POETRY From South Korea Well Worth Seeing

POETRY, written and directed by South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-Dong (love this name), lost out last May at Cannes to UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN REFLECT ON HIS PAST LIVES which took top honors (Palme D'or).  It wuz robbed in my humble opinion.  A far better film in every respect, Chang-Dong was awarded best screenplay honors at Cannes.  
Mija, portrayed by Yun Junghee, a famous actress in her homeland but making her first screen appearance in 15 years, lives in a small town with her middle school aged grandson and barely gets by on her pension and what she makes as a caregiver for an old paralyzed man.  She enrolls in a poetry writing class and is told by the poet instructor that poetry is a search for beauty and truth and that by the end of the month long class, each student will be expected to write one poem.
Meanwhile, she learns that her grandson is part of a gang of 6 teenagers who repeatedly raped a classmate until she commits suicide jumping off a bridge (the film opens, in fact, with a long shot of the body floating in the river as it moves closer to shore).  Despite the fact that the grandson is a selfish jerk and feels no remorse for his actions, the grandmother meets with the fathers of the other teenage boys who have decided to try and buy off the dead girl's mother's silence and to prevent a police investigation of the crime.  
Mija continues to attend her poetry classes and poetry readings and when she isn't fighting her conscience over whether or not to agree to the payoff and where she is going to come up with her share of it, she takes long walks smelling flowers and taking notes that hopefully will lead to her writing a poem.
She finally does write one out of suffering and self expression but from someone else's perspective and I won't ruin the ending of this lovely, lyrical film by telling you whose that it is.  See it and discover for yourself.
Yun Junghee lost out to Juliette Binoche (Certified Copy) for best actress at Cannes but her performance is award worthy.  Whatever the South Korean equivalent of our Oscar is, she deserves it.  
I found it far more rewarding than Uncle Boonmee and I highly recommend it to you.