Keul-le-eo-ui ka-me-la

Thankfully, the breezy CLAIRE’S CAMERA isn’t only charming and funny, but also one of Hong’s most formally intuitive and sharply written films in some time. It is set in Cannes, shot during the festival last year. It follows the boozy exploits of film director So Wan-soo who wanders through Cannes with his longtime romantic partner, Nam Yang-hye, and tries to justify an affair with their company’s just-fired sales agent, Manhee. In addition to So, there’s another Hong surrogate: the French photographer Claire, who, by chance, meets Manhee on the beach and takes her photograph. Huppert’s Claire is given frivolously funny lines (“It’s my first time in Cannes!”), but also crucially meaningful ones, like her knowing observation that the only way to change things is to look at everything again slowly. (Sam C. Mac)