Poetry is a graceful and powerful examination of Korean family dynamics, aging, identity, and womanhood. Korean filmmakers haven't shied away from the crumbling nuclear family in the last ten years, in fact, most of the higher profile films to come from that film industry have dealt with family in one way or another. From Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy,  and Lady Vengeance; Bong Joon-ho's The Host and Mother; Kim Jee-woon's The Quiet Family, The Foul King, A Tale of Two Sisters, and I Saw the Devil; all the way up to recent hit The Man From Nowhere, family has been a central theme in much of Korea's cinematic output. However, it hasn't been shown quite like this before. Kino International has taken Lee Chang-dong's film and made it shine, in an edition worthy of its beautiful and at times painful content. This is a great disc.

Winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Poetry is an "achingly exquisite portrait" (Philadelphia Inquirer) of a woman's brave fight against Alzheimer's, and against her guilt over a relative's brutal crime.

This highly acclaimed Korean drama (100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) showcases a performance of "surpassing delicacy" (Los Angeles Times) by Yun Jung-hee, who was voted as her country's greatest actress in a public poll. She plays Mija, an aging part-time maid and full-time guardian of her apathetic grandson. Concerned by her frequent forgetfulness, she takes a poetry class at the local arts center to sharpen her mind. She begins to appreciate the wonders of the natural world, but a schoolgirl's suicide initiates a chain of tragic events that will change her life forever.

Directed with skill and subtlety by Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine), Poetry is a "nearly perfect movie" (Boston Globe) about the power of art to bear witness to both sublime beauty and the violent truths that lie hidden in the hearts of men.

The film's success is stretched between the shoulders of two people, director Lee Chang-dong and star Yun Jung-hee. There are other actors in the film, but their performances exist in Yun's world, and fall in her massive shadow.  Her portrayal of the put upon grandmother caring for an ungrateful and potentially dangerous adolescent boy is very brave and rings true.

Yun Jung-hee plays Mija, a grandmother stranded with her grandson after his mother abandons the pair to live in Busan. Mija is elderly and beginning to become forgetful. During a routine visit to her doctor, he notices her inability to recall simple words and tells her that she should be careful and exercise her body and mind in order to stay sharp. To this end she joins a poetry class, hoping to keep her mind active and perhaps get in touch with her emotions. Emotion is something she allows herself sparingly outside the class, though, as she's constantly on the defensive from her borderline abusive teenaged grandson. In addition to taking care of him, she works as an in-home nursing assistant to a disabled man who seems to have grown a crush on her. The idea that the only person who seems to truly care for her is physically incapacitated seems to drive her will to care for herself, and make herself a person worth loving. Poetry will do this.

Soon enough, her will is challenged by an event in which her grandson in implicated in the rape and eventual suicide of a local girl. Rather than allowing herself to be crushed and destroyed by this news, she seeks to find and create a greater good from it. It is the poetry in her soul that she's seeking to free that helps her understand what is right, and what it is to write real poetry.

Watching Mija transform throughout the film from a fragile, forgetful, and put upon grandmother to a strong, emotionally resilient, and confident woman is a beautiful thing.  It is like watching a flower bud bloom, and Yun certainly blooms in this role.  Her past history seems to mostly have been young, fresh girl roles, and this, her first role in fifteen years, is a far cry from those, but she pulls it off remarkably well. Poetry would play well as a counterpoint to Bong Joon-ho's Mother.  They have very disparate tones and characters, but thematically they share a similar base. Personally, I preferred Poetry, and if you have the patience for a contemplative film that will leave you feeling rewarded without constant instant gratification, Poetry is a beautiful film and a wonderful experience.

The Disc:

Kino International have taken Lee Chang-dong's latest film and given it a remarkably crisp and bright presentation on Blu-ray.  If anything, there might be a little bit of contrast boosting on the image, as the whites appear to bloom on occasion, but overall I was very impressed with the image, which exhibits a natural feel that is not at all flashy, but very appropriate to the film. There is very clear fine detail in most shots, and the colors pop when necessary, but the flesh tones feel very natural.  It is beautiful.  The sound is less dynamic, with a DTS-HD 5.1 track that does little to utilize the surround channels, however, the film doesn't really require a whiz-bang audio track.  There is some utilization of the surrounds for ambient sound, which is nice, but don't expect any explosions or any subwoofer-testing bass.

There are a few brief extras on Kino's Poetry Blu-ray.  They are short in length, but relatively enlightening.  First is a ten minute "making of" featurette that mostly consists of interviews of Lee and Yun on set and helps to give the viewer a sense of what they were gong for and what a stretch it was for Yun, who performs masterfully.  There is also a very brief two-minute interview with one of Yun's co-stars that is basically back-patting, but still nice to have.  Apart from that there is a stills gallery and several trailers and TV spots.  The extras won't win any awards, but with a film like Poetry, it is the feature that is most rewarding.

Kino International's Blu-ray presentation of Poetry is magnificent, and the film is superb. Highly recommended.