The Hong Sangsoo universe has always orbited artists of one stripe or another — wandering filmmakers, poets, and other writers, some more erratic than others. A recurring theme is the serenity and emotional salve that art can provide, along with an alternative to more ordinary, well-traveled roads through life. But in What Does That Nature Say to You, Hong takes a hard look at the artistic pursuit and at sincerity in relationships, with a seemingly straightforward story that has a bit of a sting in its tail.

The opening scene has a charming ambiguity: a man and a woman sit in a car parked at the side of a road, as if it’s the shy farewell at the end of a date. In fact, Donghwa (Ha Seongguk) is dropping off his girlfriend, Junhee (Kang Soyi), at her family’s home after a long drive. Impressed by the big house Donghwa joins her for an impromptu visit. And in the serendipitous manner of Hong’s films, a “meet the parents” scenario soon gets underway.

Part of the appeal of Hong’s deftly scripted films is being in the moment with characters who, beyond perhaps some vague idea of taking a trip, seem to be reacting on the fly with a beguiling openness. That organic quality can wear on those who (for some odd reason) have gone to a Hong film expecting a plot that moves like clockwork, and What Does That Nature Say to You does hold its cards close. For a long time, Donghwa is simply getting to know Junhee’s father (Kwon Haehyo), a friendly man who is full of kind words for his daughter’s boyfriend (and even his beat-up 1990s car).

Donghwa is a poet by profession, as he keeps saying, and that delights Junhee’s father, whose wife (Cho Yunhee) also writes poetry. Junhee’s family is well off — her father apparently owns the hill where the house sits — and there’s an echo of the class undertones in Hong’s A Traveler’s Needs, in which Kwon Haehyo played an affable, wealthy man with a fondness for music (and a wife who’s a bit skeptical of their visitor). Gradually Donghwa’s hang-time with the girlfriend’s fam starts to show small signs of strain during an outing to a temple and restaurant, and then a home-cooked chicken dinner.

The problem is that Donghwa’s life as a thirtysomething poet begins to look less and less substantial, maybe more of a lifestyle choice than a full-fledged calling. Junhee’s homebody sister keeps pointing out, with some satisfaction, that Donghwa has a fallback plan because his father is a wealthy attorney. The sort of sentiments that sound like bohemian wisdom in other Hong movies have a try-hard ring from Donghwa: “A life spent pursuing beauty is good … right?” he says, as if reassuring himself as well. When he prostrates himself at the memorial tree for Junhee’s grandmother, the gesture impresses her father, but again, it’s a bit much.

Hong has never been above puncturing the pretensions of his shambling artist characters, but it’s striking how the family’s open-hearted welcome eventually pales before Junhee’s mother’s doubts at the dinner table. Hong again employs the long table-time takes that have witnessed the mortification of so many drunken characters, this time skewering Donghwa. But in the process we come to understand the father’s initial sincere embrace as a real form of trust, one that is granted but can also be withdrawn. These parents might love poetry but they’re also vetting their daughter’s suitor, and their hilariously withering post-dinner evaluation shows they are not naive.

But before that, this multi-chapter film unfolds for so long as a relatively mild encounter between the young couple and her family that one keeps wondering when the other shoe will drop. Unlike some of Hong’s trickier narrative schemes, the visit unfolds in a linear manner over just about 24 hours. Given Donghwa’s increasingly apparent unremarkability, the story coasts for a while on the family’s subtle interplay: the subtle passive-aggression among the sisters (as Junhee gets increasingly frustrated with her boyfriend), and the way the warmth of Hong all-star Kwon Haehyo prevails until Cho Yunhee cuts in with motherly reality checks.

It’s all a big contrast to the portrayal of the older poet in Hong’s In Our Day, a lone but lionized figure who happily tipples the afternoon away. Donghwa might not even have the chops for his chosen career, judging from reactions to his poetry. In the end, What Does That Nature Say to You lands as a quietly bruising portrait in failure, not lacking in compassion but also not indulging in easy romantic illusions.

Title: What Does That Nature Say to You (Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani)

Festival: Berlin (Competition)

Director-screenwriter: Hong Sangsoo

Cast: Ha Seongguk, Kwon Haehyo, Cho Yunhee, Kang Soyi, Park Miso

Sales agent: Finecut

Running time: 1 hr 48 mins...