Jeon Do-yeon is in a few theaters today, back with Lee Chang-dong
Jeon Do-yeon plays Mi-ok in Possible Love, Lee Chang-dong's first feature since Burning. A few theaters have it today, including New York and Los Angeles. Netflix has it Nov. 6.
The Goldscene Desk
Jeon Do-yeon is in a few theaters today, in Lee Chang-dong's first feature since Burning.
She plays Mi-ok. Her husband, Ho-seok, lost his factory job after a strike that was violently put down. They have a 10-year-old son.
A documentarian wants the layoff on camera. Mi-ok says yes, and Ho-seok will not.
The filmmaker is Cho Yeo-jeong, who played the wealthy wife in Parasite. Zo In-sung plays her husband, Sang-woo, a businessman.
Ho-seok is Sul Kyung-gu. He has been in Lee's films since Peppermint Candy and Oasis.
The Korean title is 가능한 사랑. Lee has said the film asks what kind of love is possible. He also said he cannot start a movie until he knows what it means, for him, for the audience, and for cinema.
That is why eight years passed after Burning.
Jeon won best actress at Cannes in 2007 for Secret Sunshine, the last feature she and Lee made. She took this part because it was him. After she finished reading the script she kept pushing, worried she might not end up in the film.
She has described Mi-ok as a woman who wants a peaceful day, living as if she is carrying a ticking time bomb. She never knows when her husband's anger will explode, and she does not let go of hope.
In the trailer she sings "All I Know is Love," the Shim Soo-bong song 사랑밖에 난 몰라.
The film runs 164 minutes, in Korean with English subtitles. Netflix rates it R.
Venice gave it the Silver Lion on Sept. 12, the Grand Jury Prize, and South Korea submitted it for the international-feature Oscar.
Burning reached that shortlist and went no further.
Film at Lincoln Center has it today, Saturday, and Sunday at 1:00, 4:15, and 7:45 p.m.
Laemmle has it in Los Angeles today, at the Royal in West LA at 1:30 and 6:30 p.m., and in Glendale at 12:50, 3:30, and 7:00.
Netflix has it on Nov. 6. We wrote about the short Korean run when it opened there in September.
Our take: if a theater near you has a seat this weekend, take it for Mi-ok. She is trying to hold a household together while a richer couple films what the layoff did to them. The film is on Netflix Nov. 6.
