Woman on the Beach

The lovelorn characters in South Korean writer-director Hong Sang-soo's beguiling, unpredictable Woman on the Beach are confused, obsessive, mercurial, occasionally unlikable, and gloriously human. A richly satisfying effort that compassionately probes the human heart while preserving its elusive mysteries, the film has drawn favorable critical comparisons to the wistful French comedies of Eric Rohmer, with whom director Hong shares the exquisite skill of capturing the natural rhythms of conversation and the compelling forces that draw lovers together or pull them apart. The story focuses on the emotions swirling around a triangle of vividly developed characters. “Director Kim” Joong-rae (Kim Seung-woo), an established thirtysomething filmmaker struggling to complete his latest screenplay, leaves the bustle of Seoul for a weekend trip to a coastal resort, accompanied by married friend and production designer Won Chang-wook (Kim Tae-woo) and the latter's apparent girlfriend Kim Moon-sook (Ko Hyun-joung), a young composer. When Moon-sook reveals that she and Chang-wook are just friends, Kim feels free to pursue her, discovering that the pair share a mutual attraction. But things change, and Woman on the Beach evolves into a melancholy study of the way lovers cling to expectations that may or may not be justified. Highly recommended. (J. Shannon)