What Does That Nature Say to You

A spontaneous first meeting with his girlfriend’s family leads a young poet to drink one glass too many in Hong Sang-soo’s charming and unexpectedly moving thirty-third feature film.

The young poet Donghwa has promised to drive his girlfriend Junhee to her parents’ home, where they are greeted by her father, her mother – herself a poet – and her sister. One thing leads to another, and he is soon invited to spend time getting to know the family. But insecurity takes over, and a bit too much alcohol turns the evening upside down. As so often in Hong Sang-soo’s unadorned and uniquely intimate films, it is around the dinner table that emotions, in step with the makgeolli, are allowed to flow – and with small, almost imperceptible means, the Korean master turns life’s poetry into cinema.

• Rasmus Kilander