‘Possible Love’ tops Netflix in Korea through weekend

Korean Netflix viewers aren't exactly known for their taste for three-hour-long slow-burners. Lee Chang-dong is one filmmaker who can get them to watch one.

The art house auteur's latest, "Possible Love," rose to No. 1 on the streamer's local movie chart within hours of its release at 5 p.m. Friday and has stayed there since. As of Sunday morning, the film remained atop the "Top 10 Movies in South Korea Today" list.

Netflix updates the chart daily for each country where it operates. All subscribers in a given territory see the same ranking. Since 2023, the streamer has ranked its weekly charts by a title's total hours viewed divided by its running time.

Earlier in the week, on Monday, Netflix had released "Heartbeat," the director's 2022 short that serves as a companion piece of sorts to his new feature. Like "Possible Love," the 28-minute film looks at the toll that a strike takes on a family, following a little boy and his struggling parents. Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, who play the embattled couple at the heart of the feature, star in the short as well.

The streaming debut of "Possible Love" follows a two-week run in select Korean theaters that began Sept. 23. The run drew 230,472 admissions, according to the Korean Film Council's ticketing network, which tracks ticket sales at theaters nationwide.

The drama follows two couples from different class backgrounds whose paths cross during a documentary shoot. Sul and Jeon play a laid-off factory worker and his wife; Cho Yeo-jeong stars as the director who sets out to film them with her wealthy husband (Zo In-sung) in tow.

Lee's first feature since 2018's "Burning" premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival in September and won the festival's second-highest honor. It has drawn rave reviews ever since, with some critics ranking it among the best films of the year.

Apart from being selected as Korea's official Oscar entry for best international feature, the film has earned three nominations at the Gotham Awards, including outstanding lead performance for Jeon.

Lee has told local media multiple times that he could not find Korean investors willing to back the film for a regular theatrical release. Netflix eventually came on board and promised him a run in theaters ahead of the film's global launch.