Possible Love

Long a chronicler of Korean society’s fissures and injustices, always through a humanistic lens, Lee (Secret Sunshine, Poetry) takes as a starting point a meeting between a documentary filmmaker, Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), and a traumatised worker Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu) and his wife Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon). Ho-seok lost his factory job years prior under brutal circumstances and has yet to recover, making the couple seem like essential characters for the documentary. Gradually the filmmaker, roping in her wealthy husband Sang-woo (Zo In-sung), begins to broaden the relationship, getting personally close to her documentary subjects. This set-up provides fertile ground for Lee to examine class politics and the effects of rampant capitalism on individuals. A brilliantly conceived ocean swimming scene may well prove to be the most memorable of the year. Mesmerising and indelible, Possible Love is essential viewing.