On the Beach at Night Alone () is a 2017 South Korean drama film written, produced, and directed by Hong Sang-soo. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, where Kim Min-hee won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award.
Premise Young-hee is an actress who has left Seoul after a highly publicized affair with a married man, who is also a colleague and a well-known film director. The first part of the film is set in Hamburg, where Young-hee stays with her older friend Jee-young and the latter's English-speaking German artist acquaintances. The two walk around a street market, a park, and a bookstore. Jeeyoung says she has no more desire for men, and Younghee encourages her to play around. Later, Young-hee and her friends visit the beach. The camera pans to Young-hee's friends, and then back to Young-hee being carried off over the shoulder of a man.
The film's second part begins with Young-hee sitting in a movie theater, lingering for a while after the lights come up and the theater empties. It is winter; Young-hee has returned to Gangneung, Korea, and reunites with several old friends over dinner and drinks. She falls asleep on the beach, and dreams of having dinner with the director, where she both confronts and reunites with him.
Cast Kim Min-hee as Young-hee Seo Young-hwa as Jee-young Kwon Hae-hyo as Chun-woo Jung Jae-young as Myung-soo Song Seon-mi as Jun-hee Moon Sung-keun as Sang-won Ahn Jae-hong as Seung-hee Park Yea-ju as Do-hee Gong Min-jeung as Ma-ri
Reception Critical response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "On the Beach at Night Alone finds writer-director Sang-soo Hong working in a more personal vein—without losing the singular sensibilities that have informed much of his acclaimed earlier work. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Accolades Year Award Category Recipient Result 2017 67th Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actress Kim Min-hee Golden Bear Hong Sang-soo 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards Best Director Jerusalem Film Festival Wilf Family Foundation Award for Best International FilmOn the Beach at Night Alone 37th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards Top Ten Films 26th Buil Film AwardsBest ActressKim Min-hee 2018 23rd Chunsa Film Art Awards
References
External links Cinema Guild official website