Film Forum

“My path is always a new path”: Isabelle Huppert plays Iris, an inscrutable, seemingly dropped-from-the-sky French teacher to two Korean women in A TRAVELER’S NEEDS, “Hong Sangsoo’s funniest film in years” – The Film Stage. While Iris seems perfectly at ease as a stranger in Seoul — trying out her osmotic language technique (no textbooks), gamely questioning anyone she meets, and pursuing her craving for makgeolli (a milky rice wine) — she arouses curiosity and awkward confusion from her clients and the mother of her young male roommate. Is she a naif whose enigmatic allure illuminates the souls of those she encounters? Or is she a con artist?

Presented with support from The Reginald S. Reinhardt, Ling-Makekau Fund for Asia-Pacific Films

2024     90 MIN.     SOUTH KOREA     CINEMA GUILD
IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Trailer

Reviews

“A TRAVELER’S NEEDS is a brief, brisk, yet flamboyantly lyrical vision of a cultural outsider’s inspirations. Isabelle Huppert plays a mysterious visitor in a Korean town who teaches a foreign language with a personalized method that blends documentary attentiveness and literary flair. (Hong should patent it.)”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“DELIGHTFULLY MISCHIEVOUS COMEDY. A beguiling Isabelle Huppert anchors the best Hong Sangsoo film in several years…one of the funniest films that either of them have ever made…one of the most unique and exciting actor-director collaborations in contemporary cinema.”
– David Opie, IndieWire

★★★★ “HYPNOTICALLY WATCHABLE. Another deadpan comedy of manners from the prolific Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo…[Huppert] adds a distinctive level of mystery to this deceptively simple film.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Gleefully hilarious and unmistakably mysterious… Huppert is especially sensational, blending a deft sense of innocence with a hint of mischievousness for a character that makes you wish the actress was your best friend.”
– Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

“[A] short, shimmery comedy of the elusive human condition.”
– Guy Lodge, Variety

“Subtle and gently perplexing, but very satisfying…One of [Hong’s] more enigmatic and alluring works.”
– Jonathan Romney, Screen