Lies

When a teenage virgin known simply as Y (Kim Tae Yeon) makes a phone call to an older man, the sculptor "J" (Lee Sang Hyun) whom her best friend has a crush on, she just can't help herself from coming on to him, prompting an intense sexual liaison. As it turns out, J's wife went on a trip to France after he had asked her to engage in a little bondage, and Y proves a very willing substitute. The sex between them gets progressively more violent as the affair begins to consume every aspect of their lives. Just to keep things amusing, several title cards comment on the activity in progress by informing us that this scene is "the first hole," "the second hole," or "after several climaxes and dinner, more sex." Like the French film An Affair of Love, Lies uses nearly anonymous "names" and stage techniques: Where the French film created generic, static settings, Korean director Jang Sun Woo uses a kind of cinematic Brechtian style to make it clear at every step that we are watching a movie, periodically revealing himself behind the camera, or interspersing interviews with the actors out of character, or other such revealing effects. The fact that both stars are first-time actors heightens the verisimilitude: J really is a sculptor, and he apparently fell in love with his costar while shooting, though the feeling was not mutual. A key difference between this film and An Affair of Love is reflected in the protagonists' morals: That film hardly showed any sex, and conveyed the idea that sex could lead to love despite one's best intentions. Lies shows nearly everything, but seems to indicate that a relationship based primarily on sex must constantly up the ante, and is unlikely to thrive. (L.Y.T.) Opens Friday at the Nuart.