Si

As a lover of World Cinema and having had a few poems of my own published here and there, South Korea's 'Poetry' was always going to be a double treat for me.

The film's beauty is that it's not just about poetry but how that it can fit into everyday lives and help folk the see the inner beauty that it brings. Mija (an excellent Jeong-he Yun) a 66 year old woman, suffering the onset of Alzheimers, sees the simple beauty in an apple and of fallen apricots on the ground.

She gets this after starting poetry classes and whilst she fails to get her 'poetic awakening', she sets herself the target of writing just one poem.

Considering that this gentle, graceful lady is bringing up a teenage grandson who has committed a serious crime and as a job cares part-time for an elderly stroke victim these poetical leanings are a soothing diversion for both us - and her. (She's not bad at badminton, either!) It's actually the way the film contrasts several issues, the modern contemporary ones that give the film its backbone, the age difference clashes with the grandson and the lyrical - but unsentimental - softer side and you get a modest and modern masterpiece.

Avoid if only Iron Man 2 can move you. But if you have a heart, one where a soul and emotion can flourish and you enjoy a well acted, straightforward modern film - wherever in the world that it might come from - then 'Poetry' has a wide and worthwhile appeal.

The theme of old age and illness find a new positive essence in poetry. A device to have even the elderly explore life in new and interesting ways. The excellent screenplay and brilliant directing from Chang-Dong Lee combined with an engaged ensemble cast and revealing cinematography, give place for an intimate interaction. The poets and aspiring poets fit well in this story of inner discovery. The inspiration is difficult to come by and external events will accentuate the duality of seeing life as an observer while also being an essential actor.

The multi-layered story has poetry, dialogue, imagery and much time for reflection. The film builds up to the last poem "Agnes' Song" by Mija Yang (the protagonist) which is powerful and perfect. Accentuated by it's accompanying images, it brings out life, beauty, sadness, acceptance, connection and so much more. The editing is especially effective here, but is extraordinary throughout. The ending confirms that the collections of individually intense and intelligent scenes witnessed transcends by transposing and transforming Mija and ultimately the viewer.

Hopefully this will inspire a perhaps much needed poetic view of this hypermodern world which can barely watch deliberate thoughtful meaningful measured movies like this, much less find and read a poem. Maybe this artistic beckon will even encourage someone to write one.

What a contrast to the average Hollywood product which highlights guns afire, frantic car chases and exploding buildings--noise and action aplenty: this subtle and enticing tale of self-realization is the antithesis of the action film, although within the first few minutes of the film, in the midst of children playing near a river, a body floats by and sets an odd tone for the remainder of the film. A grandmother who learns she has an incurable illness and who discovers her grandson is not merely a disaffected teen who cannot clean up after himself--but something worse-- the woman inexplicably enrolls in a poetry class and for the next two hours we are taken along her journey in a most leisurely fashion, a film with powerful cinematography and at last, a puzzling, thoughtful conclusion: if you want easy entertainment with pat answers, this is not your film. If you enjoy an immersion in another culture from another point of view, this might be a great treat for you--it was for me

Reading Poetry's summary, one sees a sentimental film. I surely wasn't sure if I wanted to see this or not. I am completely happy I did.

What we have here is a slow-paced, delicate film. But it doesn't sway in sentimentality. It's subtle, quiet, and perhaps the most gentle film of the year, but it also wallows in the study of a suburban woman and in many ways feels like a dark portrait of a story. Yoon Jeong-hee is magnificent! She conveys so much emotion, and we realize just how quickly we want to see her journey here. The direction is assured, quitely letting us explore, never calling attention to itself. The screenplay is brilliant, and has the ideal arc needed for a film like this.

There are many amazing moments in this film, moments that really grabbed me and that emotionally shook me. One of the best films of the year in an already amazing year for film.

Poetry (2010)

Steady and stealthy, this film proposes to be as lyrical and compact as a poem, but then it keeps going and ends up larger and more impressive than you'd expect. And the acting by leading female actress, the Korean star Jeong-hie Yun, is startling and nuanced, a great performance.

At the heart of the plot are two plots. The first is the title line—elderly Mija has decided to learn how to write poetry, so she attends a class (filled with younger students). The second is about a sex crime—a gang rape it turns out—by her grandson, who she is raising alone. The two are nearly opposites in so many ways we see how life itself balances the beautiful and ugly, and responsibility and indifference. In a larger way, "Poetry" is about contemporary life in Korea, and the interactions of ordinary people in extreme situations will be revealing to many outside of Korea.

It's hard to overstate how well this movie pulls off something socially serious and yet makes it all understated and almost matter of fact. There are these several lines of thought that keep going throughout, and that don't quite converge until the very end, which is both tragic (truly) and a bit mysterious. What exactly is the implication of that last scene on the bridge, and the water that shows nothing? It hearkens to the beginning, of course, but we have our main character at hand.

In that sense, it's a brilliant, almost perfect evocation of contemporary Korea on the most normal, middle class level. Lovely and loving, and cold and brutal. And it shows the glib sexism of the men there, much like everywhere at various times. And how to survive you sometimes have to just proceed. And then, of course, sometimes you do not survive.