Poetry
Yung Jung-hee, David Lee, Kim Hi-ra
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Does art still matter in a world driven by barbarity? This is the Adorno-esque question which drives Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong's fifth film.
Reflecting on how goodness goes nowhere when society forgets morality, Poetry is probably Lee's most lyrical and humane piece yet, with his nuanced mise-en-scene and great screenplay brought to life by a stellar central performance by veteran actor Yung Jung-hee, who returns after spending the past two decades living in quiet retirement in Paris with her pianist husband and their violinist daughter.
Interestingly, Lee named Yung's character Mija - which is the actress' real name. It's probably a knowing reference to how the character is as much out of place in her environment as Yung is, as an expatriate returning home to a country which has, for the past two decades, undergone sweeping changes - mostly for the worse, according to Lee's film.
In the film, Mija serves as a beacon of humanity in a sea of malice. She works as a part-time maid, taking care of an old man (Kim Hi-ra) whose crudeness remains undimmed despite his physical disability. She attends to the needs of grandson Jong-wook (David Lee), a petulant teenager who doesn't return her affection. When Mija begins to take poetry classes, she is dismayed to discover how unsophisticated her classmates are: a former detective recites lewd verses, which the other students find amusing.
And just as Mija realises how she's slowly going senile (losing her memory and her ability to conjure words), a more disturbing surprise is in store, as she discovers her son is partly accountable for the suicide of a gang-raped schoolgirl. Mija's struggle to compose her first poem now runs parallel to her awakening to the cynicism which reigns around her.
