Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love opened its Oscar-qualifying theatrical run on October 23. Netflix is running a seven-category campaign: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress for Jeon Do-yeon, Best Actor for Sul Kyung-gu, Best Supporting Actress for Cho Yeo-jeong, and Best Supporting Actor for Zo In-sung.
If Jeon receives a Best Actress nomination, she would be the first Korean performer in that category. She is 53 and plays Mi-ok, the outspoken half of a working-class couple at the film's center. In 2007, she became the first Korean to win Best Actress at Cannes for Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine. Possible Love is their second collaboration and the director's first film in eight years.
The film's festival run built a strong case. It won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at Venice, making it the first Korean film to win that distinction. It placed second for the Toronto International Film Festival Audience Award and holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 93 on Metacritic. On October 20, the Korean Association of Film Critics named it the year's best film and awarded Jeon their Best Actress prize.
Possible Love follows two couples whose friendship is quietly distorted by the gap between them. A laid-off worker, Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), and his wife Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon) are befriended by a documentary filmmaker, Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), and her wealthy husband Sang-woo (Zo In-sung). Netflix is campaigning all four principal cast members and also hopes the Actor Awards will nominate the ensemble.
South Korea submitted the film as its official International Feature Film entry in August. It streams globally on Netflix on November 6.
