Woman on the Beach

If the protagonist Kim is Hong Sangsoo’s self-portrait, it’s not a terrifically flattering one. Kim (who takes his buddy Changwook and Changwook’s potential girlfriend Moonsook to Shinduri Beach for a working break) is manipulative, narcissistic, dishonest and emotionally immature, not to mention a compulsive skirt-chaser. The two-men-and-a-girl storyline is less formalised than most of Hong’s earlier films, but no less acute in skewering male weaknesses and female strengths. (Independent Cinema Office)