Shi 2010

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: Lee is a gifted, thoughtful filmmaker, unafraid to tackle difficult subjects. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Ms. Yun's performance [is] a tour de force of emotional complexity that builds through restraint and, like Mr. Lee's unadorned visual style, earns rather than demands your attention. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Yun is quite simply spectacular as a woman who holds steadfastly on to her dignity and empathy, even in the face of unspeakable tragedy. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: It comes together neatly, perhaps too neatly to be ... poetry. But it's not prosaic, either. It has a lucid grace. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: This is a movie about how in the throes of inspiration, phrases follow each other organically, leading the poet to places she didn't know she was headed when she began. But for Yun, that journey is terrifying, with only blackness ahead. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Writer and director Chang-dong Lee's film is moving without ever stooping to melodrama; Yun is the main reason why. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Sometimes you don't fully appreciate what a movie's doing to your heart until it's been shattered. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: True to the title, writer-director Lee Chang-dong is principally concerned with rendering emotions that seem inexpressible. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: This is a small film. It is also a great one. "Great" is a word I don't use often. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Now is the time to bestow on yourself the gift of one of the most, well, poetic films of 2010. And by "poetic," we mean rich with soulful pauses that are at once visual and aural and deeply observant of the dance of routine and quiet surprise. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: [An] exquisite Korean drama by Secret Sunshine's Lee Chang-dong. Read more

Maggie Lee, Hollywood Reporter: Those with an eye for reading between the lines can find layers of meaning. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Poetry" is daring in the ways only quiet, unhurried but finally haunting films have the courage to be. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: "Poetry," which rightfully won the best-screenplay prize at Cannes, never resorts to exploitation. Under Lee's guidence, it is a mature film for mature audiences. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: About guilt and responsibility, about loss, about the terrible things human beings do, and the moments of serenity and spiritual succor to be gleaned from the natural world. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Mija, at the center, is perhaps determined to not fill her remaining memories with despair, and to avoid adding to the sum of the world's misery. Maybe it's as simple as that. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A captivating film, as observant and nuanced as a sonnet. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A Korean movie about an aging housemaid that turns out to be one of the best films of the year. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Anyone who starts a film going to poetry classes is eventually going to come up with a poem. The one Mija finally delivers will rip your heart to shreds. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: A deceptively gentle tale with a tender ache at its center, as well as a performance from Yun Jung-hee that lingers long in the memory. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Poetry is a perfectly paced and performed character study of a woman raising a child on her own who must contend with a heinous act of violence. Read more