The best review is one that makes you want to see a film or read a book without giving too much away and spoiling the experience. After reading Karen Smith's review of the critically lauded new Korean film, "Poetry," I'm getting ready to see it. Here's the lede:
"Poetry,” the acclaimed new film by South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong, is filled with irony. Quietly, with only snatches of dialogue between the main characters, it makes bold statements. It demonstrates the sexual vulnerability of females both young and old and the tendency of parents to cover up the crimes of their children rather than to demand responsibility from them or to show them what moral behavior looks like. The film is also a testimony to the power of simply paying attention, a skill learned in this case through a poetry class. From the opening scene, in which children find a corpse floating down a river, Lee’s slow-paced shots magnify their visual effect, which makes them linger in the viewer’s mind.
