Poetry
A 66-year-old mother defies patriarchy and Alzheimer’s through poetry and empathy for a dead rape victim in Lee Chang-dong’s remarkable drama.
(...) [T]he elderly Mija reacts to news of her irreversible Alzheimer’s by signing up for a poetry class. She’s losing her words (even everyday ones like ‘electricity’ and ‘wallet’), so why even enter an arena that’s about shaping enhanced perceptions through the skilled command of language? In essence, that’s the puzzle which drives the story forward, as the viewer tries to make connections between this poetic thread and the unfolding dilemma whereby the old lady is inveigled into coming up with her share of the blood-money being raised by the fathers of the teenage boys (her surly grandson Wook among them) whose rape of their high-school classmate Hee-jin drove the poor girl to drown herself.
(...) Mija’s endeavours culminate in an all-consuming identification with the suicide victim Hee-jin, setting up a closing gesture of transcendence achieved through Mija’s written words and Lee’s images of running water. Somehow it’s at once a moment of liberating individual release and a bleak recognition of an intransigent status quo, and it lifts what is already a rich and compassionate film into something approaching greatness.
Trevor Johnston, Sight & Sound
Original title: Shi
Duration: 139 min
Dialogue: Korean
Subtitles: English
Age limit: K15
