A highlight of Busan's main competition, Lim Hayeon's artful, confident debut follows a young woman through two versions of the same timeline, steered by tellers of stories and fortune.
By Guy Lodge
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Film Critic
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Busan International Film Festival Fatalism, self-determination and imagination all gently wrestle for control of the narrative(s) in “Beach Fictions,” an enchanting and subtly profound diptych that follows one young woman through two diverging versions of the same day — saying much in the process about the voices, inner and otherwise, that we grant most control in our lives, for better or worse. Though its structuring principle of a single day playing out twice consecutively to differing effect (as opposed to braiding its alternate timelines like “Sliding Doors” or “Blind Chance”) explicitly recalls Hong Sangsoo’s “Right Now, Wrong Then,” this chicly poised debut feature by fellow South Korean Lim Hayeon has a style, tone and outlook of its own, maintained with impressive control over a surprisingly breezy-feeling 145 minutes.
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