His first film since 2016’s supernatural breakout The Wailing, director Na Hong-jin returned to Cannes with Hope, which competed for the Palme d’Or despite a polarizing reaction from critics. NEON, which has found a great deal of success working with South Korean filmmakers, are hoping that a huge genre effort like this can shake up the awards season.
Set in a remote harbor village in South Korea, Hope follows a police chief and rookie officer investigating a beast that has been wreaking havoc. Meanwhile, local hunters brave the forest to try and track the creature, only to discover it is them who are being hunted.
From what I’ve heard, Hope builds with frantic monster action and large-scale destruction in true epic form. And while it begins as a creature feature, there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. While we’ve come to expect international monster movies to be a bit more subtle, that’s not what to expect in this case.
An international cast of Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander, and Michael Fassbender gives Hope a shot at being a global blockbuster. NEON certainly hopes for that and more, which is why it’s set to open on September 9th, a prime slot.
