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. (2019 notwithstanding, you have to go back to the Obama years to find a selection without the South Korean’s name.) 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, Nature sees Hong leaning back into the collective pleasures of his less-starry ensemble pieces. Ha Donghwa (Ha Seong-guk) and Kim Junhee (Kang Soyi) have already been dating for months when they arrive at Junhee’s family home and meet her father, Kim Oryeong (Hong regular Kwon Hae-hyo), in the driveway. “He drove me here,” she tells him, allowing an awkward silence to fall before breaking the news, which Oryeong takes surprisingly well. This might be attributed to two factors: his potential son-in-law’s family connections (his father is a notable attorney) or his 96 KIA Pride, a retro car that Kim takes for a spin down memory lane. Later they’ll share a cigarette on the grounds of the estate and some meaningful conversation as Junhee talks to her sister about life. The younger generation then take a walk to visit some pagodas before reconvening with Junhee’s parents for a dinner of roast chicken. Everything appears to be going smoothly until Oryeong produces a bottle of bourbon, at which point the conversation goes awry.
After a gloomy spell a couple years ago, it’s nice to see the director returning to a lighter groove. Nature can’t boast the absurdist jolt of Traveler’s Needs, but it’s rewarding in quieter ways. The conversations between Donghwa and Oryeong of course have territorial tensions baked in, but Hong approaches their relationship with curiosity and good faith. Having learned that Oryeong’s family helped him work the landscape around the house––enough to create a beautiful view of a nearby lake––Donghwa genuinely gushes over what he calls the “filial bond.” The car dialogue is played for laughs but similarly endearing in its insecurities. Everything is as patiently observed as fans of Hong have come to expect, not least the performances. The Geakholli eventually flows. The awkward humor mostly lands. The images are at best a little blurry. If you know the drill, you know the drill.
I can’t say if the opening music, a lovely synthy piece composed by Hong––also credited as writer, editor, producer, sound designer, and cinematographer––is an homage to Angelo Badalamenti, but I wouldn’t be surprised; either way, it perfectly sets the film’s melancholy tone. A day will come when he decides to do something else in February. I’m grateful it’s not this one.
What Does That Nature Say to You premiered at the 2025 Berlinale.