Hong Sang-soo's 35th feature film "No place to look" will be released domestically on Oct. 21 and has released a poster and trailer.
"No place to look" was invited to the official competition at the 79th Locarno Film Festival and won three awards — best director (Hong Sang-soo), best actor (Kim Min-hee), and the ecumenical jury prize — earning early acclaim from the global critics. In particular, actress Kim Min-hee followed "Suyucheon" (2024) by winning the Locarno Film Festival's best actor award for the second time.
In this film, Hong Sang-soo took charge of production, script, directing, cinematography, sound recording, editing and music, and his muse Kim Min-hee participated as production manager while also starring. Joining Kim Min-hee were a solid cast from the Hong Sang-soo troupe, including Choi Myung-gil, Kwon Hae-hyo, Shin Seok-ho and Park Mi-so, showcasing delicate acting chemistry.
In particular, this is the first work Kim Min-hee has presented since she and Hong Sang-soo welcomed their son in April last year.
At the 78th Locarno International Film Festival, Kim Min-hee said of returning after childbirth, "This is the first film I shot after giving birth. So after about two years of giving birth and resting, this is the first film I have shot, and my condition is somewhat different from before; I was realistically busy, and because the baby went to the set and was with me during filming, I had to breastfeed and prepare baby food, and those were the first things I had to do at the film set." She added, "So I was incredibly busy; I woke up first to finish all the preparations for the baby and then prepared for the film."
The Locarno Film Festival jury said the film was selected for best director because "the director's supreme skill in handling all elements of the film met intelligence, creating a beguiling fable that offers deep inspiration." Regarding Kim Min-hee's performance, they praised her, saying, "She is pure presence toward the world itself, an actress who elegantly and delicately expresses all aspects of human existence."
Acclaim from prominent foreign media has also poured in. Variety said, "Centered on Kim Min-hee's restrained yet deeply felt performance, the film presents a vivid and candid screen," and Roger Ebert described it as "one of Hong Sang-soo's most existential films, with deep resonance even in its languid pacing."
Set on a windblown island, the film portrays a family gathering and the subtly reconfigured human relationships within it with Hong Sang-soo's characteristic everyday realism, humor and bittersweet emotion, and Kim Min-hee's performance, which shows a new side in the Hong Sang-soo world, is also notable.
[Photo] film still
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