Na Hong-jin’s Hope Is an Early Cannes Crowdpleaser
Let’s be honest: When you think of the Cannes Film Festival, you probably don’t think of sci-fi and other genre films. Everyone knows that Cannes is for arthouse cinema from around the world, the sort of hoity-toity cinematic fare that only pretentious snobs love. And yet, one of the biggest films to emerge from the first week of Cannes 2026 is Hope, an alien invasion flick by Na Hong-jin, who previously won accolades for his 2016 horror film The Wailing. As The Playlist’s Rafa Sales Ross writes,
Despite the mid-runtime ebb and an overlong runtime that works against the film’s firm grasp on the slippery tautness of good action, Hope still proves one hell of a time. Na’s ambitious sci-fi offering doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it does not need to. Sharply written and with impeccable comedic timing, this South Korean whopper is meticulously engineered to cater to the big screen, and those lucky enough to experience it in a packed screening room will be most privy to its blockbuster joys.
ScreenAnarchy’s Andrew Mack has compiled a list of several more Hope reviews, all of which are pretty positive.
I actually watched the above trailer before reading Ross’s review; I knew nothing of the movie and the only reason I started watching was because of the intriguing thumbnail. But the trailer is just about perfect, selling the film’s thrills and striking visuals, from the opening scenes of carnage and ruin to that incredible final shot — and everything in-between.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
In the remote South Korea village of Hope Harbor, police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and officer Sung-ae (Hoyeon) are called to find a mysterious creature that has wreaked havoc on the village. In the nearby forest, a coterie of hunters, including Sung-ki (Zo In-Sung) set out to track the beast and find themselves hunted instead. But all is not as it seems, and perceptions can be misleading. What begins as ignorance plants the seed of disaster, escalating through human conflict into a tragedy of cosmic proportions.
Following the film’s festival run, Neon will release Hope into theaters this fall.