix original film directed by Kim Seong-je, offers viewers a thrilling journey into the heart of Colombia’s capital. This South Korean production, starring Song Joong-ki, has captured audiences with its intense narrative and exploration of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Plot Overview

Set against the backdrop of Bogotá’s bustling streets and shadowy underworld, the film follows a young Korean man who relocates to Colombia in search of a better life. As he navigates the complexities of his new environment, he finds himself ascending through the ranks of the Colombian black market. The protagonist’s journey is fraught with danger, as he risks everything for a shot at success in a foreign land.

Cast and Characters

The film features an ensemble cast led by Song Joong-ki as Kook-hee in the lead role. Supporting actors include Lee Hee-jun as Su-young, Kwon Hae-hyo as Sergeant Park,...

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for the 2025 edition, running February 13-23. It’s the first official lineup overseen by new artistic director and former BFI London Film Festival leader Tricia Tuttle, who succeeds Carlo Chatrian and brings her background as an American journalist and curator to the annual German showcase. She’s also working with co-directors of programming, Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz, to help reposition the Berlinale’s profile among the great global film festivals and lure bigger-name filmmakers in the process.

This year’s lineup, announced Tuesday, January 21, features new films from Richard Linklater, Michel Franco, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Hong Sangsoo (“What Does That Nature Say to You”), Radu Jude (“Kontinental ’25”), and Lucile Hadžihalilović (“The Ice Tower”). Already confirmed in the mix are “Mickey 17” from Bong Joon Ho and Ira Sachs’ Sundance premiere “Peter Hujar’s Day,” plus Tom Tykwer’s “The Light” opening the festival.

Following last week’s lineup announcement, the Berlinale 2025 has now fleshed out its slate with the Competition, Special, and Perspectives sections. Highlights include the world premieres of Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott; Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25; Hong Sangsoo’s What Does that Nature Say to You; Michel Franco’s Dreams starring Jessica Chastain; Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower starring Marion Cotillard; and Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk with Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, and Vicky Krieps.

The festival will also include international premieres from Julia Loktev, Mary Bronstein, Kahlil Joseph, and more. In terms of omissions for films that potentially could have been a strong fit: there’s no Steven Soderberg’s Black Bag, Wes Anderson’s German production The Phoenician Scheme, nor Berlinale regular Christian Petzold, who wrapped Miroirs No. 3 only a few months ago.

Check out the lineup...

The Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled the full list of titles set for its official competition alongside perspective and specials sidebars.

A total of 19 films have been selected for the international competition. It’s a buzzy selection with multiple titles that have been anticipated and boast high-profile names. Highlights include Richard Linklater’s latest feature Blue Moon, starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott. Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco launches his latest title Dreams in competition. The film stars Jessica Chastain, Isaac Hernández and Rupert Friend. Franco last worked with Chastain on the Venice competition title Memory.

Elsewhere, Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude lands in competition with Kontinental ’25. Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps also secures a spot alongside Hong Sangsoo’s latest What Does that Nature Say to You, and Mumblecore veteran Mary Bronstein returns as a director with If I Had Legs I’d Kick You...

It’s a quiet but quality indie weekend led by documentaries and a few features in limited release as Gladiator 2 and Wicked storm in, other independents hold over, and ahead of anticipated specialty debuts next week like Queer, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig and Maria.

Docs out today follow artists in Ukraine, women in Afghanistan, South African photographer Ernest Cole and Amichai Lau-Lavie, a gay Israeli descendant of rabbis who becomes one himself. Narrative features include Hong Sangoo’ A Traveler’s Needs, animated Flow and The Black Sea.

Porcelain War from Picturehouse, the Sundance Grand Jury/U.S. Documentary Award winner that just screened at Doc NYC, opens at NYC’s IFC Center. Filmmakers Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev and participant Anya Stasenko are on hand for Q&As with award-winning producer Paula DuPré Pesman.

Set amid the chaos and destruction of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the...

