Poetry Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

Poetry Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 25, 2024

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Poetry of Lee Chang-Dong: Four Films.

Lee Chang-dong is another one of those perhaps strangely lesser known names not just among the so-called "unwashed masses", but potentially even among some supposed film cognoscenti, despite the fact that he is one of his native country South Korea's more notable filmmakers and also despite the fact that the international recognition Chang-dong has received from any number of festivals and other annual ceremonies means scrolling through a list of nominations and actual awards bestowed on Chang-dong can take some considerable time. Film Movement is therefore hopefully aiding and abetting a wider appreciation of Chang-dong's often fascinating filmography by offering an aggregation of four of his early works. As of the writing of this review, and kind of ironically given the overall title of this collection, it looks like only one of the films in the set, Chang-dong's lyrical 2010 opus Poetry, has had a previous Region A release on Blu-ray, in this case a 2011 release from Kino Lorber.

As mentioned above, Poetry is the sole film in this collection to have received a previous Region A release on Blu-ray. Those interested can read Casey Broadwater's excellent Poetry Blu-ray review for a plot summary and technical analysis.

Poetry Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Poetry is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Film Movement tends not to provide a wealth of technical information on its releases, and that's once again the case here, though all four films in this set are advertised as having been culled from new 4K scans. Casey gave great marks to Kino Lorber's release, and I'd actually strongly recommend those interested to contrast and compare screenshots between this review and Casey's to get a probably better idea of the chief difference between the two, namely the color timing (as I always tend to try to do in cases like this, I've attempted to duplicate or come close to duplicating some of Casey's screenshots). This presentation is noticeably darker and also a bit more warmly pink than the Kino Lorber, which looks considerably brighter at times and with more of an overall yellow ambience, all of which is offered with an admission that these comments are based on screenshot comparisons (I don't own the old Kino Lorber release). Otherwise, though, detail levels are excellent, and while Casey alludes to some noise reduction in the Kino version, I didn't see any significant signs of any filtering in this newer iteration.

Poetry Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Poetry offers LPCM 2.0 and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 options in the original Korean. Casey was quite enthusiastic about the Kino Lorber release's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, and judging by his comments in his review, the surround track on this disc is extremely similar if not outright identical. As Casey mentions, there's immersive (in more ways than one) audio from virtually the get go with the horrifying discovery of a girl's body floating face down in a river, but even given an admittedly "small scale" sound design, the surround track consistently delivers ambient environmental effects to the side and rear channels and helps to establish spatial relationships quite effectively. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Poetry Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Lee Chang Dong Intro (HD; 5:33) is subtitled in English.


• Making Of (HD; 8:32) is subtitled in English.


• Ahn Nae-sang Interview (HD; 2:28) is subtitled in English.


• Poetry Trailer (HD; 1:43)

As with most Film Movement releases, the disc also offers an About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which leads to text about Film Movement.

Poetry Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Poetry reminded me in a way of being a kind of distant Asian cousin to the much more recent Monster, another film where an older woman's relationship with offspring provides some surprising shifts in perspective. That said, as riveting and multilayered as Monster is/was, Poetry may arguably provide even more nuanced character detail, once again within the almost ineluctable heartbreak that Chang-dong seems to specialize in. Technical merits are solid and the supplements enjoyable. Highly recommended.