Poetry
Poetry
A sixty-something woman, faced with the discovery of a heinous family crime and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, finds strength and purpose when she enrolls in a poetry class.
4.3 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Certificate |
12A |
| Genre |
Foreign, Drama |
| Director |
Chang-dong Lee |
| Cast |
Nae-sang Ahn, Hira Kim, Da-wit Lee Jeong-hie Yun |
| Studio |
Pine House Film |
| Release Date |
July 2011 |
| Running Time |
139 mins |
| |
A sixty-something woman, faced with the discovery of a heinous family crime and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, finds strength and purpose when she enrolls in a poetry class.
Reviews
The Daily Telegraph
Sukhdev Sandhu
“Wonderful … Gorgeously photographed and exquisitely acted, it takes a story almost buckling under the weight of its sadness, and from it magics a work at once mysterious and luminous, suffused with anger and patience, endowed with — yes, that most over-used, but here wholly accurate word – poetry.”
28/07/2011
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The Independent on Sunday
Jonanthan Romney
“This flawlessly constructed, bitingly intelligent film really does find poetry in the everyday – but a poetry as savage as it is contemplative. ”
31/07/2011
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Time Out
David Jenkins
“True to the spirit of the title, writer-director Lee organises the sprawling mess of Mija’s personal life with the control and grace of a master, each digression and seemingly arbitrary encounter all building upon his elderly protagonist’s spiralling sense of distress. So relaxed is the pacing, you suspect certain segments would not have worked were it not for Yun’s exhilarating, meticulous central performance.”
28/07/2011
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The Times
Kate Muir
“[Alzheimer's disease] is a tricky subject for a movie, but the South Korean writer and director Lee Chang-dong pulls it off with sophistication and solemnity, while keeping a sharp eye out for the foibles of his characters.”
29/07/2011
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Empire Magazine
Anna Smith
“While most characters are drawn with grace, humour and sensitivity, the sullen grandson remains a mystery, but that is almost the point. It may be hard for western audiences to grasp this culture’s businesslike approach to crime, but you sense that filmmaker Lee Chang-Dong finds it as shocking as we do.”
01/07/2011
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The Evening Standard
Derek Malcolm
“Director Lee Chang-dong has elicited a superb central performance from Yun Jeong-hie, unforgettable as Mija, quietly plucky in the face of insuperable odds. In the way of good cinema, the full experience is entirely unsentimental and poetic.”
29/07/2011
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“If it could be reduced to anything as prosaic as a formula, this mysterious and beautiful film from Korean director Lee Chang-dong might be expressed as Ozu plus … what? It is a picture of something inexpressibly gentle and sad, something heartbreaking and absolutely normal, but something stirred up by a violent, alien incursion.”
28/07/2011
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