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When we say that Netflix has something for everyone it is true for fans of all genres but especially true for the horror genre fans. With an incredible creator like Mike Flanagan who made brilliant horror shows and movies, Netflix has abundant peak horror content. So, today we thought of listing what we thought were the best horror shows on Netflix.

Hellbound Credit – Netflix

Hellbound is a South Korean supernatural dark fantasy horror thriller series created by Yeon Sang-ho and Choi Gyu-seok. Based on the webtoon of the same name by Sang-ho and Gyu-seok, the Netflix series is set in a world where unearthly creatures appear and condemn people to hell prompting people to create their own religious factions. Hellbound stars Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hyun-joo, Park Jeong-min, Won Jin-ah, Yang Ik-june, and Kim Do-yoon.

Interview With the Vampire...

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Hellbound is a South Korean dark fantasy horror thriller series directed by Yeon Sang-ho from a screenplay by Choi Gyu-seok. Based on the webtoon of the same name by Sang-ho, the Netflix series is set in a world where unearthly creatures appear and condemn people to hell. Soon after their appearance, religious groups begin forming on the ideology of divine justice. Hellbound stars Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hyun-joo, Park Jeong-min, Won Jin-ah, and Yang Ik-june. So, if you loved the dark fantasy elements, intensely thrilling story, and compelling characters in Hellbound here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Sweet Home (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Sweet Home is a South Korean apocalyptic action horror series written by Hong So-ri, Kim Hyung-min, and Park So-jung. Based on the Naver webtoon of the same name by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan,...

The fizzy, milky Korean rice wine makgeolli is as much a main character as Isabelle Huppert in Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo‘s third collaboration with the iconic French actress. In fact, her character in “A Traveler’s Needs” can’t make it through the day without having at least a few glasses.

“A Traveler’s Needs” stars César winner Huppert as a tourist drifting through Seoul who, with no money of her own and only a few jaunty sunhats and colorful cardigans, takes to teaching French to the locals to pay her room and board. But her unorthodox approach both alienates and entrances those around her in the latest delicate comedy from Hong, where characters booze and smoke their way through their ennui without ever succumbing to soul-crushing misanthropy. Watch the trailer for “A Traveler’s Needs,” an IndieWire exclusive, below.

Here’s the official synopsis: “A comedy of improbable encounters and unlikely language lessons,...

They say there are only three certainties in life: death, taxes, and the release of at least one new Hong Sang-soo film each year. In a career marked by extreme prolificness—”By the Stream” is his ninth film to come out this decade, which, need I remind you, is less than halfway through completion—Hong’s directorial approach has equally been marked by its own set of developments coinciding with his personal journey; minor adjustments for anyone just popping in periodically on one of his many features, but for those accustomed to his propensity for self-reflection and jarring zooms, these changes may as well be signs of a whole new artist.

In particular, this new decade seems to have brought with it a more seasoned shade of that contemplative attitude—one that recognizes the internal faults Hong would begin to examine in the previous decade, but with a newfound understanding...

Acclaimed Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho has set mystery thriller The Ugly as his next feature, which Plus M Entertainment will introduce to buyers at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) in Busan this week.

Yeon is known for directing Peninsula, which received a Cannes 2020 label and proved box office hit across Asia, taking $46.7m at the height of the pandemic; zombie thriller Train To Busan, which played at Cannes in 2016 and went on to take $140m at the global box office; and The King of Pigs, which became the first Korean animation to screen at Cannes when it was selected...

Isabelle Huppert, Hong Sang-soo favourite stars in New York Film Festival highlight A Traveler’s Need Photo: Anne Katrin Titze

Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist (co-written with Mona Fastvold and Silver Lion Best Director winner at the Venice International Film Festival), starring Adrien Brody with Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Stacy Martin, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé, and Alessandro Nivola; Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig with Soheila Golestani, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki, Niousha Akhshi, and Missagh Zareh; Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April (Special Jury Prize in Venice) with Ia Sukhitashvili, plus Hong Sang-soo’s By The Stream, starring Kwon Haehyo, Kim Minhee, and Cho Yunhee and his A Traveler’s Needs (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival) starring Isabelle Huppert, round out the five early bird highlights in the Main Slate program...

