Eight years after Burning, acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong is back. His new film Possible Love (Ga-neung-han sa-rang) has been named South Korea's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, after winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival — and it opens in select theaters today, October 23, ahead of a global Netflix release on November 6.
Two marriages, one fault line
Possible Love follows the intertwined lives of two married couples separated by class. Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon) lives quietly with her husband Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), a laid-off welder, and their young son — two years after a brutal crackdown on a strike at SP Heavy Industries ended his livelihood. At a co-worker's funeral they meet Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), a documentary filmmaker recording the experiences of laid-off workers, and her affluent husband Sang-woo (Zo In-sung).
When Mi-ok agrees to be filmed, the boundary between observer and subject blurs. She grows close to Ye-ji while feeling an unsettling pull toward the enigmatic Sang-woo, and fractures begin to appear in both marriages — resentments and long-dormant desires that neither household is equipped to confront.
A triumphant festival run
Lee, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oh Jung-mi, produced the film through Pinehouse Film, Anonymous Content, and Nowfilm. Since its Venice premiere, Possible Love has swept up critics' honors, including Best Film of the year from the Korean Association of Film Critics and Best Actress for Jeon Do-yeon. Burning had already made history as the first Korean film shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; the selection committee praised Possible Love for its "cinematic completeness, the clarity of the director's message and its excellent mise-en-scene."
When to watch
The film opened in South Korea on September 23, lands in select U.S. theaters on October 23, and premieres globally on Netflix on November 6. The final trailer hints at emotional turmoil — Mi-ok singing, her breakdown in front of Ye-ji's camera — and raises uncomfortable questions about the line between empathy, curiosity, and exploitation.
Watch: Possible Love | Final Trailer | Netflix
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Life of Riley (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0