New York, NY – December 27, 2023 – After his debut as a novelist in 1983 and his early forays as a screenwriter and assistant director, Lee Chang-dong made his directing debut with “Green Fish” in 1996 and quickly became one of Korea’s most talented auteurs, taking his place alongside Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan Wook, Kim Ki-duk and others as one of the leaders of Korean New Wave cinema. With dark stories of innocence lost, suffering, alienation, tragedy, psychological trauma, doomed romances, and intricately woven narratives focusing on complex characters from the corners of society, Lee has earned himself a place among the world’s most accomplished storytellers.
To celebrate Lee’s cinematic achievements, Film Movement is readying a 4 film collector’s set featuring new 4k digital restorations of his first three award-winning dramas – “Green Fish,” “Peppermint Candy,” and “Oasis,” along with 2010’s “Poetry,” which captured the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention and Best Screenplay at Cannes. The Film Movement Classics Blu-ray set will be packed with extras and be released in the Summer of 2024, following theatrical screenings of the new restorations in select theaters in North America this Spring.
GREEN FISH (1996)
After his mandatory military service, naïve young Makdong (Han Suk-kyu) returns home to an Ilsan he no longer recognizes – a dull city that has rapidly modernized and gentrified in his absence. When he crosses paths with a young woman being harassed at a train station, his life takes an unexpected turn when he is lured into the underworld of criminal gangs, with the promise of material comfort beyond his imagination. Unprepared for this environment of violence and exploitation, Mak-dong must face the dire consequences of his choices. “Green Fish” captured the Best Film and Best New Director Awards from the Korean Film Critics Association and at the Blue Dragon Awards and garnered acclaim at festivals the world over. John Fidler of Senses of Cinema said, “Lee Chang-dong’s wrenching, tonally nuanced first film…packs a quiet wallop,” and Martin Sandison of Eastern Kicks penned, “A strong narrative drive, powerful visuals and a mind-blowing central performance make ‘Green Fish’ a superb watch.”
PEPPERMINT CANDY (1999)
A powerful work of Korean New Wave cinema and Lee’s second directorial feature, “Peppermint Candy,” spans 20 years in the life of one man, Yongho, from his callow teens through his fraught, self-hating middle age. Presented in seven chapters in reverse chronological order, the film begins with Yongho’s untimely suicide and ends with a first date full of the promise and verve of youth. The moments in between these events, as seen through the lens of Yongho’s life, observe South Korea’s fraught political history during the late 20th century and, in turn, elegize a generation of marginalized people with “a quiet, heartbreaking power…,” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times). An Official Selection of the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes, and numerous other notable fests, it won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and also garnered critical acclaim from film critics such as Elizabeth Kerr of The Hollywood Reporter, who said, “‘Peppermint Candy’ laid the groundwork for the polished, more covertly political dramas about marginalized Koreans — be it by age, ability or affluence — that cemented Lee’s auteur label a few years later: ‘Oasis,’ ‘Secret Sunshine,’ and “Poetry.’”
OASIS (2002)
After serving time for killing a man in a hit-and-run car accident, Hong Jong-du (Sul Kyung-gu) is released with no money and nowhere to go. His family has abandoned him, and while trying to make amends, he meets Han Gong-ju (Moon So-ri), his victim’s adult daughter. She is wheelchair-bound due to cerebral palsy and all but abandoned in a cheap apartment by her callous family. Gong-ju’s innate tenderness appeals to the uncontrollably impulsive Jong-du and the pair begin an improbable relationship. Winner of the Silver Lion for Best Director and Best Young Actress at the Venice Film Festival, along with the FIPRESCI Prize and nominated for Best Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, “Oasis” continued Lee’s international ascent. A New York Times Critic’s Pick, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, said that “Oasis” is “a brave film in the way it shows two people who find any relationship almost impossible, and yet find a way to make theirs work,” and G. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “Lee’s humanitarian plea for tolerance is one of the most original films of the decade.”
POETRY (2010)
Winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention and Best Screenplay at Cannes, “Poetry,” a New York Times Critics’ Pick, “Poetry” was called “an extraordinary vision of human empathy…[A] tour de force….” by the Times Manohla Dargis, “exquisite” by Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly and “a masterpiece” by Andrew O’Hehir of Salon. In this powerful drama, Korean grandmother Mija comes to terms with the early onset of Alzheimer’s while dealing with the fallout from a brutal family crime. Her teenage grandson is linked to the violent death of a girl, and she finds herself caught up in a conspiracy to pay hush money to the dead girl’s family. Mija’s tendency to become lost in poetry and the wonders of nature causes her mind to wander at the wrong time, with unfortunate consequences.