Hong Sang-soo’s films have tricky narrative juxtapositions and symbols that often render potentially mundane moments transcendent. In Our Day, for instance, is composed of a handful of talky plot strands that are subtly connected by props and recurring references in the dialogue. Turn away at a pivotal juncture and you risk failing to grasp the film’s anatomy, as its essence resides in how carefully and fleetingly those and other strands coalesce.

In A Traveler’s Needs, though, Hong’s sleight of hand with narrative is less consistent than usual. For a long stretch of the film’s running time, Hong appears to have built the wrong concept around the wrong actor, giving Isabelle Huppert a conceptual role that leans hard on her brand of curt whimsicality. Kim Min-hee, a veteran of similar roles in Hong’s films, as well as his partner and a key collaborator behind the scenes,...

Writer-director Hong Sang-soo’s By the Stream opens on a pastoral autumn landscape of Seoul, with a stream running toward a bridge. Wide landscape shots are unusual for Hong, and this image introduces this stream as the first of several refrains that will run through the film as, well, currents. Amid a vast narrative, especially for Hong, one that’s rich in scandals and disappointments and broken promises, there’s the relief for the characters of the stream, the foliage, and the moon. As despairing as this film can be, it also has a glow that’s reminiscent of Hong’s In Front of Your Face, only more so. This is the glow of communal rapture, the reassuring bond of community that can also be a trap.

Sitting by the stream is Jeonim (Kim Min-hee), who’s writing in a notebook, seemingly lost in reverie. Hong and Kim express more...

Fall festival season picked up this last week with Venice and Telluride, and now Toronto is just around the corner, from 5-15 September 2024. This year, we’re seeing an exciting number of festival-favorite auteurs return, including Jia Zhang-ke (“Caught with the Wind”), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (“Cloud”), Mohammad Rassoulof (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”), and Hong Sang-soo (“By the Stream”). For those who are in Toronto and are interested in the older classics, TIFF Classics offers some delectable 4k restorations of South Asian and Iranian selects this year, including Raj Kapoor‘s classic “Awara” (1951) and Sohrab Shahid Saless‘ “Time of Maturity” (1976).

In addition to these, genre films seem to make up a healthy number of Asian selections this year. Korean blockbuster star Hyun-bin returns in Woo Min-ho’s latest historical spy movie, “Harbin,” and Tumpbal Tampubolon‘s “Crocodile Tears” promises a “slow-burning suspense thriller.” Three of the infamously-campy Midnight Madness screenings...

‘Korean Cinema Today – Special Premiere’ is a section that selects and premieres the latest and most prominent contemporary Korean commercial films, known for their mass appeal and significance. This year, the section has unveiled five films, including four world premieres, which are set to captivate the audience’s attention.

A Normal Family A Girl with Closed Eyes

The film A Girl with Closed Eyes (2024) is a thriller that delves into the complex and tense relationship between a criminal and a detective, who are reunited after the murder case of a bestselling author. The film features performances by Kim Minha, who gained global recognition from Pachinko (2022), and Moon Choi from Anarchist from Colony (2017). Director Hur Jin-ho’s latest work, A Normal Family (2023), is a well-crafted suspense thriller that depicts the unraveling lives of four individuals, each steadfast in their own beliefs, after they witness a crime scene involving their children captured on CCTV.

Occasionally here in Asian Movie Pulse, we joke about Hong Sang-soo films, that maybe we should also have the same review written once, and just change it a bit every time a new movie of his comes out. The fact remains though, that his success in the festival circuit continues, with “By the Stream” winning an award in Locarno (as usual), this time for Kim Min-hee, as the Best Performance in the international competition.

