StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Burkettonhe This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

allahero This film is played with such precise acting of natural behaviour that the outcome of the story just deepens your heart and mind in believing why we humans do such cruel activities and leave those who cannot enact decisions for themselves to suffer from our greed and desired darkness that makes us the monster that we are ..... This film is a prime example on why we should look deep in the well of our hearts and souls and try to forgive and understand the simplest of cruel intentions we blind out which then snowballs to this extent of cruel injustice to the innocent that are fallen angels amongst us... This truly is a magnificent movie for those who want to understand the eternal darkness of a corrupted mind...

ratcityfilmsociety The greatest love story I have ever seen on film. A bold assertion that I made some seven years ago as I floated out of the theater completely blown away by the magnificence of this motion picture. Whenever I doubt that claim, I know it is time to revisit Chang-dong Lee's amazing expression of love on film. There is a point early in the picture where you will think that I am insane in my declaration. That's what helps to make it such a great story. So-ri Moon and Kyung-gu Sol both give phenomenal performances as the imperfect people who discover that love exists in its own plane, and this perfection is available to them. When I read the first part of this review, I sound like "Mr. Chick Flick"; which I am not. And after reading the preceding gushfest, I wouldn't and didn't change a word. It really is that good. It is on my all time top ten list most days (admit it yours has a degree of fluidity to it as well) and always in my twenty best of all time.

M Stanford I have never seen these two actors, Kyung-gu Sol and So-ri Moon, until this film. I think they were both outstanding! His character was convincingly "off" -- just didn't perceive and behave in the way others expect him to perceive and behave, and so was ridiculed and dismissed because of that. I loved how the film allowed us to get to know him gradually. At the beginning of the film I identified more with the folks on the street whom he embarrassed, but by the end of the film it was clear he was a hero.So-ri Moon's character, I thought, was very convincingly played as a person with cerebral palsy. She portrayed the intelligence and full range of the character's emotions with striking authenticity. I found myself moving from a point of seeing her as a victim to seeing her as the full person that was her character. In fact, this was one of those rare films when not once did I think, "These are actors, acting." The direction was outstanding. I loved the scenes showing her fantasies as an able-bodied woman. It was a very effective way to help an able-bodied audience identify with her character, and come to understand and empathize with the isolation, belittlement, and objectification that differently-abled people are often subjected to. I especially liked the playful scene on the bus. But my favorite scene of all was the last one, showing her in her apartment, now well lit, clean, with green growing things, with his voice over. Even though the film did not have the expected and wished-for happy ending, the ending was a happy one.

bastard wisher It would be nearly impossible for me to deny the true greatness of this film. There are very few films I can think of which contain so much ambition, integrity, conviction, and audacity. It is a love story of rare power, matched only by a precious few others. The concept of the film alone deserves admiration, and the execution is nearly flawless. It manages to avoid practically all the problems which could potentially occur trying to tell a story like this. In the wrong hands, this film could have either been a cloying, condescending mess, or a cruel sickening freak show. But, as is, the film does a great job of keeping a balance, never reducing itself to either, equally false, extreme. Instead the film relentlessly pursues those elusive moments of cinematic truth, and never falters. The extent to which the filmmakers (writer/director and actors alike) remain true to the characters they are portraying is amazing, never reducing them to either grotesque caricature nor helpless objects worthy only of our pity and easy, manipulative tears. Instead, the film takes a truly unflinching, yet nuanced look at mental and physical disability. When you consider that the subject of disability in cinema usually results in sterile, vapid films like "Forrest Gump" and "The Other Sister", "Oasis" is practically a miracle. At times I admit it is hard to watch, but it is honest and never at all mean-spirited. Ultimately the effect is messy, transcendent truthfulness rather than shock or unpleasantness. The only real criticism I have about the film is that I felt the occasional dream sequences were ultimately unnecessary, although for what they were they weren't bad at all, fairly well-done actually.