Review of "Beach Fiction": Korean romances are thoroughly enchanting, and changing the time shows what a single day can make of a difference
Fate, autonomy and imagination are all quietly vying for control of the narrative(s) in "Beach Stories", a captivating and subtle duality that follows a young woman through two different versions of the same day, exploring in the process the voices, the inner self, and how much control we give ourselves over our lives.
A highlight of Busan's main competition, Lim Hyeon's artful and confident debut follows a young woman through two versions of a timeline, driven by storytellers and fortunes.
Fatalism, autonomy, and imagination all slowly battle for control of the narrative(s) in "Beach Tales," a mesmerizing and subtle dichotomy that follows a young woman through two different versions of the same day—in the process talking about the voices, internal and otherwise, that we give the most control over in our lives, for better or worse. Although its structural principle of one day running twice in a row has different effects (as opposed to its jumble of alternating timelines like "Sliding Doors" or "Blind Luck"), it clearly recalls Hong Sang-soo's "Wrong Now, Then," the sleek, stylish style is the first Korean feature to emerge from its compatriots. itself, with impressive control maintained at 145 minutes of wonderfully breezy feeling. Related Stories Peacock app launches 'Your Bravoverse', a personalized TikTok-style video feed hosted by AI-produced Andy Cohen.
One of the real discoveries in this year's main competition at the Busan Film Festival, Beach Tales has had little trouble attracting other programmers on the international festival circuit after its world premiere — while only its running time, manageable but unexpectedly for a film of this genre standing on its feet, hinders it from global art-house distribution, or at least exposure to the specialty stream. Either way, this graduate project (produced by the Korea Academy of Film Arts) marks the writer-director-editor as one to watch if his future films match this film's formal warmth and elegance. In only his second appearance on the big screen after years of television work, the tough and charming Hansol Park also feels like a brilliant talent. Popular in Variety
"Beach Tales" draws you in from its first rainbow frame, as Park Sinuk's camera calmly pans from a beautiful nighttime view of Incheon through a bustling, moody restaurant where Tae Joo (Park), seen only from behind, is dining with friends, their conversation seemingly more animated than he is. Even without a separate voiceover—turned out to be the perceptive novelist Oh-ha (Sojung Ye) describing the superficial reaction of Tae-joo's friends to the anecdote he shares—we feel his loneliness in the crowd. Later, when her friends leave her at the table to smoke outside, she is crushed to find out that they are gossiping about her. Shortly after, in a twist that never rains, she breaks up with her regular boyfriend Hyun-jin after expressing little interest in continuing the relationship.
With his social life in shambles and a world of worries dawning on him, Tae-joo rushes across town to another friend's quiet beach guesthouse. On the train there, he meets the one we've had before—watching him from afar in a restaurant and confiding in a kind old woman with silver hair—who says Tae-joo looks like the hero of a novel he's currently writing. But is he the author's inspiration or is his creation an incomplete story that has somehow taken on its own agency? From here on, the authorship of Tae-joo's life is ambiguous, as well as constantly in flux, confronted by the whims and suggestions of others as well as his own motivations.
In the sleepy beach town, she meets and is immediately smitten with the charismatic street magician Manhyuk (Kim Wookyum, delightful), but is later warned off by his hostess, who claims he is a local lothario and occasional sex worker. One day turns sour in his company, but when, in the film's deftly convoluted second half, she meets him under slightly different circumstances and the day's events take on a different chain of connections, the potential romantic outcome is also different.
His budding relationship with Manhyuk is the main variable in Tae-joo's two stories, but other minor factors pull it back and forth: a water-damaged phone in need of repair; A hangout with other inn patrons that reflects or corrects his previous social consequences. and a consultation with a psychologist recommended by Ihwa, whose advice also changes his fate. The contrast between the two stories is never stark. Gradations are sometimes well between hot and cold soda. The camera work is constant, drenched in sunlight, but some of Tae-ju's compositions stand out more than others. Wonhong Lee's delicate jazz piano can similarly shift the mood from cozy to nervous.
But both narratives slowly gain traction, thanks in large part to Park's deeply sympathetic performance as Hae-ju, who plays both a fragile and unwilling man — or perhaps just the author's as-yet-unformed blank canvas — and a more wounded human drive to care for him. It's a wonderful twist that perfectly matches Lim's complex, hypertextual script, which is full of ideas about the process of fictional construction, as well as the real-life connection felt by vulnerable young women who are expected to bend to the wishes and expectations of others. Isn't life itself just a series of drafts and redrafts, with notes from which we either learn or don't, our characters never evolving? Funny, wise, and happy and sad, "Beach Fantasy" leaves nothing to chance, and brings all possibilities to life.