The listless execution may remind you less of 8 1/2 than of Woody Allen's whiny Stardust Memories.

Sang-soo Hong has no profound point to pound home. His story doesn't need an ending. He accepts all the characters just as they are.

Hong abstracts the tense network of fragile relationships to crisp, briskly sketched lines that he adorns with bubbly and self-deprecating humor and graceful wonders...

For many this will be quite frustrating, but for those that it clicks for, much wealth can be wrought.