Woman on the Beach Woman on the Beach

Filmmaker Joong-rae, suffering from writer's block, takes a trip to the coast with his production designer Chang-wook, who brings along the vivacious Moon-sook. Soon after their arrival, Moon-sook falls for Joong-rae's advances; however, the fickle hero can't commit and he awkwardly parts with her. What had been a sardonic Jules and Jim turns into a burlesque Vertigo when Joong-rae returns to the coastal resort and attempts to recreate the original romance with a woman who resembles Moon-sook, until his jilted lover shows up... Deemed by many critics to be Hong Sang-soo's most sheerly enjoyable and satisfying film, Woman on the Beach satirizes the misalignment of art and life, as the mysteries of the heart and the mysteries of artistic creation collide in ways that are both ironic and affecting.

Seung-woo Kim Ko Hyun-Jung Song Seon-Mi Kim Tae-Woo Choi Ban-Ya

drama foreign

127 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • Jaime Grijalba

    Review by Jaime Grijalba ★★★★½

    Haebyeonui yeoin (2006)

    Seen in BAFICI 2013, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    9/10

    The korean director was one of the guests at BAFICI, yet his doctor recommended that he didn’t travel to Argentina, so we didn’t have the chance to have one of the most important and prolific directors of our times. This movie is part of the retrospective that was had, where they showed every movie that he had ever made, including his latest, which took part in the competition at this year’s Berlin Festival. The film follows a 2-part structure with two different women in the beach, who are similar and at the same time different in their relation with a director, who wants to spend some time in the…

  • Rostova

    Review by Rostova ★★

    I didn't get it. I'm probably too straight for romances lel

  • Pablo Algaba

    Review by Pablo Algaba ★★★★½

    Conociéndome como me conozco y sabiendo ya de la pata que cojeo, mis directores coreanos favoritos deberían ser Park Chan-Wook y Kim Jee-Won. No es que no los adore, pero en realidad el que más disfruto, al que más le intento seguir la pista es a Hong Sang-Soo y sus melodramas afrancesados. Mucha ex-novia, mucho "lo que pudo ser y nunca fue", mucho rencontrarse diez años después, mucho pasear por la orilla descalzo con la mujer de tu mejor amigo, mucho "creo que la cagué con aquella chica", mucho profe universitario curándose la crisis de los cuarenta con alumnas a las que le dobla la edad,... Todas sus películas son primas-hermanas, pero hasta la fecha mi favorita es esta Woman On the Beach.

  • Sean Ferguson

    Review by Sean Ferguson ★★★★½

    Hong, you astute bastard!

  • Atlinator

    Review by Atlinator ★★★★ 3

    My third Soo. The other two I've seen (Tale of Cinema and Turning Gate) we're full of truth and beauty and this one could be described as advanced truth and beauty. Still not quite blown away but amazing stuff nonetheless. Alternatively moving, funny and awkward. Soo's film seem to be chronicle of the mistakes people tend to do in love and romance. I guess most romantic films are about these mistakes, in some way, but Soo seems to come closer to the truth than most, how awkward and even ugly things can get. But he also see's the funny side of things and there's optimism as well.

  • Jerry_J

    Review by Jerry_J ★★★½

    Is there anybody else today who still utilizes the almighty zoom as a regular part of their cinematic arsenal? The hand held camera masks mise-en-scene; the zoom emphasizes it. That’s why only the best can effectively use the zoom. Really enjoyed the film, although it was spending two hours with an insufferable passive-aggressive assclown. It also seemed to be commenting on a xenophobic sexism that apparently runs through Korean men that I really didn’t understand. But mostly I just luxuriated in the mise-en-scene.