Berlinale 2025 Review: WHAT DOES THAT NATURE SAY TO YOU, Subtle Shifts and Social Barriers in Hong Sangsoo's Latest

One of the most prolific filmmakers working today, Hong Sangsoo, returns with What Does That Nature Say to You, his 33rd film and his 12th selection at Germany’s largest film gathering. The film adheres to his signature style, intimate, dialogue-driven storytelling with an austere visual approach, unfolding around an unplanned encounter that leads to an evening at a girlfriend’s family home, where subtle revelations emerge.

Donghwa (Ha Seong-guk), a poet in his 30s, drops off his girlfriend Junhee (Kang Soyi) at her parents’ house. Her father (Kwon Hae-hyo) takes an interest in Donghwa’s aging Kia and suggests taking it for a drive. Caught off guard, Donghwa engages in conversation with him, a mix of awkward exchanges, direct observations, and polite formalities. Among the father’s blunt questions is a pointed inquiry: why hasn’t Donghwa bought a new car?

The initial awkwardness between Donghwa and Junhee’s father gradually gives way to a more relaxed conversation. The older man, who has no son of his own, begins to take a particular interest in Donghwa, and their interaction takes on a tentative warmth.

As their rapport deepens, he invites Donghwa on a tour of his estate, which includes a private mountain, an indication that Junhee’s family is far from ordinary. Donghwa, too, comes from privilege, though he has deliberately distanced himself from his wealthy and well-known father in favor of a more precarious life as a struggling artist.

Since his debut, Hong Sangsoo has built a body of work centered on the nuances of human interaction, exploring them with almost obsessive precision. His films frequently follow artists, writers, or filmmakers engaged in meandering conversations, often over drinks, as they navigate unfamiliar settings and encounter seemingly trivial moments that gradually reveal deeper undercurrents.

What Does That Nature Say to You follows Hong Sangsoo’s established approach, avoiding overt conflict in favor of quiet tensions that surface through polite exchanges. The film lingers on the subtleties of social interaction, the awkward formalities, the small yet pointed acts of insensitivity, and the unspoken barriers that persist even in close relationships.

As in The Woman Who Ran and In Front of Your Face, Hong employs his signature formal techniques: long, static takes, an unembellished visual style, and zooms that subtly mark conversational shifts. A minor stylistic variation appears in the occasional use of blurred imagery, a departure from the fully diffused aesthetic of In Water. Here, the distortion reflects Donghwa’s impaired vision, weaving his perspective into the film’s visual language.

What begins as an unplanned meeting with Junhee’s father soon extends into a family dinner, joined by her mother, Sunhee (Cho Yunhee), and older sister, Neunghee (Park Mi-so). Neunghee, who has been withdrawn in her room, is struggling with depression, while Sunhee, to Donghwa’s surprise, is a published poet.

The evening brings further revelations. The comfortable lifestyle of Junhee’s family becomes increasingly apparent, a contrast to Donghwa’s modest means. The condition of his aging car resurfaces in conversation more often than he would prefer, subtly underscoring the disparity between their backgrounds. After spending the day with Junhee and Neunghee, hiking and, in typical Hong Sangsoo fashion, sharing a meal over bowls of bibimbap, he still does not fully grasp the extent of their wealth.

The film’s unhurried pacing stretches the discomfort of forced interactions, allowing tensions to build gradually. The pivotal moment arrives during dinner, when Donghwa, eager to keep pace with his host, drinks more soju than he can handle. In a characteristic Hong Sangsoo drinking scene, alcohol loosens his restraint, and the carefully maintained social facade begins to slip. The subject of his estranged, affluent father becomes the breaking point as Neunghee innocently suggests he can always rely on his father financially. That idea does not sit well with Donghwa.

With What Does That Nature Say to You, Hong Sangsoo returns to a male-centered perspective, placing an aspiring artist at its core. The film’s slow-burning conversations gradually expose Donghwa’s blind spots, his naïveté, his failure to recognize his own limitations. As the evening unfolds, his standing in the eyes of Junhee’s parents steadily declines, and eventually, so does Junhee’s perception of him.

Junhee’s parents remain composed, their judgment unspoken but palpable. They do not openly dismiss Donghwa, yet their disapproval is evident. What begins as a polite gathering shifts into something more brittle, and it soon becomes clear that he has overstayed his welcome. Hong Sangsoo once again crafts a deceptively simple premise into a meditation on impermanence, misalignment, and quiet estrangement.

The film enjoyed its world premiere at the 2025 Berlinale.