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This time, there is more of a script here, a more concrete basis where all the eating, drinking and talking revolves around. Jeon-im is a lecturer at a Seoul’s women’s college and a textiles artist, who, as the movie begins, has invited her uncle, former actor and director Si-eon, in order to devise a theatrical skit for the remaining members of a troupe from...

The death of the author is the birth of the reader, as we know from post-structuralist thought; then again, there are Hong Sangsoo’s public remarks. A charming video I often revisit shows the South Korean filmmaker outlining his working method: script dialogue completed the day of (also common on big Hollywood productions), followed by a light-speed editing assembly. But at a public Q&a in Locarno following the premiere of his latest, By the Stream, he revealed a shift; a day now separates his writing and location-shooting. Turning over his new film and this year’s other premiere, A Traveler’s Needs, the extra hours of composition and finessing are evident.

So how about Spot the Difference––which we cynically might call being on Hong world-premiere-reviewing duty. Yet By the Stream’s departures, and relatedly its virtues, are a bit more pronounced. Its running time almost grazes two hours––more...

“By the Stream,” the 32nd feature by Hong Sangsoo, opens as many of the previous 31 have, with a polite meeting between two softly acquainted people — neither strangers nor as familiar to each other as they might once have been. Tentative pleasantries are exchanged, before one says to the other, “You haven’t changed at all.” It’s a premature observation, of course: The ensuing action, such as it is, shows either how much has changed between the two, or how much they’ve forgotten along the way. Distinguished from other Hongs like it by its light autumnal chill and accompanying russet palette, this subtle comedy of actors, academics and dreams set to one side welcomes the director’s steadfast fans like a gentle but hesitant embrace.

Premiering in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, the prolific South Korean’s second feature of 2024 — following the Isabelle Huppert-starring Berlinale prizewinner “A Traveler’s Needs...

“By the Stream” (aka “Suyoocheon”), the latest work by prolific South Korean minimalist director Hong Sang-soo, is set to release in North American theaters next year.

Rights were acquired by Brooklyn-based distributor Cinema Guild from sales agent, Seoul, Korea-based Finecut. Both companies have handled many of the director’s previous works.

The picture will have its world premiere in competition this month at the Locarno Film Festival. It will subsequently play at the New York Film Festival and other festival berths are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Hong is known for his micro-budget, minimalist drama films that are long on conversation, chance encounters and female protagonists. He also likes to work with a tight-knit circle of actors.

The new film is Hong’s 32nd as director. It takes him back to the campus setting of films like “Oki’s Movie” from 2010 and “Our Sunhi” from 2013. A press...

Taking place August 7-17, the official selection for the 77th Locarno Film Festival has been unveiled, featuring a stellar-looking slate of highly anticipated films. Highlights include Hong Sangsoo’s second feature of the year, By the Stream, starring Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, and Cho Yunhee; Ramon Zürcher’s The Sparrow in the Chimney, Wang Bing’s second part of his Youth trilogy, Youth (Hard Times), as well as new films by Radu Jude, Bertrand Mandico, Courtney Stephens, Ben Rivers, Gürcan Keltek, Denis Côté, Kevin Jerome Everson, Fabrice Du Welz (featuring Abel Ferrara!), and many more. Also of particular note is the world premiere of Tarsem Singh’s restored cut of The Fall, which features a slightly different edit as he recently noted.

Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival said, “We are very excited and happy with our selection for Locarno’s 77th edition, which we believe...

The Locarno Film Festival (August 7-17) has revealed the line-up for its 77th edition, with directors including Hong Sangsoo, Wang Bing and Ben Rivers world premiering their latest films in its international competition.

Playing out of competition at Locarno are world premieres from directors including Radu Jude, Fabrice du Welz, Aislinn Clarke, Bertrand Mandico, and Marco Tullio Giordana. Locarno’s famed Piazza Grande screenings include world premieres from Paz Vega, César Díaz and Gianluca Jodice.

Locarno’s international competition comprises 17 films, all of them world premieres, which will vie for the coveted Golden Leopard awards.

