Product Details

• Actors:  Hyun-jung Go, Seon-mi Song Seung-woo Kim
• Directors: Hong Sang-soo
• Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: Korean
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: New Yorker
• DVD Release Date: December 30, 2008
• Run Time: 128 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001DDBDCW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,606 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A right moment can never truly be re-created, January 17, 2009

By 

Reader "cvrcak1" (Boca Raton, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Woman on the Beach (DVD)

To watch this movie, one really has to be patient. It moves slowly and if not for the occasional moments of humor it would have been a real drag. This film has an idea of what it is to catch a right moment when two people can connect and be intimate. Surely one would think that these are adults that can handle any situation but these thirty somethings are worse than teenagers. The outward impression of them is never matching with what is going on inside of them. Deep inside they are either too damaged, or too childlish to handle their own emotions and decisions. One almost feels like wanting to smack them so they can snap out of it. In any case the appearances are never what the reality is. And that is what movie is all about. Couple is not really a couple. Well meaning stranger is not always a well meaning stranger seeking to strike a new friendship. And seemingly dog loving couple is anything but...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Had to fastforward through the boring and other parts...., October 22, 2010

By 

StarlightMerry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Woman on the Beach (DVD)

Please read the other reviews... I found them more interesting than watching the movie. The only reason I gave it 2 stars versus one is because the filmmaker does make interesting points about life and idiotic relationships. He does touch on real human weaknesses and expose them, and maybe that was why it was painful for me to watch some of it? I really disliked the main male protagonist... the Director. Yes, he was damaged, but why inflict it on other damaged souls? I feel he was using the women to cure his writers block. I wished the women would've turned around and run from him.. immediately... and kept their dignity. The ending was also unexpected... unpredictable... abrupt, but gave me some hope. OK, so you can get stuck in life, but with a little help you can get out. Maybe this film is a cautionary tale?

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars lyrical tale of dysfunctional love, January 11, 2009

By 

Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Woman on the Beach (DVD)

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.