This evening I watched On the Beach at Night Alone on blu-ray with my good friend and Hong Sang-soo fan Jane. It's hard to come up with words to describe a tissue of a film such as this. Is it even a movie? Well obviously it's a movie, but why does it work? It's like a series of teases, surfaces with hints of things underneath that come popping out unexpectedly — from people's misunderstanding of each other and also of themselves, subjects that Hong Sang-soo has explored before. There are autobiographical elements of this movie regarding the director's affair, apparently, but no matter. It's compelling all on its own, and oddly funny.