Lee Cang-dong's new film "If Love Is If" premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Jeon Do-yeon's acting skills were praised, which is rare in a century.
Quick Look
- South Korean director Lee Chang-dong's new film "If Love Is If" premiered at the Venice Film Festival after eight years.
- It was praised by foreign media as a layered masterpiece.
- Jeon Do-yeon's acting skills were described as rare in a century.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Lee Chang-dong is a famous South Korean director. His representative works include "The Poet", "Secret Sun" and "Burning Love". His works often explore social issues and human dilemmas, and are highly praised by the international film community.
2026/09/07 10:31
[Reporter Zhong Jijun/Comprehensive Report] South Korean film master Lee Chang-dong's new film "If Love Is If" (가능한 사랑) finally debuted at the Venice Film Festival after 8 years! The first wave of film reviews came out, and some foreign media praised it as another "breathtaking, novel-like" masterpiece by Lee Cang-dong after "Burning Love". Among them, Jeon Do-yeon's acting skills were described as once again delivering "a performance rarely seen in a century," which almost became the biggest nuclear bomb in the entire film.
"If Love Is If" will not only be released on Netflix, but will also appear on the big screen at the Golden Horse Film Festival. (Reproduced from X)
"If There Is a Love" starts from the Ten Commandments' "Thou shalt not covet" and throws two couples with vastly different classes into the same world. Cho Yeo-jeong plays a wealthy documentary director who wants to film the lives of Korean workers after they suffered massive layoffs and strikes. Mi-ok, played by Jeon Do-yeon, and Ho-seok, played by Seol Kyung-gu, have been trapped in unemployment and trauma for many years. Mi-ok agrees to let her husband be filmed, hoping that the camera can reawaken the man she once loved.
Please read on...
The problem is, when Cao Ruzhen really broke into this family's life with a camera, things started to get worse and worse. Li Cangdong deliberately brought the four protagonists closer and closer, but in every look, movement, and conversation, he dug deeper and deeper into the unbridgeable distance between them.
Foreign media commented that Quan Daoyan completely exploded in the last hour of the movie, saying that her performance entered a "self-survival state" that was almost animal instinct, so intense that other characters seemed to lose their ability to parry in an instant.
With a running time of 164 minutes, Lee Cang-dong slowly turns "Don't be greedy" into another question: "When you envy someone else's life, do you really know that he is happier?" "If Love Has a Life" has been nominated for the 99th Academy Award for Best International Film on behalf of South Korea, and Taiwan is also confirmed to be on the big screen at the Golden Horse Film Festival.
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What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
"If Love Is If" will be shortlisted for the final five of the 99th Academy Awards for Best International Film
Possible · Within months
Open Questions
- When will the movie be released on Netflix?
- Will Quan Daoyan's performance in this film be nominated for an international award?
