Korean director Lee Chang Dong's seventh film, Possible Love, is inspired by real events in 2009, when a Korean conglomerate cut a third of its staff, about 2,600 jobs. Many of the people who lost work later died by suicide.
The film does not show the fight itself. It picks up afterwards, opening with the line "Thou shall not covet" and following characters who want each other's jobs, clothes, spouses and standing. Jeon Do-yeon plays Mi-ok, wife of a laid-off worker, who meets a documentary filmmaker and her rich husband at a colleague's funeral.
Lee spoke to The Verge in New York, in Korean, about his politics, the camera and working with Netflix.
π The Backstory
Lee grew up in Daegu, which he calls the heartland of Korean conservatism. As a student in May 1980 he joined protests against the Chun Doo-hwan regime and met that conservatism face to face on the streets.
His films deal with class, labour and religion without lecturing, and he is best known internationally for Burning. He is a contemporary of Bong Joon Ho, who made Parasite, and Park Chan Wook.
Possible Love is his first film in several years and has been shown at the New York Film Festival.
π― Why It Matters
The film asks what happens to people after a mass layoff, not just during it. That is a question many families face when a big employer cuts jobs.
Korean director Lee Chang Dong's seventh film, Possible Love, is inspired by real events in 2009, when a Korean conglomerate cut a third of its staff, about 2,600 jobs. Many of the people who lost work later died by suicide.
The film does not show the fight itself. It picks up afterwards, opening with the line "Thou shall not covet" and following characters who want each other's jobs, clothes, spouses and standing. Jeon Do-yeon plays Mi-ok, wife of a laid-off worker, who meets a documentary filmmaker and her rich husband at a colleague's funeral.
Lee spoke to The Verge in New York, in Korean, about his politics, the camera and working with Netflix.
Lee grew up in Daegu, which he calls the heartland of Korean conservatism. As a student in May 1980 he joined protests against the Chun Doo-hwan regime and met that conservatism face to face on the streets.
His films deal with class, labour and religion without lecturing, and he is best known internationally for Burning. He is a contemporary of Bong Joon Ho, who made Parasite, and Park Chan Wook.
Possible Love is his first film in several years and has been shown at the New York Film Festival.
The film asks what happens to people after a mass layoff, not just during it. That is a question many families face when a big employer cuts jobs.