Woman on the Beach

Though marketed as a romantic comedy, Woman on the Beach from Korea is serious in tone and elicits few laughs, which could have been lost in translation. The film follows a director (Seung-Woo Kim) who takes a trip with his friend (Tae-Woo Kim) and a beautiful musician (Hyun-Jung Go) to a seaside resort outside of Seoul. The three form a love triangle that gets messier than they expected, as both men fall for Go, who chooses the director but is soon disregarded. When the director pursues another woman (Seon-mi Song), Go unexpectedly returns to prove hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Shelf Talk: The box art shows Seung-Woo Kim and Go smiling and embracing, but the complex characters make Woman weightier than a light-hearted romance. Filmmaker Hong Sang-soo and the cast are unknown stateside, so push this one to fans of foreign films, particularly Asian cinema.