"Seasons Romance"

With every new season comes a new opportunity to go out with friends. When the weather is temperate, heads to the mountains. When it's hot, head to the beach. When it's cold, go where the snow is. But there's one thing the weather can't help us with- that inerring desire to start fights with our friends for pretty much no good reason. That's"Seasons Romance"on a basic level. Three vacations, three sets of characters, three fights that they simply can't run away from.

The subject matter of these arguments is gender-related. The first segment is a couple of men who argue about the women in their lives. The second is women arguing about a male interloper. The final one deals with one of those awkward friendships where the man is obviously looking for something more while the woman just pretends like she isn't actually aware of this, even while her own personal issues are so loud as to be impossible to ignore.

So, what universal truth is there that we can glean from these experiences..? Mostly just that social life is awkward, and also pretty funny as long as we're just watching. The characters in this film are trying to have fun in the midst of an obvious overhanging bad mood, and their success is mixed. There are plenty of places where they're able to put their emotional baggage to the side, let loose, and enjoy themselves, but the fact that their personal issus keep coming up is testament to the fact that vacations can't actually make problems go away.

A lot of the humor here comes from the fact that even if these people constantly grate on one another's nerves, at the same time, they can accept the fact that they grate on one another's nerves. When you think about it, agreeing to go on a trip with another person is actually in itself a pretty telling acknowledgment of intimacy. You're going off to the middle of nowhere together and and accepting the fact that you'll have to get back together too, even if one of you ends up having a temper tantrum.

DirectorOh Chang-minalso does good work with the setting. When on a mountain, the inevitable point of worry is that with a wonderful view also comes the long way down. In the exposed heat of summer, there's very little privacy. And winter's just really cold. All of these broader emotional points are explored both in the literal and metaphorical sense, giving"Seasons Romance"a surprising bit of depth considering it's mostly just a mildly diverting travelogue.

This is the kind of film that you want to go see mainly to help wind down after a difficult time, even if a movie alone probably isn't enough to fully affect a change in mood. This is an appropriate enough purpose given the actual content."Seasons Romance"admirably manages the task of blending a bit of escapism with just enough real life drama that the proceedings don't come off overly saccharine. It may not be high art, but it's fun and thoughtful- the kind of casual filmgoing experience I think anyone can appreciate.

Review by William Schwartz

"Seasons Romance"is directed byOh Chang-minand featuresLee Eung-jae,Choi Eun-ah,Jo Seok-hyeonandLee Min-ah.