Shi (2010) Reviews

• Poignant and deeply human

  yris20022011-04-23

  There's an outstanding outward composure pervading this movie, to the point that it seems impossible not to feel in the end a sense of calm, although the cruelty of some situations. This is probably a typical feature of all oriental pictures and culture as well, but here it is most evident, almost therapeutic. The protagonist is a small, meek, cheerfully dressed, sixty-something woman, in the early stages of Alzheimer's, who has to look after her troublesome grandson, dramatically connected with a shocking event in the small Korean city where they live. It's a slow movie, which leaves ample scope to the unsaid and the unwritten, but dripping with strong and deep humanity. Mija reveals such determination in her simple and peaceful going on, holding on, she proves the real strength of real strong people, that strength that does not need any evident outward demonstrations, but only the inner will of a meek nature who continues to see the beauty of a flower or the perfection of an apple, and the beauty of poetry, of course, against the ugliness of men (and here the ugliness of a male chauvinist society is to be underlined). The movie reveals such delicacy, such subtlety and tact while approaching the most disturbing topics, that we as viewers can manage everything, feeling a kind of respect towards us, and feeling also grateful for that. Great work by the director Lee Chang-dong then, and standing ovation for Yun Jung-hee for her intense, poignant, stunning interpretation of Mija. The last shots on her finally achieved poem are petrifying and soothing at the same time, showing an incredible emotional intensity. These are movies that should reach the big screen more often and more widely.

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• Pungent commentary on male-dominated middle class Korean society

  howard.schumann2010-10-05

  In recent weeks five teenagers have killed themselves as a result of bullying. A new poll has indicated that slightly more than a third of teens in the U.S. personally have been subjected to bullying behavior. In the poll, more than two-thirds of teens also said their friends about been bullied. Yet a majority of adults, according to the poll, believe bullying is a minor problem or not a problem at all. In the macho society we live in and tolerate, women are even more likely to be victims than men. In Lee Chang-dong's latest film Poetry, winner of the award for Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, a young girl commits suicide after being repeatedly raped by a group of juveniles. Sadly, the fathers of the other boys are only interested in protecting their sons from prosecution, silencing the press and school officials, and collecting enough money to pay off the girl's mother. Like Secret Sunshine, Poetry revolves around a woman mourning the death of a child, although here it is not her own. The idea for the film had its origin in a true case where a small town schoolgirl had been raped by a gang of teenage boys. In contrast to the grandmother in Bong-Joon-ho's Mother who refused to believe her son was responsible for a murder, Mija, a 66-year old played by Yung Jungee in her first role in 16 years, learns from the fathers of the other boys that her 16-year old grandson Wook (Lee Da-wit) was one of the six people involved in the rape and wishes to pursue justice. Though Mija privately knows that it is more important for the boys including her own to acknowledge their role in the crime, living in the male-dominated middle class Korean society, she reluctantly tries to raise her share of the payoff money, but expresses her feelings in not wanting to participate by the look on her face and by abruptly walking out of meetings. Rebelling against society's norms comes naturally to Lee's characters even though they have suffered a terrible loss or, in the case of Mija, is beginning to suffer the effects of encroaching dementia. Always dressed in flowery clothes and looking cheerful, Mija takes care of Wook in the absence of his mother who is divorced and living in Pusan and she supports herself by taking care of a stroke-ridden elderly man. Unfortunately, Wook spends most of his time on his computer or cell phone and there is little communication between grandmother and grandson. Aside from screaming at Wook, "Why did you do it?" Mija does not attempt to engage in conversation with the boy about treating others with civility and respect, nor apparently do the fathers of the other boys talk to their sons about their atrocious behavior. After seeing a poster that reminds her that one of her teachers once told her that she had a vein for poetry, Mija, on a whim, enrolls in a poetry class and the film follows her attempt to write a single poem before the class ends. Some of the most affecting scenes in the film are the discussions in the poetry class led by their teacher who tells them poetry does not require a special time or place or even inspiration, it only requires seeing the world as if for the first time and asks the class to share their memory of the most beautiful time in their life. Another poignant moment is when Mija meets the mother of the deceased girl (Park Myeong-sin) in a field and establishes a relationship based on the world that they see around them, even though she neglects to ask her if she would accept a cash settlement, the reason she went to visit her. Lamenting the fact that poetry is a dying art, Lee challenges us to see the beauty and the transcendence beyond the pain of the modern world. Speaking at a press conference, he said, "Poetry is not just like a bouquet of flowers that is beautiful in itself," he says. "It is life. No matter the ugliness of the world, there's always something beautiful inside. That's what I wanted to show." Lee succeeds in showing us the beauty beneath the ugliness and the fact that regardless of our age or circumstances, we have the ability to transform our lives. Yet the question must be raised – would not Mija have made more of a difference if she had engaged in a quiet conversation with her morally-challenged grandson about knowing why it is wrong to be reckless with the lives of others than in waxing poetic about flowers and fruits, or even life and death?

