Poetry (2011)

I started watching this movie expecting it to be a fairly uninteresting (if aesthetically pleasing) story about a woman preparing to die. Lots of calm scenery and quiet struggles, a dash of social consciousness. Done.

Instead, I found myself sobbing through a good third of the movie. When I wasn't crying because of the heart-wrenching tragedy of the thing, I was overwhelmed by its honest beauty and realistic portrayal of human goodness. So much of the best and worst of human nature is captured in this movie, and balanced so perfectly from one scene to the next -without mood music or melodrama or unpleasant plot contrivances -that I'm tempted to offer up Poetry as the best film portrait of humanity I have ever seen. This is one of those rare works of realist cinema that gives viewers not just a startling insight into the difficulties of human nature (e.g. Cries and Whispers), or a heart-wrenching invitation to social consciousness (Umberto D), but also a vision of human joy and natural beauty that, because of its modest particularity and ordinariness, is sufficient to counterbalance the other darker truths and give us a reprieve from our grief. If ever a film attested to the grace present in creation which allows goodness to survive through evil, this was it. Watch it. You won't be disappointed.

I sadly can't speak about the blu-ray disc itself, but I do know it's been reviewed at blu-ray.com and they spoke highly of the image quality and sound. Lee Chang-dong is my favorite Korean director along with Park Chan-Wook. They make very different movies however Park has these epic, overblown tragedies with beautiful cinematography, and Lee makes very subtle, ultra-realistic, natural stories about human drama. Quite the opposite of the typical Korean melodrama.

Poetry is probably his best yet, but also check out Oasis, Secret Sunshine and Peppermint Candy (if you can find or afford it).

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POETRY tells a simple tale of an elderly woman who is diagnosed with early Alzheimer and encouraged to keep an active mind. She enrolls in a poetry class to learn that poetry is our ability to see what is truly before our eyes and our emotional impressions expressed in words. She works part-time assisting a man recovering from a stroke and looks after her grandson who treats her like a hired hand. At the start of the film, a female teenager is seen floating face down. An apparent suicide, she had been the victim of repeated gang rapes. The grandmother becomes aware of the crime, investigates the scene, attends the service but flees. Will she report this or share with other fathers of the boys involved with monetary payoffs to the poor mother? I will not reveal more of this absolutely mesmerizing film. It is long but totally engrossing. We want justice for this horrific abuse. We, as viewers, have witnessed what immoral behavior people will resort to with hope of burying the truth. Not since Li Shaohong's film, A STOLEN LIFE, has an ending been so painfully moving. This film will become a classic. People will always die but not poetry. It is the inescapable impression of our very existence.

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Poetry is a 2010 South Korean film directed by Lee Chang-dong. It stars Yoon Jeong-hee as Mija, a woman in her 60's raising a derelict grandson while dealing with the onset of Alzheimer's Disease.

I picked the movie based on its case synopsis but knew to expect more because of where it was filmed. My introduction to South Korean cinema was Taegukgi and I was blown away. Since then, I've kept the country on my radar and have not once been disappointed in their efforts. Now I'm at the point where I prefer South Korean movies and when I found Poetry, it was an easy decision. Once again, I was rewarded for my favoritism.

Poetry is a beautiful and disturbing film. At the risk of exposing the plot, I'll refrain from specifics, but it makes this review difficult to write. There aren't any major twists to give away but there are turns to take and I don't want to ruin them. There is a suicide that involves Mija directly and the effect on her is profound. What I most love about Korean films is the realism. Even while their plots rotate around a ravaging sea monster, they still bring a brilliant believability out of their characters. Poetry delivers this legitimacy also and it was a treat to be involved. It felt real.

I think the only problem I had with the film was its length. This particular poem weighs in at just under 140 minutes dropping it in the, "epic" world where haikus have to attack in packs. But this isn't a huge problem as it seemed to go by fairly quickly. It's my opinion that the film could have taken a bit more editing to keep it around two hours, but that's just me and I'm no filmmaker. So what do I know? It's something to keep in mind, though, especially if you're a quick-fix type moviegoer. If anything, you should still grab this and make it a two-nighter.

I strongly recommend adding this to your library. If foreign films make the world go round, this one is pushing hard.

Thank you for your time.

t

Want Poetry (2011) Discount?

Poetry is probably one of the most thoughtful, thought-provoking, and touching films I have ever seen. The story centers around a 60-something grandmother who is showing early signs of Alzheimer's and her desire to learn to write poetry. Intertwined with this is a suicide of a middle-school girl, a horrific discovery that involves the grandmother's ungrateful (but realistically portrayed) grandson with whom she lives, and subsequent attempts by other men involved to cover up the truth. As she tries to protect her undeserving grandson, she also happens to be the only person who feels the burden of the crime committed. The ending is just so wistful and perfectly executed, with the recital of the one poem that she writes.

I have watched and read a few Korean films and books whose central character is an older female (notably, "Mother," a film directed by Joon-ho Bong, and the book "Please Look After Mom" by Kyung-sook Shin). There seems to be a reverence and a respect for older women in the Korean culture that is reflected in its art. By contrast, there is a shortage of Hollywood films that feature an older woman as the central lead. (Could this be because of a lack of appreciation for older women in the Western culture? Yes, I believe so.) If there were adventurous Hollywood producers, they can attempt to remake this into an English language film. Of course, the quietness of this film and the emotions behind it may not translate well into a Hollywood feature.

But this is truly one of the best films ever made.

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