Scroll down for full line-up...

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will debut 17 world premieres, including new works by Hong Sang-soo and Wang Bing, as part of its 2024 competition program. This year’s event runs from August 7 – 17.

The festival announced its competition lineups this morning. The Hong Sang-soo feature is titled Suyoocheon (By The Stream) and stars Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, and Cho Yunhee. The Wang Bing feature is a France, Luxembourg, and Netherlands co-production titled Hard Times. Scroll down to see the full Locarno competition lineup, which also includes new titles from Ben Rivers, Mar Coll, and Christoph Hochhäusler.

The festival today also announced that French acting veterans Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet will receive the event’s honorary Excellence Award Davide Campari at the opening ceremony on August 7. Previous recipients of the award include Riz Ahmed and Aaron Taylor Johnson.

Locarno’s separate Piazza Grande lineup features 18 titles, including Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig,...

Parasyte: The Grey is a unique live-action anime adaptation on Netflix, with a different set of characters from the manga and a South Korean setting. Shinichi Izumi's cameo at the end of Parasyte: The Grey hints at a potential season 2, connecting the K-drama to the anime and manga. If a second season happens, it could explore other parasite groups, Shinichi's experience, and the relationship between Su-in and Heidi.

I wish Parasyte: The Grey, Netflixs most unique live-action anime show, would get a second season after a massive manga cameo at the end that left me wanting more. There are plenty of live-action anime adaptations on Netflix, with some being much better than others. Netflix has released some disappointing adaptations like Death Note (2017) and Cowboy Bebop, but it has also delivered some great shows like One Piece. Fortunately, Parasyte: The Grey was a great take on the world of Parasyte.

Cinema Guild has acquired North American rights to Hong Sangsoo’s Berlin Silver Bear winner A Traveler’s Needs starring Isabelle Huppert.

‘A Traveler’s Needs’: Berlin Review

Cinema Guild will release the comedy theatrically following its North American festival premiere later this year.

A Traveler’s Needs marks the third collaboration between Hong and Huppert following 2012’s In Another Country and 2017’s Claire’s Camera.

Huppert plays Iris, a woman who finds herself adrift in Seoul and, without any means to make ends meet, turns to teaching French through a peculiar method. Through a series of encounters the mysteries of her circumstances deepen.

Hong Sansoo’s A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert, has sold North American distribution rights to New York’s Cinema Guild.

The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, winning the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

A Traveler’s Needs will premiere in North America later in 2024, after which Cinema Guild will release in theaters. The pic is a comedy with a strong Korean connection, with Huppert playing Iris, a woman struggling in Seoul who turns to teaching French to make ends meet. Regular collaborators Lee Hyeyoung and Kwon Haehyo also feature as Huppert’s student and flirty husband respectively.

Sangsoo and Huppert have collaborated twice before, on 2012 comedy-drama In Another Country and 2017’s Claire’s Camera.

“A Traveler’s Needs hits like a meteorite from another galaxy,” said Cinema Guild President Peter Kelly. “Huppert delivers a beguiling and hilarious performance. Her Iris is a character that only Hong and Huppert,...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey

The relationship between Su-in and her parasite in "Parasyte: The Grey" is vastly different from Shinichi and Migi's dynamic. Su-in communicates with her parasite, Heidi, through notes, unlike Shinichi and Migi. Shinichi's cameo in "Parasyte: The Grey" opens the door for a potential season 2 featuring two different types of parasite/host relationships.

