Synopsis
Stymied by writer's block while crafting his latest script, director Kim Jung-rae persuades his friend Won Chang-wook to drive him to a beach resort where he promptly becomes involved with Chang-wook's girlfriend. Abandoning her and taking up with another woman, Jung-rae winds up creating enough drama to inspire his writing.
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Cast
- Kim Seung-wooKim Jung-rae
- Ko Hyun-jungKim Moon-sook
- Song Sun-miChoi Sun-hee
- Kim Tae-wooWon Chang-wook
- Choi Ban-yaSun-hee's Friend
- Oh Tae-kyungBig Seafood Restaurant Employee / Motorcycle Man
- Lee Ki-wooBirch Tree Caretaker
- Moon Sung-keunCEO Jeong (voice)
- Jung ChanAssistant Director
- Jo Deok-jaeSmall Seafood Restaurant Owner
Recommendations
- 91
The A.V. Club
Woman On The Beach is a stripped-down, witty explication of how we all get stymied by the impulses and options inherent in the simple act of living. - 80
Variety
A wonderful, serious-minded romantic comedy-drama. - 75
New York Post
A South Korean romantic comedy by Hong Sang-soo, who has been likened in style to France's venerable Eric Rohmer. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
Accessible, and often funny. - 70
Village Voice
Albeit not as textured as Hong's past few films, Woman on the Beach is no less engrossing--a rueful tale of karmic irony, self-deceived desire, squandered second chances, and unforeseen abandonment. - 70
The New York Times
Wry and tender and delicately melancholic, Woman on the Beach shows a newly confident filmmaker again working near the top of his form after the disappointing “Tale of Cinema” (2005), even if the new film unfolds straightforwardly, with none of the narrative ellipses and puzzle-box complications, the flashbacks and parallel story lines of his earlier work. - 70
Salon
Dry, wry, difficult-to-capture comedy. - 63
New York Daily News
The two-part film focuses on Jung-rae's one-night stand with the protégée of a colleague he invites to his seaside retreat, and then with a second woman who merely reminds him how much he liked the first. The scenery's great and the performances adequate, but wake me when it's over.
