Sexual and artistic angst has long permeated the love stories of French and Italian filmmakers. Now comes writer-director Hong Sang-soo with a South Korean counterpart to the European existential romance."Woman on the Beach" is a comedy drama -- more dramatic than comic -- about the loves, lies and entanglements of a young movie auteur currently afflicted with writer's block. Joong-rae (Kim Seung-woo) is looking to revive his muse and finish his new script at a seaside resort.Trouble is, he brings along his sycophantic production designer, Chang-wook (Kim Tae-woo), who in turn brings along his alleged girlfriend, Moon-sook (Ko Hyeon-geong), a pop-song composer. Soon enough, the girl and the director sneak away to a vacant hotel room, where they pledge (and make) passionate love.When morning dawns, however, Joong-rae's passion fades into deja-vu anxieties about work, commitment and failed relationships. He tiptoes out and slinks back to Seoul, leaving Moon-sook with nothing but a cowardly cell-phone message: "When things become clear to me, I'll talk to you then."But in a few days, he'll be beachside again, blithely exchanging passionate vows with a new girl -- until Moon-sook comes looking for him in a drunken rage.Hong's resilient characters -- uniformly well-performed -- have intriguing subtleties. Beneath Joon-rae's smooth, confident manner lie insecurities galore. He's afraid of dogs. He's obsessed with the thought of Moon-sook dating foreigners. She, for her part, is obsessed with her cell phone (like all girls everywhere) and with the neurotic notion that she's too tall.They're both vulnerable, if not especially empathetic. Nobody is in this movie, or in this strangely deserted seaside resort where the only other people we meet are two weird, unfriendly beach walkers with a dog.Like Eric Rohmer's films, "Woman on the Beach" aims for layers of complexity and wistful insight but delivers more of the former than the latter. That's because the flawed male character -- to the girls' chagrin -- won't talk much, or tell the truth when he does."Are you lonely?" seems to be the question. "Yes" always seems to be the answer.One is the loneliest number. Two, I'm not sure about. But three is definitely the wrong number on a seaside getaway.Rating: R in nature for sexuality.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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