A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving and becomes infatuated with his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.8/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 4.09/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Metacritic: 79
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
Lee Chang-dong
Production
UniKorea Pictures, Dream Venture Capital, East Film, CJ Entertainment
Cast
Sul Kyung-gu, Moon So-ri, Ahn Nae-sang, Ryoo Seung-wan, Son Byung-ho, Kim Jin-goo, Chu Gwi-jeong, Yoon Ga-hyun, Park Myung-shin, Park Kyung-geun, Han Jin-seob, Han Dae-gwan, Go Seo-hee, Park Gil-su, Lee Byung-chul, Lee Jong-woo, Kang Joon-seok, Ra Jae-hoon, Kwon Hyeok-pung, Kim Do-young
Where to watch
Metrograph, Film Movement Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A raw, unsettling, and deeply human melodrama that turns a taboo premise into a fierce critique of pity, prejudice, and social exclusion. It is emotionally devastating and often uncomfortable, but its empathy, performances, and moral complexity make it a standout.
Best for
Viewers who like challenging Korean dramas
Fans of emotionally intense, socially conscious romance
People interested in disability representation and moral ambiguity
Audiences comfortable with difficult, confrontational material
Skip if
You want a comforting or conventional love story
You are sensitive to sexual violence or attempted assault
You prefer tidy moral judgments and clear emotional catharsis
You dislike films that deliberately make the viewer uncomfortable
Overview
Lee Chang-dong takes a premise that could easily collapse into provocation and instead builds a bruising human drama about loneliness, stigma, and the desperate need to be seen. The film’s central relationship is awkward, tender, and at times deeply disturbing, but it never feels casual about the pain it depicts. It is constantly asking who gets to be considered worthy of love, dignity, or forgiveness.
Worth noting
What makes it so powerful is the balance between harsh social realism and moments of almost startling emotional grace. The performances are fearless, especially in the way they let embarrassment, humor, desire, and vulnerability coexist in the same scene. The film is not interested in making anyone easy to like; it is interested in making them impossible to dismiss.
Bottom line
This is not an easy recommendation, and it should not be. But for viewers willing to sit with discomfort, it offers one of the most searching and compassionate dramas of its era. It lingers because it refuses to simplify either its characters or the cruelty of the world around them.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Lise (4.5★) · 599 likes
This is a challenging look into the world of people many of us would rather avoid. They are the people who are different or challenged in some way, who might interfere with our regular practices, routines and ways of doing things, who might make us uncomfortable, who don't understand or don't follow social rules and conventions, who can't communicate easily.
This is writer-director Chang-dong Lee's harsh and uncompromising story of Jong-du Hong, a simple man with an intellectual disability and… more
tova hirsch (2.5★) · 567 likes
Some people (men) always talk about how you can't let the problematic aspects (racism, misogyny, homophobia) of a movie influence how you rate it. That you have to look past that, and if you don't you have rated it incorrectly. I can see where they're coming from. I don't like pretending that movies, tv-shows, whatever, are bad just because they have problematic (hate that word) aspects. They can be great on all levels except for that aspect, but that one… more Some people (men) always talk about how you can't let the problematic aspects (racism, misogyny, homophobia) of a movie influence how you rate it. That you have to look past that, and if you don't you have rated it incorrectly. I can see where they're coming from. I don't like pretending that movies, tv-shows, whatever, are bad just because they have problematic (hate that word) aspects. They can be great on all levels except for that aspect, but that one… more
Post1000Tension · 375 likes
CW: r*pe
Extraordinary in many ways, and perhaps the most damning critique of ableism I've yet seen. However I kept experiencing problems, and I don't know if they were quite resolved. Jong-du (Sol Kyung-gu) is introduced to us as someone who was once arrested for attempted rape. The fact is tossed out and left to linger in mind. We witness him fumbling through various social situations, unresponsive to norms, before encountering Gong-ju (Moon So-Ri). In no time at all, Jong-du… more
Jonathan White (5★) · 251 likes
I had never heard of Lee Chang-dong. I had seen Oasis crop up here in friends favourite Korean lists, so that’s always a great excuse to try a new director. Move out of the comfort zone a bit.
Right from the first few minutes in, I saw that yes, I was indeed stepping out of my comfort zone. Sol Kyung-gu’s performance as Hong Jong-du made me uncomfortable. Not overtly, but uncomfortable none the less. I’ve lived in large cities most… more
BrandonHabes (5★) · 176 likes
The attempted rape of a woman afflicted with cerebral palsy by a man presented as mentally offbeat is extremely uncomfortable to watch, but it’s also precisely the point. The perverse and extreme nature of the scene challenges even the most sympathetic viewer to draw a line, proving that judgment plays a critical role in society for what is considered socially acceptable, and what is not. In a film where people are just as handicapped by their prejudices as the couple… more The attempted rape of a woman afflicted with cerebral palsy by a man presented as mentally offbeat is extremely uncomfortable to watch, but it’s also precisely the point. The perverse and extreme nature of the scene challenges even the most sympathetic viewer to draw a line, proving that judgment plays a critical role in society for what is considered socially acceptable, and what is not. In a film where people are just as handicapped by their prejudices as the couple… more