Oasis

Lee Chang-dong's hardest film, and his most argued over. Jong-du has just come out of prison; his family does not want him, he does not understand social rules and keeps doing the wrong thing. He went to prison over a traffic accident, and the daughter of the man who died in it, Gong-ju, lives with severe cerebral palsy, left forgotten in a flat by her family. He goes to visit her. The first encounter is a crime: he assaults her. Then he comes back, and a relationship begins. The film neither romanticises it nor convicts it easily; both are people their surroundings do not treat as human, and they find that in each other. Moon So-ri's performance is the most discussed element; she plays Gong-ju without a single softening. Sul Kyung-gu plays Jong-du. At Venice in 2002 it brought Lee the directing prize and Moon So-ri the award for an emerging actor. Before you watch, know this: the film opens with a sexual assault and the scene is not softened. It is among the harshest works in Korean cinema and there is nothing comfortable in it.