Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors

Voted best title of the festival by a group of men in sticky raincoats, Virgin (etc) is actually an understated story of sex and romance in Seoul.

Shot in black-and-white, writer/director Hong Sang-soo plays with structure by telling and re-telling the story, subtly changing events so we can see the characters react under differing circumstances (sort of a Run, Soo-jung Run.)

What emerges is a tale in which Soo-jung's virginity attracts her suitors, yet becomes an issue that also holds them away. In the first large segment of the film (Perhaps An Accident) Jae-hoon is Soo-jung's frustrated follower. In the second (Perhaps an Intention) it appears that Soo-jung's motives for losing her virginity may be to do with being freed from being viewed purely as an exciting sexual conquest.

Unfortunately, like Hal Hartley's Flirt, Sang-soo's film is an interesting experiment that ultimately irritates. Sadly, this is a slight tale which doesn't sustain the two-hour running time due to a flat script and under-explored characters.