This is a movie about living under the weight of the status quo without any obvious way to break out from under it. The Poet is in a marriage long overdue with a nagging but loving wife demanding a baby to liven things up. Certainly a baby would change the focus from oneself and all the dreariness to something more hopeful. It can, but so can falling in love. Enter The Boy. Mr. Hyeon is a married man who becomes infatuated with the youth, vigor and beauty of a donut shop employee. He insinuates himself into that kid's life without thinking through the ramifications of becoming someone's trusted father-figure. The feelings are at once paternal and carnal - a desire to take care of The Boy and to be with him. To leave all behind. How can that be done in a society that demands allegiance to the status quo? In the end, The Wife and The Poet get their baby, so that's something positive, but what about The Boy cast aside as an impossible future? He was left weeping at the side of a coffee shop, eventually making his way to a new town and new job, and is given a handsome severance by The Poet for his suffering. The movie ends with a tear going down The Poet's face. I get that the whole situation is complicated, and it is true that people seek people out without thinking of the consequences, but to have an ending that is tidy but with everyone unhappy is tragic. At one point, I thought they were all going to recognize each other's need for each other and live together, but that is too unconventional, too non-status quo, though heart-warming. Alas, the cold that pervaded the movie set the conditions for a sad ending devoid of warmth.
6 Reviews
The Need for the New to Feel Alive & Its Consequences
Bayamon_Hill24 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
A different subject
smousavi0530 March 2021
Peeling the onion
ekeby23 February 2019
I say that because that's what this story feels like, thin layers being stripped away ever so slowly. This is a film that reveals more depth about its characters as it slowly makes its way.
The poet begins as almost a caricature, though the words he writes are lovely and insightful, he seems lacking in self awareness. This is a character who strikes us as simple and a tad comedic. Eventually we get to see him evolve into someone altogether different. Actually all three central characters undergo transformation. It is not so much that they change as much as it is that we get to see more of what they actually are about by the way they react to their situation.
I want to pigeonhole this as a gay movie mostly because it is so very good. But I can only do that by adding the caveat that nothing gay happens. The poet has feelings for a young man, and he believes that they are feelings of love. I am not so sure. Is he in love with the boy, or in love with all the boy represents? Which would include a litany of diverse elements: beauty, youth, dependency, tragedy, unreflectiveness, rage, etc. it's a long list.
This is a beautifully crafted piece of work. It's multidimensional and well worth the journey. That being said, it won't be for everyone. One wishes the distinction didn't have to be made, but it will be helpful for some to know this not a movie, it's a film.
The poet begins as almost a caricature, though the words he writes are lovely and insightful, he seems lacking in self awareness. This is a character who strikes us as simple and a tad comedic. Eventually we get to see him evolve into someone altogether different. Actually all three central characters undergo transformation. It is not so much that they change as much as it is that we get to see more of what they actually are about by the way they react to their situation.
I want to pigeonhole this as a gay movie mostly because it is so very good. But I can only do that by adding the caveat that nothing gay happens. The poet has feelings for a young man, and he believes that they are feelings of love. I am not so sure. Is he in love with the boy, or in love with all the boy represents? Which would include a litany of diverse elements: beauty, youth, dependency, tragedy, unreflectiveness, rage, etc. it's a long list.
This is a beautifully crafted piece of work. It's multidimensional and well worth the journey. That being said, it won't be for everyone. One wishes the distinction didn't have to be made, but it will be helpful for some to know this not a movie, it's a film.
Just Awful
ChicagoMan4130 May 2022
Just some of the things I hated:
1) Disgusting eating habits...those people inhale their food like wild animals.
2) The lead character has a Moe haircut and a deadpan facial expression that never changes.
3) Why do they all sit on the floor when there are chairs right there?
2) The lead character has a Moe haircut and a deadpan facial expression that never changes.
3) Why do they all sit on the floor when there are chairs right there?
A Korean's "Death In Venice"
flcntk3-856-98601713 September 2018
This film brought a lot of positive surprises for it wasn't quite what I expected. It is a close Korean version of Luchino Visconti's "Death In Venice" which was based on Thomas Mann's book. Here except Mann or Visconti took the high horse on Platonist love as an adoration of physical beauty, Kim Yang-he, the director of "The Poet and The Boy" took the deep plunge into the soul of a poet who finds love in an obsessive yearning for a young man. Because "Death In Venice" was set in the early 1900s, the period and the take on the subject bind the character and the film in restrain and detachment. In contrast, "The Poet" and the casting of Yang Ik-Joon in particular, is among one of the many reasons why this film has a lot more warmth. Also, unlike "Venice", this isn't about physical beauty but about wanting to connect through kindred of feelings. By comparing these two films, the question then arises on what is love? Is it physical attraction or kindred of feelings? Or perhaps both?
Good rhythm
cegg8 January 2019
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