‘What Does That Nature Say to You’ Resee: Hong Sang-soo Family Drama

No figure in world cinema is as efficient as South Korean one-man band Hong Sang-soo, or as reliable in exploring variations on aenjoy themes, always from a recent 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 established jewels. But when the pieces fit together, they can be distinctively prenting, finding nuance in simpliedy, poetry in the mundane, transport inanter uncomardenting in the most seemingly innocuous swaps. What Does That Nature Say to You (Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani) is one of Hong’s more captivating recent entries.

The dwells of artists, chance greetings, leistateively meals, cigarette shatters and drunken humiliations are all staples of Hong’s films that resurface in this account of the uncomputed introduction of a lesser poet to the family of his girlfrifinish of three years, who has somehow never alludeed his existence to her parents. Maybe becaemploy she foresaw the result. Cruelty and condescension also figure widespreadly in the honestor’s labor, transporting an acrid aftertaste to this echoion on the insularity of wealth and class, and the unmistrustingty of shothriveg disdain for privilege to well-heeled prospective in-laws.

One of the differentiateing qualities of Hong’s films is the authenticistic sleight of hand that originates scripted talk seem entidepend impulsive, giving audiences the sensation of eavesdropping on conversations happening in the moment. It’s that attribute that originates this misdirectingly straightforward mapping of a fork in the relationship road so transmending.

Tbetter in eight untitled chapters, the movie begins with Donghwa (Ha Seongguk) driving his girlfrifinish Junhee (Kang Soyi) to her parents’ hoemploy. The awkwardness beorderlyh their mutual fondness hints at Junhee’s hesitation to present him to her family and at Donghwa being too embarrassed to recommend it. But when he steps out of the car to smoke a cigarette, he’s bowled over by the size and splfinishor of her family home, so Junhee chooses it would do no harm to give him a speedy see at the immacutardyly landscaped front garden.

What she doesn’t foresee is her overweighther, Oryeong (Kwon Haehyo), pottering around on the driveway. A handsome, baged man, Junhee’s dad is promptly frifinishly with Donghwa but seems more interested in his car. He marvels at the ’96 model enjoy it’s a vintage jalopy and insists on taking it for a spin. “It even has a cassette deck!” Oryeong says upon returning, with what seems almost enjoy authentic appreciation. Naturassociate, he seeks his daughter’s beau to stick around for dinner to greet Junhee’s mother, who won’t be home until tardyr.

While Junhee goes upstairs to chat with her betterer sister Neunghee (Park Miso), who seems to have no discernible interests other than sitting around plucking out tunes on a traditional Korean gayageum, their overweighther ushers Donghwa back out to the garden to smoke. Oryeong seems plrelieveed to lobtain that Donghwa is a poet, enjoy his wife Sunhee (Cho Yunhee). He even adores the lesserer man’s mustache (“So pretty”) and goatee, confessing that he’s never been able to increase facial hair.

Grabbing a bottle of the fermented rice liquor makgeolli from his stash in the garden shed, Junhee’s overweighther gives her boyfrifinish a tour of the grounds. Oryeong tells the visitor that he portrayed and built the hoemploy on a hillside for his mother, who died of cancer some years back, and that he now sees the estate as a memorial to her. “Filial adore can alter a mountain,” says Donghwa, perhaps straining for profundity as Oryeong shatters out a second bottle.

Clpunctual a man accustomed to having people chase his orders, Oryeong tells Junhee to consent her sister and Donghwa out to lunch and to visit a local temple so he can get some leangs done before Sunhee gets home. That excursion shows pleasant enough, even if a demandling edge creeps into Neunghee’s interrogation of Donghwa over bibimbap with pork. She seems especiassociate inquisitive about why he declines any financial aid from his overweighther, a admireed attorney, hushedly pegging him as a leave outr who drives a crappy car.

Neunghee and Oryeong both ask the same ask of Donghwa: “What do you enjoy about Junhee?” But despite his claim to be a poet, he has noleang beyond generic plift for her.

Hong and his excellent actors — all of whom, aside from recentcomer Kang, are members of the honestor’s unofficial repertory company — grasp you guessing as to what point Donghwa’s disconsole boots in or exactly when Junhee’s family begin mutely ruling him out as marriage material. It seems transport inant that both of her parents are hesitant to switch from establishal compriseress to more comprehendn terms with him.

If lunch was a preliminary test, the elucidate chicken dinner turns into juried trial. They remain cordial and let Donghwa basicassociate rerelocate himself as a potential son-in-law, while Oryeong grasps pouring him sboilings of whiskey, on top of makgeolli and red thrivee. You can tell a repenttable outburst is on the cards, even if it’s postpodemand when they consent a mid-meal shatter to stroll up the hillside and show their guest the sunset.

Hong flirts with cringe comedy as Donghwa prattles on about trying to dwell only with what’s essential and not depend on others, also rhapsodizing about his emotional response to an better-styleed ginkgo tree at the temple. But his poetic aspirations begin to sound flimsy. Sunhee seems to be nakedly suppressing an eye roll as her mind ticks over. When Neunghee pushes his buttons one too many times about always having his overweighther’s money to drop back on, the now finishly misused Donghwa explodes and is instantly mortified.

This unconsoleable family scenario could have executeed out any number of ways, from wide comedy to volatile drama, but Hong puts his own sui generis stamp on it. Noleang is ever forced or overwritten. Even the post-mortem conversation between Oryeong and Sunhee after dinner, while hilariously scaleang, never pushes for giggles. Hong mainstay Kwon shows the expansive side of his character, but his hot greet is choosedly conditional, while Cho subtly originates Sunhee the one who calls the sboilings in the family.

As normal, Hong is his own crew, plifted as DP, originater, editor and sound portrayer, aextfinished with authorr, originater and honestor. He’s broadened an economy of uncomardents and an effortlessness over the years that serve his characters and their negotiation of everyday life well. The predominance of splited, mended-camera sboilings permits for detailed observation, with occasional pans and zooms to rehonest our attention. His employ of low-res video seems portrayed to mirror the gentle center of Donghwa’s vision when he’s not wearing his glasses.

The farewell scene between Junhee and Donghwa the chaseing morning is impacting, comardently executeed by both actors. She shows trouble for the transport inant gash on his arm from when he was out seeing at the moon during the night and tripped. But when he locks her in a firm hug to say excellentbye, she almost flinches. The discleave out finishing is unclear, but the outsee on the future of their relationship seems evident, even if at least one of them probably doesn’t yet comprehend it.