Revealing the complex geometry of desire.
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Two and three are special numbers in love as well as math. In love, two is where things turn mushy�but three is where they get juicy. If it takes two to get lost in each other�s eyes, it takes a third to be sickened by the whole scene, doesn�t it?
Woman on the Beach
, a new film of rare psychological insight from Korean filmmaker Sang-soo Hong (
The Power of Kangwon Province, Woman is the Future of Man, Tale of Cinema
) is full of triangular affairs of the heart. But the ultimate shape of Sang-soo�s latest�which is by turns humorously lucid, painfully lucid and, at times, frustratingly meandering in its pacing�is more complicated and amorphous than is initially suggested.
Sang-soo could hardly have staged his drama in a superior setting. The central characters decamp from Seoul at the film�s outset for a sleepy, coastal resort town. A sand-storm is expected. The sky is a gauzy grey, the waves a low lull and the tide is withdrawn, revealing an expanse of complex, patterned sand. This beach and several nondescript hotel rooms form the physical setting and metaphoric background for Sang-soo�s mapping of the intricate geometry of desire.
The setup is simple. A filmmaker by the name of Kim Jung-rae (Seung-woo***image2*** Kim), Jung-rae�s timid assistant, Won Chang-wook (Tae-woo Kim), and Chang-wook�s purported girlfriend, Kim Moon-sook (Hyun-jung Go) are to spend a few days at the beach together while Jung-rae works on his screenplay. But when Jung-rae asks Moon-sook if she�d prefer to be with him instead, a torrent of suppressed envy, obsession and betrayal� lubricated by frequent drinking binges�is unleashed. As it flows, the silt of polite Korean behavior washes away and the contours of male sexual insecurity, modern romance replacement and the canyon between the fantasized other and the actual other are exposed in tragic, starkly bare form.
Considering the film through a metaphor of erosion is apt.
Woman on the Beach
is a long and deliberate experience that can feel, occasionally, as if it�s transpiring over geologic time. Though motifs are not spared�take, for instance, a white dog abandoned by its owners�Sang-soo�s film is primarily a study in psychology, and one that reveals its truths slowly, through an accumulation of behaviors and a revealing of motivations. These things take time. [Editorial note: The Screener was given an advanced copy that ran 127 minutes. It is unclear, as of press time, whether theaters will show this version or the 100-minute American version.]
