A Traveler's Needs (2024) review

Financially-strapped Iris (Isabelle Huppert) finds herself in South Korea where she's passing herself off as a French teacher (despite having no certifications or experience) and "works with" two paying adult students (although it's unclear what she's supposed to be "teaching them") - she's also sharing an apartment with a young poet, but when his mother shows up, she wants to know what he's doing living with a significantly older woman.  Just like the other recent (and hastily pumped out) Hong projects, the scenes seem (poorly) improvised on the spot and ramble on awkwardly, except for this feature he made the unusually smart decision of casting Huppert - one of the greatest screen actresses of all time - as his lead, and her very presence (as a free spirit who's a little too fond of makgeolli, or Korean rice wine) does lend it a tiny bit of authenticity it so desperately needed.  Defenders will most likely point out that the cast attempting to speak in English (rather than their native language) "says something substantive" about struggling to convey emotion in a culturally diverse modern world ... but I will once again argue that's giving it far more credit than it deserves.