Possible Love Review
Possible Love (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Lee Chang-dong, written by Jungmi Oh and Lee Chang-dong and starring Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung, Cho Yeo-jeong, Jo Yuri and Kim Hak-sun.
Filmmaker Lee Chang-dong’s emotional drama, Possible Love, is an accomplished piece of film-making about the devastating effects of job loss on a family and a woman who decides to interview that family in order to create a documentary that should hit home for people who have experienced similar types of job loss. This submission for the Oscars from South Korea is intriguing and complex, but does run on for a lengthy two hours and forty-four minutes when it could have easily left some of the featured material on the cutting room floor.
A couple, Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon) and Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), go out to a restaurant at the start of the film and pique the curiosity of a documentary filmmaker, Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), who proceeds to follow up with Mi-ok on learning more about the plight of her and her recently laid-off husband, Ho-seok. Mi-ok and Ye-ji form a bond while speaking, as they learn a lot from one another, and feed off each other’s passions. Both have a story to tell about how the moon factors into their lives and their pasts.
Ye-ji’s more wealthy husband, Sang-woo (Zo In-sung) starts to connect with Mi-ok in several ways as well, which complicates the situation at the core of the movie. Most of the film revolves around Ho-seok’s past turmoils, which includes having been unfairly beaten at a strike, and, of course, the ultimate loss of his career at a factory, which gives him a tremendous sense of indignity.
At the start of the film, this is really a story about Mi-ok, who tells tales of her past that help shed light on how she arrived at her current emotional state. A very fascinating series of moments dwell on the fact that Mi-ok was working as a clothing sewer because she didn’t earn a high school diploma, and Ho-seok came to her rescue against her will to try to provide a better life for her. Mi-ok and Ho-seok forged a relationship together and had a child, but is it really a genuine sense of love and respect that this pair have for one another?
It must be said that Jeon Do-yeon is nothing short of sensational in this film, offering a performance full of sincerity as her character struggles with the love of her husband and her difficult past. This is one of the most moving performances of the year while Sul Kyung-gu wholeheartedly deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as his character becomes emotionally stricken by the past, and acts out aggressively while being filmed on camera because of his deep depression.
Ho-seok talks about how he follows a happily employed dad home because of the fact that he seems to resent those who still remain employed and happy after the unfortunate lay-off that He-seok has experienced. There is a lot of deep drama immersed in this tale, and it often presents a powerful picture of marriage, and the sacrifices one must make to get by in uncertain times.
Where the movie goes off track is in the ambiguous concluding scenes. It seems that Mi-ok makes a decision regarding her future with her husband, but the fact that Sang-woo becomes obsessed with her just doesn’t ring completely true, and, unfortunately, steers the movie in the wrong direction. There is a haunting last shot in the movie, but there should have been more resolve to the story, given the nearly three hour investment in these characters.
This film needed to be trimmed a bit because it felt some of the scenes went on too long with no definitive necessity for them. While they help to develop the characters, occasionally, there are sequences that feel like they’re cut too short, and therefore do not necessarily make the film better. Most of these scenes are in the midsection and involve other people’s experiences with job loss, which the film parallels to the plight of Ho-seok.
That being said, all four main performances have a lot of substance to them. While Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu are Oscar-nomination bound, the less showy performances by Zo In-Sung and, especially, Cho Yeo-jeong, are quite strong and help round out the dynamics of this difficult to watch at times, but nevertheless absorbing, drama.
A heartbreaking scenario in the film revolves around one of Ho-seok’s old co-workers, who refuses to give him a ride when he needs a lift home one night. That is because of a scenario where Ho-seok helped him, and this man turned his back on him when Ho-seok needed help himself. More could have been explored here, but the situation further complicates Ho-seok’s existence, and the situation here makes the audience understand his eventual emotional breakdown.
In what is essentially a story of job loss, and its harsh effects on a family, this film is also about the difficult choices we make throughout our lives to make some sort of sense of everything that exists in the world. Possible Love is a fascinating look at four characters who come together due to common goals and interests, but find that life’s difficulties will ultimately keep them apart.
Rating: 7.5/10
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