Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Lee Chang-dong
Cast
Yoon Jeong-hee,
Lee Da-wit,
Kim Hee-ra,
Ahn Nae-sang,
Kim Yong-taek,
Park Myung-shin
Genre
Drama
In this moving drama, Mija is a part-time caretaker who struggles to raise her teenage grandson alone. One day, she enrolls in a poetry class, but her venture into the written word is interrupted — first by early signs of Alzheimer’s, then by the consequences of her grandson’s shocking actions.
Gentle, aching, lyrical — the critics say it best. Mija is tested, first by her diagnosis, then by her grandson’s immorality (in addition to his immaturity). She faces both with dignity and grace, and her efforts to find beauty in the ugliest places are admirable, even if her pace is agonizing.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Facing a diagnosis of Alzheimer's, the older woman enrolls in a poetry class, desperate to find the words to describe beauty before language fails her. She does even better: She herself becomes a kind of poem about what it means to really see the world.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
The importance of seeing, seeing the world deeply, is at the heart of this quietly devastating, humanistic work from the South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong.
Village Voice by Melissa Anderson
A perfectly paced and performed character study of a woman raising a child on her own who must contend with a heinous act of violence.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Daring in the ways only quiet, unhurried but finally haunting films have the courage to be. A character study of remarkable subtlety joined to a carefully worked-out plot that fearlessly explores big issues like beauty, truth and mortality, it marks the further emergence of Korean writer-director Lee Chang-dong.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Joe Williams
Beauty comes to us unexpectedly. That's the message of Poetry, a Korean movie about an aging housemaid that turns out to be one of the best films of the year.
San Francisco Chronicle by G. Allen Johnson
A heartrending film, Lee's Poetry is indeed a work of art.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
Yun's performance is remarkable. The journey Mija takes is painful and hard and - for us, watching - sublime.
Boston Globe by Wesley Morris
This is a movie whose power comes from the alignment both of Mija's discovery with ours and of a tremendous writer and director with his star.
IndieWire by Eric Kohn
It may go without saying that Poetry adopts a lyrical tone, but this forms the crux of its appeal. In this case, the title says it all.
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
Yun's performance is genuinely beautiful, a haunting expression of life, of its disappointments and its possibilities, rendered in a way that befits the title.
The A.V. Club by Noel Murray
Whenever all the pieces are in place, though, Lee reverts to the kind of storytelling he does best.
Time Out by Keith Uhlich
Yun is quite simply spectacular as a woman who holds steadfastly on to her dignity and empathy, even in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
Variety by Justin Chang
Calmer and less shattering than his masterly psychodrama "Secret Sunshine" (2007), Poetry is a deceptively gentle tale with a tender ache at its center, as well as a performance from Yun Jung-hee that lingers long in the memory.
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
Poetry, which rightfully won the best-screenplay prize at Cannes, never resorts to exploitation. Under Lee's guidence, it is a mature film for mature audiences.
The Hollywood Reporter
Not everyone will wax lyrical about this enigmatic and troubling film, which is also Chan-dong's most slow-moving one. But those with an eye for reading between the lines can find layers of meaning.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
It comes together neatly, perhaps too neatly to be … poetry. But it's not prosaic, either. It has a lucid grace.
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