As Aventuras de uma Francesa na Coréia

"Yeohaengjaui Pilyo" is a film that stirs the pot of artistic debate. While it aims to blend the subtleties of cultural exchange with personal growth, its execution falls short, presenting a tableau that feels unfinished. The narrative, which follows a French woman's journey of self-discovery in Korea through teaching and learning, is marred by a meandering pace and underdeveloped character arcs. The director, while respected by critics, seems to have missed an opportunity to polish this story into the gem it could have been. Critics and audiences alike must ask: does the film's reputation hinge on its director's past accolades, or does it stand on its own merits? It's essential to strip away the veneer of prestige and evaluate the film's true artistic value. As it stands, this cinematic piece requires a more critical eye and honest discourse to elevate the conversation around taste and artistry in film. Shameful!

Iris is French but she is staying in Korea for the time being, we have no clue why she ended up here but we know she needs to make ends meet so she is being creative and starts to teach French using her unique "method".

The film is very down-to-earth yet very poetic and curiously revolves around language and communication. And miscommunication sometimes. Or refusal to communicate or listen. Also, it is about the social and interpersonal distance between people who know each other and who don't and how this "accepted" distance can change or vary depending on various factors like cultural norms, the place of the conversation, the mood, etc. The storyline is simple, but what we're more interested in is the nuances. We're not interested to know what will HAPPEN to Iris or the other characters but how they will react at a certain point of the conversation, what they will feel and say and how they will do it. Additionally, the character of Iris is truly interesting and some little bits of her true self are gradually revealed but there is a lot left for us to think out. Very subtle, authentic and elaborate work while being simple at the same time.

Unfortunately, the film loses its purpose. The story turns out to be much longer than necessary, losing itself along the way. The cinematography and editing seem to have lacked proper attention, and we experience a sense of awkwardness in certain scenes, with framing that feels worse than home videos. The most interesting aspect of the film is when Iris describes her idea of teaching and how she believes that emotionally connecting with a language can help us express ourselves in it. However, this idea is not well developed.

At first, it seems intriguing that she let her students to do as they please and explore those moments on their own (such as playing instruments), but as the film progresses, it becomes clear that she doesn't care as much as her dialogue initially suggests, making it shallow. It could have been amusing to compare the experiences of the two students and how emotions are so universal, but the text - identical down to every comma - comes across as sheer laziness in writing something different.

When we compare both students to Iris, we see that the latter breaks the "rule" by playing the flute in the park without any talent and without caring. However, I don't think we can say she feels happy doing so; her emotions are not well explored (except for the scene where she talks to her friend in the apartment). I believe the film tried to explore the concept of a life of simple pleasures, as seen in "Perfect Days", but it ended up falling into monotony and a lack of meaning.

Super typical Hong Sang-soo storyline. But this time, Director Hong turned the means into ends, and returned to the alienation and closeness between people. There are many factors, and language became a more core means to process and apply.

Huppert's appearance adds a layer of depiction of strangers to the film in addition to the discussion of people themselves, acting as a cultural intruder. Whether communication problems caused by language barriers can effectively reveal people's identity. Repetition and variation are Hong Sang-soo's tricks, but they are also our lives.

From this development, Director Hong still likes to express his feelings directly. Discuss this inevitable struggle for subjectivity. Director Hong's little humor still works, just take a look and watch it.

This has to be the worst film I've seen in a long time. Story line looks and sounds like day one improvisation at a high school drama club. A long zoom into a dog has to be the Director mocking anyone who has been foolish enough to have spent their hard cash and time on this film. The actors must have wondered what the hell was going on, whilst making this awful drama. The colour and contrast was flat, don't know if this was a deliberate attempt to make this film even more boring. How this was ever financed I don't know. I would be embarrassed to put my name to this farce. Don't waste your time.