Novel Encounters: The Films of Lee Chang-dong

Filmmaker, playwright, and novelist, Lee Chang-dong has been a vital force in South Korean culture since the publication of his first novel, Chonri, in 1983. After breaking into the film industry as the screenwriter (and assistant director) of Park Kwang-su’s 1993 To the Starry Island, Lee matriculated to the post of director with 1997’s Green Fish, and with that film and his five subsequent features, established himself as both a brilliantly understated delineator of character and a quietly outraged chronicler of the afflictions of South Korean society. With the US theatrical premieres of new 4K restorations available of four of Lee’s features—Green Fish, Peppermint Candy, Poetry, and Oasis—we survey the brilliant career of one of South Korea’s supreme artists… and one of its harshest critics.