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Poetry
| Released |
29 July 2011 |
| Director |
Chang-dong Lee |
Starring
|
Jeong-hie Yun, Nae-sang Ahn, Hira Kim, Da-wit Lee, Yong-taek Kim |
| Writer(s) |
Chang-dong Lee |
| Producer(s) |
Jun-dong Lee |
| Origin |
South Korea |
| Running Time |
139 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama |
| Rating |
TBC |
|
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Forgettable.
Poetry is an interesting phenomenon. The most simple forms of poetry can be deeply meaningful while those that exude cryptic storytelling can be complicated, challenging or rewarding. By contrast, though, like with everything else, certain poems are just boring and the masquerade of art can do nothing to prevent it from being otherwise.
Set in South Korea, Poetry centres on a chirpy, elderly woman (Yoon Jeong-hee) who falls in love with the idea of poetry when she takes a class on the subject in her local community centre. As she yearns to write the perfect poem, she struggles to come to terms with her recent diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and the shameful actions of her disobedient grandson that resulted in a girl at his school committing suicide.
The premise of the story is heart-wrenching but the actuality of the film is more than annoying, with a succession of characters that will irk you to the core from beginning to end. At 139 minutes long, the progression of events is tediously slow moving as certain segments of the story,though integral, are drawn out in an attempt to add emotional intensity.
Throughout its entirety, there is almost a sense that the writer Lee Chang-dong owes you a creditable ending and thankfully, even after the exhausting wait, that eventually does arrive. Perhaps the point of the movie is to act in the style of a long poem with intricate, subtle movements in the plot proceeding a dramatic conclusion. The problem is that you have to sit through the first two hours to ultimately enjoy that defining moment.
A winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, I am left with the defining question of how? If you feel like you have too much excitement in your life and need a moderately depressing, yet fundamentally tame, film to balance your karma, then Poetry is for you. Otherwise, stay well clear.
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David Caulfield |
