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.

As in the case of autos and electronics, South Korean has made major advances in the film industry in the past decade. Quality films, some winning international accolades and some remaining only known domestically, are becoming numerous. Subject matters vary from comedy, horror, and serious topics demanding much patience and time from the viewers. "Poetry" is one such film of the last category.The plot has been discussed by others so I will not dwell into it. Throughout this film one also gains an insight into the modern-day Korean society: a young, divorced mother leaving her teenage son to her ageing mother to care for, full time, while she is in a different city pursuing a career, her independence and perhaps happiness. A raw deal for the grandmother Mija but I have a feeling this not uncommon. A group of men, fathers of teenage boys who have repeatedly bullied, sexually, a girl are more concerned with paying off the victim's mother so their sons can move on in life, without showing the slightest of remorse toward the victim's family. Very unpleasant and yet believable in any male-dominant society.Still, the 'hero' in this film is an old woman, one that is poor but still has an appreciation for beauties in nature, and in poetry.At 140 minutes this is one long film. If you are in the right frame of mind this film is a great way to kill an evening, meaningfully. Good acting, a good script, and sure-footed directing by Lee Chang-dong pull together what first appeared to be disconnected events together to make great drama. The ending may be a bit puzzling for some but I find it to be very appropriate.Highly recommended for fans of contemporary Korean cinema, or just good cinema in general.

What a wonderful film! To give my personal answer to one interviewer's question "Do you regard cinema, too, to be a dying form?" to the director Lee Chang-Dong. I believe (and deeply hope) that as long as films like Poetry are being made cinema will continue to flourish because it is important. It will continue to exist as long as humans exist because they are about being human. I was struck by how masterfully two sides of our humanness were presented in the film. On the one hand, it is about our search for beauty, as beauty can only be experienced if something of our own potential beauty responds to the beauty around us. There is something spiritual in this as Beauty and Truth are essentially one. On the other hand, there is the human predicament. That includes the pro and cons of the fact that we always have the choice to decide if we act ethically or not. That means if we actually say Yes to what is intrinsically our positive potential, or we say No and harm others, our environment and as a kind of end result, ourselves. What for me links the two is impermanence. Old age, illness and suicide as it is shown in the film. "Everything that is born will have to die" goes a very old Buddhist saying, and that happens no matter if we like it or not. At the same time, would we experience beauty if everything was to exist forever? Is it not because a beautiful flower grows out of a very simple looking seed in spring and then withers away after some weeks that it can become so precious to us? Without impermanence there is, one could say, by definition no beauty. Both are somehow the two sides of the same metaphorical coin. The same is true about this film. It still lingers on in my heart and mind weeks after I saw it. Very much like a true and wonderful poem, for example Rainer Maria Rilke's First Duino Elegy. It is is just about that, the wonder and horror of beauty.

It never ceases to amaze me how Korean film makers seem capable of balancing so much in their films - so many of the best films from Korea seem to defy any genre categorizations. They are often funny when you expect them to be horrifying, thrilling when you expect them to be ethereal, and have a way of turning all audience expectations upside down.Poetry is one of the very best Korean films of the last few years. I saw it last week, and still can't get that wonderful old lady out of my head. It is, very briefly, about a proud but desperately poor woman in her mid-60's, who looks after her taciturn teenage grandson, who finds out that he may have been involved in the rape of a girl who later commits suicide. Simultaneously, she is diagnosed with early Alzheimers disease. She is also trying to find an artistic outlet, to make some mark on the world before she loses her grip. All these elements come together in a way with is somethings horrifying, sometimes fascinating, and ultimately very beautiful. This film is a flat out masterpiece and demands to be seen.