Lee Chang-dong is back after 8 years, and he's on Netflix

There’s Korean cinema as most of the world recognizes it, all stylish violence and class warfare, and there’s the kind Lee Chang-dong has made his own over three decades.

A published novelist who came to filmmaking in his 40s, Lee has made only six features in three decades, but few directors can match his brand of naturalism, closely observed and rendered with ferocious patience.

His camera has a way of settling on the people undone by forces bigger than themselves, whether they be the broken man of “Peppermint Candy,” whose life runs in reverse across 20 years of national upheaval, or the ex-con and the disabled woman who fall for each other in “Oasis.” “Burning,” his most recent feature, made the Oscar shortlist and was among the best-reviewed films of 2018.

Eight years later, he’s back with “Possible Love.” The drama follows two couples: a laid-off factory worker and his wife, and the documentary director who sets out to film their lives with her wealthy husband in tow. Over the course of the shoot, all four come face to face with desires they had kept to themselves.

“The title says it,” Lee said Tuesday at a press conference at a hotel in Mapo, western Seoul. “It’s a movie about love. Every love story comes with an unspoken ‘impossible’ in front of it. A love everyone blesses doesn’t need telling. So we asked the opposite: what kind of love is possible, and what does it take to keep it?”

Perhaps the bigger question is where it’s playing. “Possible Love” is a Netflix original, Lee’s first for the platform. The streamer is hardly the obvious home for measured auteur cinema, and a Lee Chang-dong picture is an unlikely addition to a catalogue known primarily for binge fodder.

By Lee’s account, it was more a product of circumstance than any preference. The director said he had gone looking for backers for a theatrical release early last year and had come up empty.

“We were at the lowest point the industry had ever been, and nobody could say how much of it would come back,” he said. “But the film had to be made. The industry has already changed shape, and there’s no stopping it. Theaters and streaming are going to have to coexist, so we accept that and figure out how films can still reach an audience from there.”

Netflix, he said, let him make the film his way, and agreed up front to a theatrical run ahead of the global launch. “Some people see that as a play for the festivals, but it was part of the deal from the outset,” he said.

The other thing Lee is known for is an uncanny eye for casting, whether that means finding a breakout talent or getting something new out of an established star, and the leads here make the case on their own. Sul Kyung-gu broke out under him in “Peppermint Candy” and “Oasis,” and Jeon Do-yeon won best actress at Cannes for “Secret Sunshine.” Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong, both first-timers with Lee, play the other couple.

All four cited the same reason for signing on. “The biggest draw was Lee Chang-dong,” Jeon said. “I kept pushing them to send me the script. When I finished it, it stayed with me for a long time. It reminded me why he’s Lee Chang-dong.”

Sul said he didn’t bother much with the script. “I was in just because it was him,” he said. “The producer asked me if I even cared what was in it.” He added that “Peppermint Candy” had been brutal at the time. “I had no experience, and the emotions were more than I could carry,” he said. “Then years go by, and you find yourself missing it.”

Zo, who had just wrapped back-to-back shoots on two other films, said he’d been ready to take time off until Lee called. “He told me, ‘Do this one, then rest,'” Zo said. Cho said the script hit her so hard she couldn’t bring herself to call back right away.

“Possible Love” gets its world premiere in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, which opens Sept. 2. It is Lee’s first time on the Lido since “Oasis” took the Silver Lion for best director in 2002.

“It’s been eight years (since “Burning”), and my heart is full,” Lee said. “This is where the world sees it first. I’m curious how audiences are going to take it. I really want to know that first reaction.”

“Possible Love” opens in Korean theaters Sept. 23. It streams on Netflix worldwide starting Nov. 6.