IMDb > Oasis (2002)
IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
8.0/10   2,292 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 16% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Chang-dong Lee
Writer:
Chang-dong Lee (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Oasis on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
7 May 2004 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance more
Tagline:
Have you really loved someone?
Plot:
Jong-du, a young man just out of prison for manslaughter, is a social misfit: fidgety, snuffling, laughing inappropriately... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
11 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(6 articles)
Brute Launch from Nowhere
 (From IFC. 29 September 2009, 6:19 AM, PDT)
Chang-dong Finds Lead For 'Poetry'
 (From ioncinema. 29 August 2009)
User Comments:
What love truly means more (29 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Kyung-gu Sol ... Jong-du Hong
So-ri Moon ... Gong-ju Han
Nae-sang Ahn ... Jong-Il Hong
Seung-wan Ryoo ... Jong-Sae Hong
Kwi-Jung Chu ... Jong-Sae's Wife
Jin-gu Kim ... Mrs. Hong
Byung-ho Son ... Sang-Shik Han
Ga-hyun Yun ... Sang-Shik's Wife
Myeong-shin Park ... Woman Neighbor
Kyung-geun Park ... Woman Neighbor's Husband
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dae-gwan Han ... Detective 2
Jin-seob Han ... Detective 1
Seo-hie Ko
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
Canada:132 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Japan:132 min | Korea:132 min | USA:133 min
Country:
South Korea
Language:
Korean
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Certification:
Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:III | UK:15 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:18 | Japan:PG-12
Company:
Dream Venture Capital more

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Featured in The 20th IFP Independent Spirit Awards (2005) (TV) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
43 out of 45 people found the following comment useful.
What love truly means, 10 May 2004
9/10
Author: Howard Schumann from Vancouver, B.C.

We talk a lot about love in our society but often love is only acceptable to us if it fits our pictures. For example, the love of an older person for a younger, love between members of the same sex or between disabled individuals may make us uncomfortable and rejecting. Winner of five awards at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, Oasis, a film by Lee Chang-dong, stretches our comfort zone to the limit with a boldly unconventional portrait of the love of a mentally retarded young man for a woman suffering with cerebral palsy. The film is both emotionally honest and powerfully realized and will keep you pondering its implications for a long time. Moon So-ri's performance as Gong-ju is nothing short of astonishing. She goes through contortions to make us aware of the agony of her illness, but is never inappropriate or over-the-top. Her movements are spasmodic and uncoordinated and she appears to be in constant pain but there is a kindness in her face that allows us to see the person behind the pain.

As the film opens, Jong-du (Sol Kyung-gu) has just been released from prison and is freezing in his short sleeve shirt in the middle of winter. Jong-du is a sociopath who flaunts society's rules, unaware of or unconcerned with the consequences of his actions. Unable to hold a job and always on the edge, he has been in jail three times: for attempted rape, causing an accident while drunk (he took the rap for his elder brother), and armed robbery. On the spur of the moment, he decides to visit the family of the man killed by his brother and apologize. When he arrives, he finds a husband and wife moving out of their apartment, leaving the husband's seriously disabled sister, Han Gong-ju (Moon So-ri) for the neighbors to look after.

Jong-du is attracted to the disabled woman who seems barely in control of her own body. He returns for another visit but it sadly ends up in a disturbing sequence that is very difficult to watch. Surprisingly, Gong-ju invites him back once more and the two slowly begin a friendship based on their mutual feelings of isolation. He provides her with the closeness she desperately needs and she finds someone to care for, maybe for the first time in her life. As their relationship becomes known, both families are scandalized and, aided by the prejudices of society, transform the innocence of their love into something sick and twisted.

Oasis is a thought provoking film that does not stack the deck towards one point of view. It depicts the joy that the relationship brings to the lovers but also shows the understandable unease of the families about the fitness of a man who has demonstrated his emotional instability. The film shows the thin line between the desires of the individual and the needs of society and forces us to look at the disparity between the reality we see and that seen by others. While his ultimate message may be ambiguous, Lee makes us brutally aware that for many people life is a party to which they haven't been invited. Out of a willingness to have his characters confront the truth of a world that will be forever hostile, he offers a compelling vision of what love truly means and allows us to experience the oneness that defies reason and logic.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (29 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Oasis (2002)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Parallels between 'Tideland' and 'Oasis' grokcalvin
Why didn't she tell people that he's innocent?!?!*spoile+shy;rs* heptaparaparshinokh
Antisocial Personlity Disorder and more.. rconley1973
the letter (unimportant plot hole) LudwA
a lump in my throat AbsurdInkBlot
Apparently... bmelanie
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Crime and Punishment in Suburbia La hija del caníbal Inside I'm Dancing Milk Jimmy and Judy
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
News articles IMDb Drama section IMDb South Korea section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.