Sightlines · reception
How Possible Love was received
2026 · Lee Chang-dong · Possible Love on Sightlines
The arc
Possible Love premiered at Venice to a six-minute standing ovation and left with the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize, then took runner-up for TIFF's International People's Choice Award, with scores to match: 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from 43 critics and a 93 on Metacritic. After opening in Korea on September 23 it hits US and UK theaters October 23, then goes worldwide on Netflix November 6.
What’s debated
The real argument is about the pipes, not the picture: after Lee reportedly came up empty seeking theatrical backers, the film's landing at Netflix is read either as a symbol of the Korean film industry's distress or as a rare art-house bet the streamer deserves credit for.
Its footprint
Variety's "beautifully mature, quietly colossal relationship drama" and THR's "quiet powerhouse" set the tone, but the numbers became the story: a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, a six-minute Venice ovation, and Korean press treating the Netflix deal as a referendum on the industry's health.
Where it stands
Barely a month into release it already carries Venice's Grand Jury Prize, the FIPRESCI Prize, and Korea's official Oscar slot, and critics like The Film Stage are calling Lee's first feature since Burning among the year's very best, early as it is.
Did you know? The film grew out of Maciej Musiał's project to remake Kieslowski's Dekalog as features: it opens with a dedication to Dekalog: Ten, Lee had written the first draft over a decade earlier, and Netflix greenlit it on reading the finished script.
Named by the director
- Dekalog: Ten (1988) — Lee dedicates the film to the Kieslowski episode and says the project originated there, while stressing it does not adapt the episode