It has been said that in America sex is an obsession, while in Europe it is a fact. If the characters in Sang-Soo Hong's Woman on the Beach are representative, it is also an obsession in Korea.

In the film, the male lead, film director Jung-Rae Kim, has affairs with two women, Moon-Sook and Sun-Hee, during a spring weekend at a seafront resort. Late in the film, when the two women meet for lunch, they ask each other about their deepest fears. One says it is obsession; for the other it is betrayal. These two themes, embedded within the overriding question of whether life is truly better in the new affluent Korea, dominate the 2 hours and 7 minute version of the movie that was shown at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

According to IMDb the American version is only 1 hour and 40 minutes, and indeed, for American tastes, much could have been shortened. For example, the scene in which one of Moon-Sook sees Director Kim with the other woman, Sun-Hee, through the resort's picture window that overlooks the sea. She gets into her car parked beneath the window, starts the engine, and for an interminable minute, we watch the car sitting there with the engine running. Finally she turns off the engine and walks away. Powerful stuff? Well, not for this American moviegoer.

Indeed Director Hong beats the viewer over the head with symbolism to make sure no one misses his points. A white dog abandoned by the side of the road represents the betrayal that all the key players show toward one another. A bicyclist left choking on the dust of a passing car is just one reminder that the new Korea is not always better than the old. But when it comes to showing obsessions, Hong outdoes himself. In one scene, Director Kim draws a triangle on a napkin to graphically display the three images of his former wife's affair with a friend that obsess him. Only now he has something new to obsess over, for Moon-Sook admits she had two or three sexual encounters with foreigners when she lived in Germany. Were their dicks bigger than mine, he wonders. New dots on the napkin to obsess over! Ah, he must have new affairs to create new images in his mind so that he can replace the old triangles of obsession with new dots that create a more hopeful shape. Why doesn't he just see a therapist, we ask.

Hong is a talented director and the film gives Western audiences a feel for Korean obsessions and angsts. For that it's worth seeing, but after sitting through 127 minutes of beachfront betrayal and recriminations by people who are not really that likable—kind of the Korean equivalent of the self-obsessed New Yorkers in Squid and the Whale, I'm not quite ready to see Hong's earlier works, such as The Day a Pig Fell into the Well.

Needing a quiet, relaxing environment in which to complete the script for his latest film, well-known director Kim Jung-rae heads to a largely deserted seaside resort with his friend, Won Chang-wook, and Won's beautiful girlfriend, Kim Mun-suk. Tensions quickly develop when Kim and Mun-suk become romantically involved with one another, leaving the erstwhile Won as essentially odd-man-out. Yet, terrified of making any kind of long term commitment, Kim backs away from Mun-suk at a crucial moment, causing a serious rupture in their relationship. It's only after a second woman comes into the picture that Mun-suk returns to the beach town, further complicating Kim's already complicated life - though providing possible fodder for the script he's having such a hard time completing.

Slow-moving, episodic and hypnotic, the Korean drama "Woman on the Beach" is wonderfully perceptive about human nature and the multi-faceted and complex ways in which people relate to one another. It's virtually impossible to pigeonhole any of the characters since they often act and react in ways that surprise and intrigue us. Director Sang-soo Hong relies largely on extended conversations to tell his story, an approach which allows the drama to unfold in a thoroughly naturalistic fashion, without having to resort to melodrama or contrivance to get its points across. To that end, the movie is filled with numerous seemingly irrelevant, off-the-cuff moments (including the final scene) that add immeasurably to the verisimilitude of the piece. As a result, every moment in the film feels unscripted and real, an illusion greatly enhanced by the excellent performances of Seung-woo Kim, Hyun-jung Go, Seon-mi Song and Tae-woo Kim.

Finally, the shuttered hotels and sparsely populated beaches and boardwalks provide an eerily appropriate backdrop for this tale of an individual so haunted by the demons and ghosts of his own past that he finds it difficult to live in the present.

Woman On The Beach is a South Korean movie presenting a movie director as the lead protagonist.It stars Kim Seung-Woo, Ko Hyun-Jung, Song Seon- Mi and Kim Tae-Woo.The movie is directed by Hong Sang-Su.

Women On The Beach present Jung-Rae,who is a writer/director that needs to get away from the city environment to concentrate on his script. He asks his friend and coworker to drive him down to the coastal city of Shinduri. Unfortunately, his friend, Chang-Wook, already has plans for the evening…which includes a special date with a girl. The director, Jung-Rae, insists anyways and finally Chang-Wook agrees if he can bring his girlfriend, Moon-Sook. Jung-Rae says that is fine and they agree to go all together. Later that day when the director is picked up by Chang- Wook, he is introduced to his girlfriend, who happens to be a big fan of his work. Once they arrive in Shinduri the director and Moon-Sook become better acquainted and quickly become more attracted to each other. Moon- Sook tries to clarify to the director that she is only friends with Chang-Wook.Moon-Sook and the director soon find themselves sneaking out together at night and end up sleeping together at another hotel. The next day the director seems more uptight and makes it known that he is going back to Seoul because the beach town is too empty. He tells Moon-Sook that he needs some time to clear things out in his mind. The director soon returns back to Shinduri and calls Moon-Sook repeatedly on her cellphone. Even though she doesn't answer the phone, Jung-Rae leaves a message asking her to come back to Shinduri to see him. Soon after the phone call, the director comes across another lady near the beach that he believes resembles Moon-Sook. While they become more involved, Moon- Sook has now returned to Shinduri and the conflict of the main characters begin.

Woman On The Beach presents a theme about the manipulation of women to suits one purpose.In this movie,the writer/director Joong-rae does it by getting involved with Moon-sook and Sun-hee through a one-night stand so as to regain his creativity and productivity in his work.It was sad that the film presents the viewer that women can be treated like garbage to regain one's vitality.That is what makes it look bad.Aside from that,the women involved are somewhat presented having their own "writer's block" as well as they themselves are amidst in their own confusion Joong-rae took advantage to make them his tools for his new screenplay.In the case of Moon-sook,she has yet to define clearly what her feelings are for the guy that she is currently involved with and the director that she is sleeping with.As for Sun-hee,she too is also in a state of confusion in terms of her relationship with soon-to-be ex- husband and the director that she is also sleeping with.Overall,it just sad that this character-driven plot has full of inconsistencies in terms of character with all the three ( Joong-rae, Moon-sook and Sun-hee) involved as all them are sort of in a state of confusion that the viewer will ultimately realize that one may tend not to fully appreciate this film.And worse of all,the movie ends without a closure among all three except for the fact that Joong-rae did succeed in his objective in writing a good script and he is truly proud what he has accomplished as well as what he has "accomplished" with his involvement with the two women in the beach.This is found in the end when he gave a call to Moon- sook telling her about his new script and suggesting to look for somebody he resembles to sleep with just like he did. The film maybe a comedy but the theme was never funny.