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• Looking for the poetry in life

  punyaketu2011-08-30

  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.

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• subtle and beautiful

  ien-chi962010-05-31

  Lee Chang Dong has always been a favorite Korean director of mine. His films, including "Poetry," have a subtle yet captivating force. "Poetry" is not for the average film viewer, but is for more mature audiences who are not afraid to confront life as it is and the existential aspects of life in general. The film is an exploration of complex human conditions that people can often find boring. But "Poetry" is inarguably meaningful and deep in its own way. It presents life realistically, but also paves way for finding positive little things within the worst conditions. "Poetry" is a film that will make you think in a way that almost no Hollywood movie can. Certainly, it is a powerful film as well. The only problem is that the majority of the population can misunderstand a film such as this one. It is a film that requires effort on the part of the audience to think and interpret the film for what it is. But once the purpose of the film is appreciated, it is a wonderful film for what it's worth. Go and watch it. It's a film that can change the way you look at everyday things.

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• Visual and emotional, even musical, despite its lack of soundtrack

  SnorrSm19892011-11-18

  First, let it be emphasized, as stated above, that this review contains spoilers, some quite major ones at that, so if you have not seen this movie and intend to do so, I'd advise you to skip this piece for now. Last year I had the good fortune of seeing the rarely-screened (albeit often-praised) Brazilian silent film LIMITE, and it left me in a state of mind where it seemed quite stupid to say anything about it, as no written word could do it justice. (This reaction is not necessarily a negative thing, providing that you defy it and write something anyway.) The next time a film had this effect on me was a few days ago, with Lee Chang-dong's POETRY. Made some eighty years after the former, I won't compare the two films, other than noting that I think both, at least indirectly, cover a sort of identical inner subject; beauty within ugliness. Both films are extremely visual, LIMITE inescapably so as it is a silent film, whereas POETRY confirms that also in this day and age, the power of the spoken word is ultimately dependent on our ability to use it sparingly, and let what can only be seen, felt and smelled, remain only seen, felt and smelled. Lee Chang-dong, one of the most promising Korean directors around these days, understands this, as he brutally deprives us of the comforting accessibility found in who-knows-how-many Hollywood-films; and instead, presents to us something which is maddeningly cruel and frustrating, but equally inspiring and peaceful. Mija (brilliantly portrayed by Jeon-hie Yun in what seems to be her first performance in a number of years) is a poor, elderly woman who is trying to raise her much-troubled grandson. Being a victim of the largely male-dominant society still present in some Asian cultures, she is unable to respond with much else than personal frustration when realizing that the fathers of a group of boys responsible for the raping of a girl, which led to the latter committing suicide, are concerned about nothing else than the futures of their own sons; her own grandson is among the suspects. Apparently, the fathers are incapable of feeling any genuine sorrow on behalf of the girl and her family, and arrange it so that the relatives of the victim are paid a certain sum of money, to "get the problem out of the world," and avoid that the police gets involved. While Mija undergoes this extremely difficult time, she tries to complete a poetry course, but feels unable to write satisfactorily. She is explained by the teacher, a well-known poet, that writing poetry should not be about seeking a moment of inspiration, but to SEE THINGS, experience their shapes and forms. She tries to little avail…for a considerable time. This leads me to one of the most poignant scenes in the film, and one that tempted a few tears out of me. During one of the poetry lessons, the attendants are asked to share their most beautiful moment in life. As we hear their experiences, it is startling to notice that several of the stories consist of things which, if solely observed from the outside, would appear sad or even ugly; but when said memories are being projected through the minds of their beholder, they will often become beautiful, in some confusing, inexplainable manner. As Mija realizes this, she manages to write one profound, deeply moving poem dedicated to the poor girl who committed suicide; she finds beauty within ugliness. I do not need to stress that a suicide, the earthly departure of an unfortunate soul as a result of terrible circumstances, is NOT, in any possible way, a beautiful thing. But when the immediate shock and frustration following such a tragedy has begun to fade, and the gradual distance between the present and the tragedy makes the victim reappear in our consciousness again as something more than a victim, but as the smiles, laughs, shapes and colors which also once defined this person, it may evoke a feeling of beauty. I wasn't very conscious of this while the movie played, but I did indeed begin to think of sad, but beautiful memories as this scene went on and afterwards. POETRY is a film which invites you to enter a certain state of mind, and demands that you stay there at least as long as the film running. At two and a half hours, it may sound long, but the fact is that I didn't think of the time. One thing worth noting is that the film does not have a soundtrack, beyond occasional noise from the records of the grand-son, yet I felt that it largely gave me a sort of musical experience; if I was to do something so banal as to compare it to a musical piece, I'd probably choose Shastro's "Tale of the Sands." Much more could be said, but, well…I feel stupid enough already!

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