On the third day of the San Sebastian Film Festival, Yeohaengjaui Pilyo (The Needs of a Passenger) has been the feature film of the Seular Director Hong Sang-soo who opened the day. The silver bear of the Grand Prix of the Berlinale Jury has been the winner of this year's pearl section, so it seemed like a good selection in my eyes. However, prejudice has been wrong, as is sometimes the case.

In the history of Seoul we will meet a woman named Iris (Isabelle Huppert). At the beginning of the film, he's giving a kind of French, totally unorthodox. We will realize that we don't know anything about Iris, but from the beginning it will show strange behaviors; not very clearly, but it will become increasingly clear that it is a special person. As the plot progresses, its character will be unveiled in the conversations it will hold with the new characters, but never entirely. In the end, the main idea of the play will be reflected in a long scene.

The movie is very slow. Undoubtedly, this was the director's intention: the static chambers and the non-cut long planes clearly expressed it. The intention, however, has become very heavy for me an hour and a half, and I have not managed to immerse myself in that monotony of the film. The conversations between the characters were written to give us a very natural look, taking the form of everyday conversations. I think the interpretations of the actors were also going that way, and although they have sometimes managed to create that feeling, the director has made a very dangerous wager, and I have at least lost myself.

The feeling I've had at the end of the film is that I don't know if I haven't been able to read between the lines, or I haven't understood the South Korean conventions for cultural differences, but this film wasn't for me, it seemed slow and boring to me.

How to Feel Uncomfortable in the Soft Cinema Armchair

After having coffee with my friends and talking about the morning movie, I've seen in the evening the feature film Simon de la Montaña, in the tenth Prince movie theater. I never was in that room and the armchairs seemed very comfortable in the minutes before the screen. Then began the film directed by Federico Luis, and as if the armchair had become a stone, until the end I could not find the right position to sit down.

Simon is a 21-year-old who in the first scene will see a mound rise with a group of young people. The activity that should be quiet quickly becomes anarchic: suddenly a sand storm rises, and young people don't know what to stick to or what to do. The group is made up of people with special needs who have lost the monitor and the chaos of the situation will not relax until the scene is over and it is known that everything is fixed. But the seed of malaise has already been planted in the viewer, almost without noticing it.

Later on, the film will follow the same path, showing the lives of these and other young people, as a coming of-age. At first we will not understand Simon's attitude very well, we will see that his mother does not understand the character he shows when he is with his friends. I can't go into more detail without telling the story, but the viewer will realize that something isn't right. We don't know what your friends or peers think about him, and as we move forward in the script, we begin to understand the true intentions and behaviors.

I thought it was a strange, uncomfortable film. I must say that I liked it, but I do not know very well why. I would need a little time to meditate what I've seen, because it has left me a strange body. I'm sure for a while I'll have Simon of the Mountain circling in his head.