Poetry
Directed by: Lee Chang-dong
Written by: Lee Chang-dong (screenplay)
Starring: Yun Jeong-hie, Ahn Nae-song, Lee Da-wit, and Hira Kim
What good are our memories to us if one day they can evaporate like river water? What good is a younger generation that grows increasingly dehumanized?
The initial shots of Poetry set up the movie to answer these questions. We watch as a couple of young children stand by the river, and then we follow what we eventually pick out as the body of a young girl float up to them. For the rest of the movie, that murder will reverberate through the life of Mija (Yun Jeong-hie) in a blur.