Yun Jung-hee returns to the screen for the first time in sixteen years in moving POETRY
POETRY (SHI) (Lee Chang-dong, 2010)
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway at 63rd St.
Opens Friday, February 11
212-757-2280
www.kino.com/poetry
www.lincolnplazacinema.com
Returning to the screen for the first time in sixteen years, legendary Korean actress Yun Jung-hee is mesmerizing in Lee Chang-dong’s beautiful, bittersweet, and poetic POETRY. Yun stars as Mija, a lovely but simple woman raising her teenage grandson, Wook (Lee David), and working as a maid for Mr. Kang (Kim Hi-ra), a Viagra-taking old man debilitated from a stroke. When she is told that Wook is involved in the tragic suicide of a classmate (Han Su-young), Mija essentially goes about her business as usual, not outwardly reacting while clearly deeply troubled inside. As the complications in her life grow, she turns to a community poetry class for solace, determined to finish a poem before the memory loss that is causing her to forget certain basic words overwhelms her. Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, POETRY is a gorgeously understated work, a visual, emotional poem that never drifts from its slow, steady pace. Writer-director Lee (PEPPERMINT CANDY, SECRET SUNSHINE) occasionally treads a little too close to clichéd melodrama, but he always gets back on track, sharing the moving story of an unforgettable character. Throughout the film he offers no easy answers, leaving lots of room for interpretation, like poems themselves.