Oasis
Fresh out of prison, Hong Jong-du (Sul Kyung-gu) finds an unlikely soulmate in Gong-ju (Moon So-ri), the daughter of the victim of the hit-and-run accident for which he went to jail. Wheelchair-bound and suffering from severe cerebral palsy, Gong-ju is kept cloistered in a cheap apartment by her brother, whose only concern is the government assistance she receives. Over a series of clandestine meetings, the two begin an improbable relationship that defies the judgment and cruelty of the world around them.
Winner of the Silver Lion for Best Director and Best Young Actress at the Venice Film Festival, Lee Chang-dong's OASIS is a “brave film” that “shows two people who find any relationship almost impossible, and yet find a way to make theirs work” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). Presented in a new 4K restoration.
Cast
- Sol Kyung-gu
- Moon So-ri
- "Critic's Pick! The remarkable ... ''Oasis'' strips away much of the sentimentality and goody-two-shoes attitudes that the movies traditionally display toward disabled people. At the same time, it coolly indicts an indifferent world that treats its misfits as inconvenient, half-witted children who are easily exploited and abused. The film's extraordinary lead performers refuse to soft-pedal the severity of the characters' afflictions."
- "A brave film in the way it shows two people who find any relationship almost impossible, and yet find a way to make theirs work."
- "Lee's humanitarian plea for tolerance is one of the most original films of the decade, and Moon provides the soul."
- "A love story of two young people marginalized by family and society that becomes a scorching indictment of the indifference, cruelty and hypocrisy of those institutions as the couple inevitably come into profound conflict with them."
- "Take my word for it: Oasis is one of the most deeply felt love stories of the screen in ways that you must endure a little suffering of your own to appreciate."
- "You'll have to look long and hard to find a performance as emotionally raw as that of Moon So-ri."
- "No movie in recent memory has translated so clearly the secret language of lovers normally lost on the rest of the world."
- "A loving and lovely film."
- "Lee effortlessly creates a dense social context for his star-crossed lovers, from the bookending sojourns to the unforgiving police station to one of cinema’s most discomfiting and confrontational extended-family dinner scenes, but the film remains unnervingly intimate, because Lee is simply more attentive to his characters’ emotional tumult than to the audience’s, come hell or high water."
Awards & Recognition
Silver Lion - Best Director
Venice Film Festival
Best Young Actress
Venice Film Festival
FIPRESCI Prize
Venice Film Festival
SIGNIS Award
Venice Film Festival
Best Actor
Seattle Int'l. Film Festival
Best Actress
Seattle Int'l. Film Festival
Best Film
Korean Assoc. of Film Critics Awards
Best Actor
Korean Assoc. of Film Critics Awards
Best Actress
Korean Assoc. of Film Critics Awards
Best Foreign Film
Independent Spirit Awards
Golden Lion
Venice Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
Toronto Int'l. Film Festival
Palm Springs Int'l. Film Festival
Karlovy Vary Int'l. Film Festival
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