States of Loneliness: Proximity and Distance in 'On the Beach at Night Alone'

Dreams, minimalist scenes, candid speech that seems mundane but makes us aware of underlying meaning ‐ these fill the frames of Hong Sang-soo's On the Beach at Night Alone. Beyond ostensibly paralleling its director's real-world extramarital affair with its lead, the film proffers insights into perception, emotion and human connection, writes David Heslin.

Additional keywords:
Asian cinema, South Korea, allusion, Kim Min-hee, meta, dialogue.