A Traveler's Needs

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Danielle H Very quirky. A very small film, seeing for the offbeat humor and Huppert’s intriguing performance. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/28/24 Full Review MB C Set in Seoul, A Traveler’s Needs follows Iris, a French woman teaching language through confessional dialogue, becoming a curious mirror for the hidden desires of those she meets. Hong Sang-soo’s minimalist style long takes, static camera, and natural light captures fleeting human connections, though the film struggles with a weak central character and uneven pacing. The secondary cast often outshines Isabelle Huppert, grounding the story in moments of honesty and tension. A delicate yet uneven exploration of language, intimacy, and vulnerability. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 08/18/25 Full Review Stephen C Success in 1.5 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/15/25 Full Review Richard B Third movie with Sang-soo and Isabelle. This is more of an experience of a language teacher who is mixing work with travel. They feel a little homeless and judged by others. The language barrier makes it hard to unravel your potential. Some people think "why would you leave your home country unless you were a failure there?" Friendships are built slowly with people who trust, but verify. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/10/25 Full Review Lesley L Discovering the Charm of Hong Sang-soo in This Film In his film, it’s often two or three people having quiet conversations. Such scenes are rare in today’s world, where social media dominates. I believe this is one of the charms of Hong Sang-soo's work. He uses simple equipment and straightforward filming techniques to capture the small, immersive moments of daily life and the sincere, delicate communication between people. In his films, there’s rarely a sense of time rushing by. The time in the film flows like a rivulet, and sometimes it even feels slow or awkward. The dialogue in the film doesn’t seem to demand perfection, but rather preserves a sense of naturalness and truth. The characters blend with the actors themselves, making it hard to tell whether it’s the script or an inherent part of the actors’ personalities. The storyline is sometimes clear, sometimes veiled in mist, but it is always quiet and unhurried. As he mentioned in an interview:”I don’t aim to create grand narratives or films filled with dramatic conflict. I hope my films are as natural as life itself, without the need to deliberately create drama. Because life, in itself, is full of ups and downs and changes.” He doesn’t aim to shoot perfect big-budget films; he simply captures life, filming the scenes and images he likes. As a result, his films often fluctuate along a level line named “Hong Sang-soo”. Sometimes, his work is praised and even awarded; other times, the audience might not quite understand it. It’s much like everyday life—sometimes filled with sparkling moments, sometimes with sad ones, but most of the time, life rises and falls along the line of “self”. This film takes an hour to slowly depict Huppert’s day in Korea. In the morning, she talks with her student (the film captures the pauses in thought, awkward silences, and the clumsy dialogue), guiding the student to express her feelings, write them on index cards, and record them on a tape. Afterward, there’s casual conversation and farewells. At noon, she quietly eats lunch alone, then goes to the next house to teach French, chatting, playing the guitar, taking a walk in the park, and receiving her teaching fee for the day. In the evening, she returns to her friend’s house, gives the fee to her friend, and thanks him for taking her in. In Hong Sang-soo's films, ordinary spaces and objects in daily life are no longer lifeless. Instead, they are given life and meaning through the delicate and sincere dialogues captured by his lens, becoming vivid and meaningful. In the last half hour of the film , the boy talks with his mother, whom he hasn’t seen in a long time. During the conversation, the sense of flow created by Huppert gradually disappears in the space. The mother is very protective of her child, but this overprotectiveness, while seemingly caring, is superficial. It is a care that remains on the surface, failing to delve into the child’s inner world. The mother fails to see the child’s inner thoughts or feelings; she is blind to his true needs. As the dialogue unfolds, the space becomes small, narrow, and suffocating. This because excessive protection stifles different thoughts, and leaves no room for the child’s own feelings or inner world to be acknowledged. If a person is treated this way from a young age, they may lose their vitality and become dull. Vitality and sensitivity, like tender sprouts, need careful nurturing to grow. From another perspective, the size of space doesn’t imprison people; rather, it’s whether people confine themselves inwardly. If one restricts their sensitivity, they can only measure the world in square meters. But if sensitivity is allowed to stretch and vitality is allowed to grow freely, it will bring forth a magnificent, free, and vast inner landscape—like a wide grassland, a starry sky, and an ocean. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/09/25 Full Review Moody C Requires a bit of patience but it’s one of those subtle, talky films that if you pay attention, you’ll be rewarded. I actually prefer this over showy, over indulgent art films where you left wondering wat it was about because of all the exaggerated, embarrassing, face palming symbolism and metaphors. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/04/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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