Netflix’s Parasyte: The Grey got a lot of things right about the anime, but the live-action spinoff series also ignored the best thing about Shinichi Izumi’s story. With a different approach from other Netflix live-action anime adaptations, Parasyte: The Grey was not a retelling of Parasyte: The Maxim but instead a spinoff set in South Korea. Shinichi Izumi appeared in Parasyte: The Grey, but only in a post-credits scene. Despite telling a brand-new story, the K-drama was as faithful as possible to the source material except when...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey

Su-in from Parasyte: The Grey, who shares a lot of similarities with Sweet Home's Hyun-su, finds a happy ending living with her parasite. Hyun-su in Sweet Home deals with a malevolent monster alter wanting control. Hyun-su deserves a happy ending similar to what Su-in got in Parasyte: The Grey

Parasyte: The Grey is Netflix’s perfect show to watch after Sweet Home, and the latest horror K-drama gave its main character the happy ending Song Kang’s Hyun-su might never get. While Parasyte: The Grey and Sweet Home are adaptations of very different stories, there are some interesting parallels between the Netflix monster shows. This includes the existence of creatures who take over humans and have their own personalities. There are also important parallels between the show’s respective main characters — Jeong Su-in and Cha Hyun-su.

Played by Jeon So-nee, Su-in...

This article contains spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey.

One of the latest Netflix original series to come out of South Korea is the science fiction thriller Parasyte: The Grey. Blending body horror and conspiracy-tinged action, Parasyte debuted to strong streaming numbers worldwide after premiering in April. Across the first season’s six episodes, there were plenty of harrowing and heartbreaking twists and turns along the way as a small group of specialists move to stop an all-out extraterrestrial invasion of Earth.

Here is what you need to know about Parasyte: The Grey, what happens in its pulse-pounding finale, and how the episode connects directly with its literary source material to set up a potential second season.

What is Parasyte: The Grey About?

Parasyte: The Grey is based on the manga series Parasyte, created by Hitoshi Iwaaki. The story follows worm-like aliens that fall to Earth and forcibly enter humans’ heads through their ears,...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey

Parasyte: The Grey's final scene is a sequel to Parasyte featuring a cameo by Shinichi Izumi, indicating it continues after the events of the original manga/anime. The K-drama takes place in the same world as the manga/anime, offering a unique expansion of the story with original characters in South Korea. Parasyte: The Grey season 2, if it happens, could see more of Shinichi's story as a consultant to Team Grey, potentially serving as a sequel to the beloved manga/anime.

Parasyte: The Maxim, a popular anime that ran from 2014 to 2015 adapting Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte manga, just got a sequel in the form of Parasyte: The Grey – sort of. There are plenty of live-action anime adaptations on Netflix, from poorly-received projects like Death Note (2017) to hits like One Piece, but Parasyte: The Grey is quite different from...

Parasyte: The Grey offers a perfect spiritual successor to Sweet Home with a compelling horror story. Su-in's journey mirrors Hyun-su's in Sweet Home, both share an internal struggle with monsters. Parasyte: The Grey explores unique themes while maintaining the essence of the original manga.

Netflix now has the perfect K-drama to watch while waiting for Sweet Home season 3, which premiers sometime in 2024. Sweet Home has been one of Netflix’s most popular Korean dramas since its release in December 2020, even though season 2 took three years to arrive. Fortunately, Sweet Home season 3 will premiere this year as part of Netlix’s 2024 K-content slate. A first look at Sweet Home’s third chapter has been revealed, featuring returning characters and indicating that Song Kang’s Hyun-su will take center stage again after missing most of season 2.

Those who cannot wait for Sweet Home to return have a few options for horror K-dramas on Netflix,...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey

Parasyte: The Grey is a live-action spinoff set in South Korea featuring original characters. The parasites are discovered quickly in Parasyte: The Grey, leading to the formation of Team Grey. Heidi and Su-in's relationship differs from Shinichi and Migi, and the show explores different themes from the manga/anime.

Parasyte: The Grey is a live-action spinoff of Parasyte, and the live-action series makes some important changes to the anime while telling an original story. The newest Netflix live-action anime show can hardly be compared to series like One Piece or Yu Yu Hakusho because it does not cover the events of the manga. Instead, the Korean drama expands the world of Parasyte and takes the story to a different country. Parasyte: The Grey is the fourth property based on Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga, joining the Parasyte: The Maxim anime series and the two live-action movies.

