Kim Joong-rae (Kim Seung-woo) is at a crossroads in his career as a film director. Trying very hard to come up with something fresh and unusual that will catch the attention he first received at the start of his career, he is working on a screenplay titled "About Miracles." Somewhat blocked, Joong-rae invites his production designer, Won Chang-wook (Kim Tae-woo) to join him at a Shinduri beach resort in hopes of getting some input. This married young man asks if he can bring along his girl-friend, and the director agrees. She is Kim Moon-sook (Ko Hyun-joung), a composer who spent some time studying in Germany and now has a cassette of mainstream songs available. It turns out that she is a big fan of Kim Joong-rae's work.
It's off-season at the beach resort and hardly anyone is there. Kim Moon-sook is the only one to savor the beauty of the cherry blossoms. When the director shares his screenplay's storyline, no one responds enthusiastically to it. In a sushi bar, Kim Joong-rae explodes in anger at the lack of attention given them by a young man in the place. Won Chang-wook is very upset by his friend's rage, which he considers to be unconscionable. He tries to persuade the director to apologize to the man he humiliated. Later, Kim Joong-rae wonders whether Kim Moon-sook prefers him over the production designer. She says what he wants to hear and later they find a place to have sex.
Korean writer and director Hong Sangsoo demonstrates the same artistic focus as the French filmmaker Eric Rohmer, whose delicate and sophisticated explorations of the many shades of love and romance have set a very high standard. Kim Joong-rae has a certain charm about him that women find appealing but there is also a dark undercurrent of anger and hatred in him that is fueled by the large amount of liquor he consumes. When Kim Moon-sook admits that she had sex with men in Germany, her new lover explodes with a very scary rant. He also has trouble dealing with his emotions as is evident on the morning after sex. He says that he is returning to Seoul. Kim Moon-sook wonders what she said or did to make him respond in such an uncaring way.
The filmmaker deepens the drama and our understanding of these two when Kim Joong-rae returns to the resort two days later on his own and does an interview with Choi Sun-hee (Song Sun-mi), an assistant manager of a franchised coffee shop who reminds him of Kim Moon-sook. Things get complicated when the first woman arrives and tries to figure out what is going on. Hong Sang-soo does a masterful job depicting the emotional roller-coaster ride of these women as they respond to the director's power plays and deceptions. He in turn is only interested in looking after himself and finishing his screenplay.
Screened at the 44th New York Film Festival, October 2006.
