[First Reaction] ‘Family Trip’ Cineplay Reporter Star Rating

Lee Hwi-hyang, the queen of so-called “home television,” has long been associated with descriptions such as “Western” and “sophisticated.” Family Trip is her first starring film role in 44 years as an actor. Known for her charismatic portrayals of formidable women and sharp-edged villains, she plays an elderly woman with dementia. Her decades of experience show in every movement. The meeting between a grandmother with dementia who keeps trying to get outside despite not being in her right mind and a shut-in granddaughter who believes she is a vampire and refuses to set foot outside is fascinating. It is one family’s escape from trauma, hidden inside the dry title Family Trip.