Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.
Direction
Lee Chang-dong's debut already shows his merciless humanism.
Acting
Han Suk-kyu's desperate tenderness will wreck you.
Writing
Every line of dialogue cuts deeper than it should.
Director
Lee Chang-dong
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the defining Korean New Wave films, capturing 1990s post-democratization anxiety and the collapse of traditional rural values.
Lee Chang-dong was a novelist before directing; this was his first film at age 43. The green fish itself was real and died on set, which reportedly haunted the crew.
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