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey.

Parasyte: The Grey offers an original spinoff story, setting itself apart from other Netflix live-action adaptations of anime like Death Note (2017). Director Yeong Sang-ho brings a fresh take to the Parasyte universe, combining horror and lore in a new K-drama series on Netflix. The appearance of Shinichi Izumi in Parasyte: The Grey hints at a potential sequel, continuing the story beyond the original manga ending.

Netflix’s Parasyte: The Grey is directly tied to the Parasyte manga, offering a unique type of live-action adaptation by telling an original story based on the world created by Hitoshi Iwaaki. One of the most exciting K-dramas of 2024, Parasyte: The Grey combines director Yeon Sang-ho’s eye for horror with the incredible lore from Parasyte. The six-episode series has proven to be a good pick not only for anime fans who want to check a...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey.

Parasyte: The Grey is a live-action spinoff set in the same universe as Parasyte. The Netflix K-drama stays faithful to the manga's rules and continuity while focusing on new characters. Shinichi's cameo in Parasyte: The Grey makes the ending of the K-drama a sequel to the manga.

Parasyte: The Grey connects to the original manga and anime and can be described as an extension of Parasyte’s story. While Parasyte: The Grey can be considered a Netflix live-action anime adaptation given it brings the world of Parasyte to a different media, the K-drama told an original story instead of retelling that of the manga. The cast of Parasyte: The Grey was led by Jeon So-nee as Su-in, an original protagonist whose story initially had nothing to do with that of Shinichi.

Even though Parasyte: The Grey was not directly adapting the manga,...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey

Shinichi's cameo in Parasyte: The Grey connects it to the original series, hinting at a potential season 2. The K-drama's unique story focused on new characters but surprised fans with Shinichi's appearance. Shinichi's scene means that Parasyte: The Grey is both a spinoff and a sequel to the manga.

Parasyte: The Grey’s Shinichi Izumi cameo makes the Netflix series a stealth sequel to Parasyte and has major implications for a potential season 2. The main cast of Parasyte: The Grey included original characters only, adding to the perception that the Netflix live-action show was going to be its own thing rather than a direct adaptation of the manga. While Parasyte: The Grey was indeed a brand-new story and not a retelling of Parasyte, its final scene changed everything and confirmed how the K-drama and the anime are connected.

Set in South Korea,...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey

Su-in & Kang-woo prove their values to Team Grey by helping save the day in Parasyte: The Grey's emotional ending. Shinichi Izumi's cameo in the K-drama confirms the connection to the Parasyte anime continuity. Parasyte: The Grey explores themes of community, the danger brought by corrupt leaders, and the essence of humanity.

Parasyte: The Grey’s ending includes a major anime cameo from Shinichi Izumi and wraps up Su-in and Kang-woo’s stories in an emotional way, although it leaves room for season 2. Despite some initial confusion regarding how Parasyte: The Grey would connect to the source material, the Netflix 2024 K-drama was set in the same universe as the manga after all. This was confirmed by Shinichi’s cameo in Parasyte: The Grey’s ending, which happened in the final scene of the series after all of the storylines had already been concluded.

Parasyte: The Grey on Netflix explores coexistence between humans and parasites in a gripping, unsettling way. Lead actors Jeon So-nee, Koo Kyo-hwan, and Lee Jung-hyun bring the disturbing manga adaptation to life. The series delves into themes of survival, identity, and morality, blurring the lines between humanity and alien.

The sci-fi horror anime adaptation Parasyte: The Grey brings its disturbing story to life through the work of its excellent cast of actors. The Netflix show follows a woman who is suddenly taken over by a parasite. Set in South Korea, the story sees a task force called The Grey formed to eliminate humans whose bodies are no longer their own. This results in an all-out war between the mysterious parasites and humankind. However, one woman has the ability to coexist with her symbiote, which makes everything all the more complicated.

Parasyte: The Grey, directed by Yeon Sang-ho, is based on...