Woman Is the Future of Man is one of director Hong Sang Su's films, appearing in 2004. After seeing the majority of his output, I think it's fair to say that director Hong likes to make variations on the same movie over and over again. Most of them feature a two male competition for one woman, cynical insight into the minds of its characters and a rather strongly ironic sense of humor, taking apart the characters' follies and vices equally. Woman is the Future of Man pretty much follows all these traditions and yet somehow, like most of Song's films, manages to remain interesting the whole way through.<br /><br />This film mostly follows two old friends as they get together again. It's clear from the start that these guys are both similar: manipulative nice guys who are overwhelmingly interested in sex. We see some flashbacks dealing with a mutual acquaintance of theirs and these two proceed to try to track her down. But plot isn't the point of most of Hong's films, rather, they focus in on the characters and it's quite amusing watching these two artists try to be friends while at the same time trying to one up each other and get with the figurative or actual girl.<br /><br />Furthermore, these characters are always self-sincere--they actually buy their own hype--and consequently, when they get caught in the act or if become aware of their own bluster and ruse, it becomes very awkward and it's really surprising how naturally the awkwardness keeps showing up.<br /><br />In terms of the art of the film, it's very Hongian, with a French New Wave-ish type shooting mentality. The camera's usually set and has a tendency to wander, catching side conversations and the cuts don't follow traditional means of "setting up" two shots and such. Rather, Hong has a tendency to shoot everyone in long-shot so that you can follow the characters reacting to each other.<br /><br />All the actors do a great job in this semi-improvisational format, with the men doing wonderful versions of each other. The women are played only slightly less clueless and do a good job of supporting the scenes.<br /><br />I suppose my primary issue with Woman is that, because of its rambling nature, it doesn't fully cohere in the end, especially with a coda that spins out of the original setup and while I'd be surprised with any sort of total closure in a Hong film, the strands thematically go a little far out, leaving the viewer is left grasping for more strongly tied together story.<br /><br />Still, there are some genuine zingers in the tale and the insights are still just as compelling as they are in other Hong films. With that, Woman just continues showing how well this prolific director has mastered his own style. Another decent effort; recommended to art-house film lovers. 7/10.