A movie director entices his young friend to come to the beach on the pretext of writing a script. He then starts an affair with the friend's girlfriend.
Woman on the Beach, perhaps [director Hong's] most accessible film (and often a funny one, too), is a good introduction, even if it is not a masterpiece. Here's hoping more of his films see the light of an American day.
Reminiscent of Godard's Contempt, but writer-director Hong Sang-soo--South Korea's foremost chronicler of romantic maneuvering--is more aptly compared to Eric Rohmer for his subtle comedy.
Unpredictable and refreshingly inventive, this flick certainly stands on its own as perhaps South Korea's kooky and kinky contribution to the battle-of-the-sexes genre.
Hong [Sang-soo] moves slowly but deftly through scenes rich with social games and veiled confessions and allows his characters to emerge sadder but wiser.
Korean director Hong Sang-soo's Woman on the Beach offers flavors of quarterlife angst and romantic insecurity for which American audiences clearly have an insatiable appetite.
Writer-director Hong Sang-soo, called the Asian Eric Rohmer by some, has crafted what may be his most accessible exploration of young adult relationships
Unpredictable and refreshingly inventive, this flick certainly stands on its own as perhaps South Korea's kookiest contribution to the battle-of-the-sexes genre.
Hong continues to dissect relationships between men and women, using his unique voice. His strength comes in balancing the arguments between the characters. Woman on the Beach is far more talkative than his earlier, Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelor's. Here, the verbal philosophical musings of the main characters
take center stage. Like his previous work, this is a thoughtful film. Thus, it can take a while to get going.
In "Woman on the Beach," Moon-sook(Ko Hyun-Joung) is not Chang-wook's(Kim Tae-Woo) boyfriend, no matter what he may think. But regardless of the circumstances, she accompanies him as he goes to an off-season resort town with Joong-rae(Kim Seung-Woo), a film director who is hoping to finish the script he is working on.
But nothing comes easy. Oh well. At least, Moon-sook is interested in him... "Woman on the Beach" is a moderately engaging movie about miscommunication and relationships. The deliberate pace and long takes(but not the accompanying zooms and close-ups) work in the movie's favor but it is simply too long for something as inconsequential as this. Instead of letting the action unfold naturally, writer-director Hong Sang-soo takes a rather clumsy and forced approach to the material. And the last bit of symbolism is too obvious.
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