Oasiseu

Oasis is a love story of truly unique proportions. It is simply unlike any movie you are likely to see.

Confronting, unusual, at times violent, but also heartbreakingly honest.

Lead by a stunning performance by So-ri Moon, and ably assisted by Kyung-gu Sol. The two bring amazing humanity to two very difficult and unusual character. So-ri in particular is brilliant, flawless and complex in her portrayal of the disabled Gong-ju Han. Her performance should be watched by any aspiring actor or actress as it is astonishingly good.

The plot is difficult to describe without it sounding bizarre and unrealistic, but the direction and script transcend any difficulties the subject matter brings up, and ultimately deliver the viewer with an unrivaled experience in what cinema was meant to do. That is, show us life, in all it's intricate forms, to inspire us, challenge us and help us grow.

Oasis is a power-house of modern cinema. An instant classic. It shows difficult characters, going through difficult situations, and the director has refused to water-down any aspect of the film, making it very confronting for the viewer.

Yet another in a growing list of Korean films that have blown me away. Their industry is the best around in my opinion, combining the technical abilities of the big-budget Hollywood films, with the personal, human stories that you would see in European cinema, but doing this with an obviously Asian aesthetic. If you like Kong Kong or Japanese films, I recommend stepping up to Korean films, they are generally more personal, and shot with as much visual gloss as anything from the US.

I don't know if anyone has said this same comment but I want to get into the commentary here. Roger Ebert is a great reviewer and his review of Oasis is worthy. Except for the part about "Idiot Plot" ... I think he's just simply missed it. The family didn't tell the police the relevent info - why? perhaps you have to think Korean and perhaps, even more to the point, they wanted him to go to jail. My two cents.

This is a very fine and significant movie and stands as one of the best, ever. It has more humanity in a thimble-full than any of its American cinema contemporaries. Well, I'm willing to stand corrected - again, my nickle.

See this movie.

"Oasis" is the story of the relationship of a man imprisoned by his mind with a woman imprisoned by her body. That they establish a relationship comes as much because of their handicaps as in spite of them.

I knew before seeing the film that Moon So-ri was an able-bodied actress. As a result, at first I wasn't convinced she was playing someone with cerebral palsy. But Lee Chang-dong does a brilliant thing. He films several scenes that become the imaginings and fantasies of Gong-ju, Moon's character, as an able-bodied woman. This had the effect on me of seeing Gong-ju as disabled. And it spells out clearly that cerebral palsy is a physical condition not a mental one.

Sol Kyung-gu as Jong-du is perfect. I've been describing Jong-du as "simple-minded" to others but that doesn't pinpoint his mental condition. I might say he is carefree but it's not just an attitude; he is carefree to the point of mental illness. His condition makes him act both bad (he's been in prison three times) and good (he absolutely sees right through Gong-ju's handicap and truly comes to care for her). While Gong-ju is frustrated over her condition and how others use her it, Jong-du appears so utterly accepting of his fate that he doesn't even defend himself. I can't stop thinking about how Mr. Sol has played this interesting character.

Both Gong-ju's and Jong-du's families scorn and pity their conditions. But watch how they also come to exploit them as well.

I highly recommend this film.

The premise of this story challenges both of its romantic leads to use their bodies to convey the characters' emotions. Jong-du, played by Sol Kyung-gu, is an awkward ex-con whose older brother calls him immature but he seems a little crazy, or maybe mentally deficient. His family reluctantly helps him out, but he is an embarrassment and a nuisance to them.

Gong-ju (Moon So-ri) is a woman with cerebral palsy whose family is just as bad as Jong-du's. When Jong-du begins to visit her an odd relationship develops, with each bringing the other an acceptance and appreciation neither has felt before.

Moon So-ri's performance is so convincing I actually thought she had c.p. until a fantasy sequence showed what Gong-ju imagined herself doing if she were not disabled. But it's not just the contortions of c.p. that she portrays. She manages to show every possible emotion within the confines of c.p. spasms and she brings the character to life with a fully developed range of emotions and intellect.

Sol Kyung-gu's body language is just as effective, though his performance is easily overshadowed by Moon So-ri's. He is by turns menacing, sweet, dim-witted, shy, playful, inconsiderate and contrite, and most of this comes out through his body language.

I saw this movie with English subtitles, but the acting is so effective that you almost don't need to read them.

p.s. keep three hankies handy

At the beginning of the "L'Abri"-screening (which I discuss somewhere else) at the film market MIFED in Milano, CJ Entertainment's young sales responsible asked me: "Which Korean films have you bought?" - "All of them", I answered, to make a point: Korean's movies were just unbeatable in 2002. Then I confessed that I was actually a journalist, not a buyer. The young man surprised me with another question: "Did you cry at the end of 'The Way Home'?" - "No", I said, thinking of my grandmother, "actually I cried at the end of OASIS."

Movies should move viewers. No hight tech genre film can beat what goes straight to your heart. The love of a naive, warmhearted fool (Sol Kyung-gu as Jong-du) to a spasmic beauty (Moon So-ri as Gong-ju) that is unable to walk and clearly articulate herself is attacked by both of their families. It could be considered a love between handicapped and thus underline the demand for a change of law which seems to have its flaws in Korea as well as here in Germany. Prohibited is the unthinkable, i.e. the sexual demands of those who are stigmatised to not have them. The sad outcome of the events is lightened by the unchangeable affection of the male protagonist. Feminists might argue against the easy way in which the attempt to rape the spasmic woman turns into mutual love. The real challenge for the excellent actress Moon So-ri was indeed to transmit whether we see joy or pain in her wincing mimic. Have you ever asked yourself how a person suffering from cerebral palsy would look during orgasm? See for yourself. The elegant camera moves from the common theme of the movie to dreamlike scenes where all of Gong-jus illness is gone. Her dancing with a young elephant had the same non-intellectual humor as the tree-cutting of Jong-du. When the lights go on in your theatre, you might ask yourself how deeply YOU are able to love.