Oasis poster & wallpaper

Byung-ho Son, Ga-hyun Yun, Kwi-Jung Chu

Hailed as the seminal film of the Korean New Wave, acclaimed director Lee Chang-dong's romantic drama tells the story of two societal misfits (Moon So-ri and Sol Kyung-gu) and their struggle to find l...( read more  read more... )ove and acceptance. Fate has brought them together, but their families are determined to keep them apart; can they keep their own little world -- their oasis -- intact? A Best Foreign Film nominee for the 2004 IFP/Independent Spirit Awards.

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89% liked it

256 ratings

Unrated, 132 minutes

Directed by: Chang-dong Lee

Release Date: January 11, 2003

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DVD Release Date: November 23, 2004

Stats: 41 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (41)

  • kiriyamakazou
    July 28, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    This is one of the most painfully beautiful movies ever made. Oasis is the story of a man that is responsible for the death of a man in a drink driving accident. Upon his release from prison he goes to the man's children to apologise. Oasis has no easy emotions or answers. Charac...( read more)ters are complicated and real, with a young disabled girl gradually falling for a man that tried to rape her. It isn't an always pleasurable love story, it deals with difficulties and also acceptance. The performances are incredibly powerful. Each one captures their character and plays them out at a believable pace. This rare film manages to mix everything that is great and important about cinema.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    April 18, 2009
    DragonEyeMorrison
    A love story told in a brutally honest way. In the hands of someone else this could have failed miserable, it could had become another dumb feel-good fantasy love film. Yet here the movie remains so focused in what is doing, from start to finish, that is almost scary. A lesson in...( read more) movie making, in acting and so on.
  • wanbaclone
    January 13, 2009
    wanbaclone
    Oasis shows why Korean cinema is keeping the artform alive. This is one of the most humane, yet harrowing films Ive watched lately. Its hard to watch because the two main characters are treated so cruelly by those around them so matter-of-factly, and yet these same two main chara...( read more)ters are not the cliched handicapped on the outside, perfect on the inside. (Without wanting to give too much away, the main characters meet over an alarming act of violence.) In my mind, this is one of the most violent films I can remember watching that actually has very little violence indeed. Its all in the relationships. They are nearly all destructive (arguably including the one the movie revolves around); in the midst of this, Oasis is punctuated by moving scenes of human kindness. Theres the scene in which Jong-du washes Gong-jus hair. Theres also the scenes in which Gong-jus imaginationg takes over, most notably a dance with two Indians and an elephant. The ending pays off so well because Chang-dong Lee refuses the urge earlier in the movie to regularly descend into sentementality, and so Jong-dus final act toward Gong-ju is--and theres not really a better word for it--beautiful. This would be a great double feature with Lars and the Real Girl (a movie in which, conversely to this one, most of the characters actually love each other).
  • mvieaddict
    August 2, 2009
    mvieaddict
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    Even some scenes of this film, made me almost stop it and don't continue watching I could not deny the greatness of this film. There ...( read more)were few films I could think of which contained so much ambition, integrity, conviction. It was a love story of rare power. The concept of the film alone deserved admiration, and the realization was flawless. It managed to avoid all the problems which could occur trying to tell a story like this. In the wrong hands, this film could have either been a mess, or a cruel sickening show. But, as it was, the film did a great job of keeping the balance, never reducing itself to either, false or extreme level. The length to which the actors remained true to the characters was amazing, never reducing them to caricature or helpless objects worthy only pity and easy tears. At times I admit it was hard to watch, but it was honest and never at all mean. The dream sequences were unnecessary, for what they were, they weren't bad at all, well done actually.
  • underwearsoup
    November 19, 2009
    underwearsoup
    This is the second movie of my epic marathon. You know one of the problem that I have with the movie, whose unnamed sequel comes out today, was that the 2 main characters felt fake and superficial. They just didn't feel real enough to where I could care enough about the relatio...( read more)nship for me to want it to succeed. The characters feel so fake that I don't even believe that they might exist even in their own fictional universe. I don't buy into any of their struggles as a couple and one of them is a fucking vampire, so that should lead to some interesting shit but...WRONG. Again it's just a relationship based on superficiality, just like most high school relationships. This movie is the exact opposite of that crappy high school crap. I have an appreciation for Korean movies. From the movies that I've seen, they are usually very character driven and the movie really relies on its characters to carry you through the movie and not senseless action scenes and stereotypical characters. I think that's what all movies should be about, to be honest. Not that there's anything wrong with action movies, as I enjoy all kind of movies, but movies that stand the test of time usually stand the test of time because of its characters. This is just a great movie actually and I definitely found myself rooting for these characters and that they would find some happiness in the end, that's something I don't do a lot in movies, especially in romance movies. The thing is, the two main characters in this movie feel real, so I buy into their struggles as a couple, which makes me cheer for them because all they want is to be happy. Also I really got angry at what happened in the movie at the end, like angry at what happened to the character and how unfair it all was, not angry AT the movie itself just at what happened. That also does not happen a lot when I watch movies. The acting is really fantastic and that's really why this film succeeds in many levels, because honestly the plot of the movie isn't awe-inspiring nor is it complex, but the fact that the actors are so fantastic in their roles it makes the movie a joy to watch. I have two real complaints though, near the end of the movie it just got really overdramatic, but you gotta take the good with the bad and I tolerated it. It wasn't like it screwed up the movie for me, but it was just a tad bit melodramatic. And the picture quality of the dvd isn't great, you can see pixels and that's never good, but that's not a complaint about the movie itself just about the company that made the dvd. With that said, this movie is just great stuff and despite the fact that it has NO special features whatsoever I'm still happy I bought this movie.
  • ralch
    October 24, 2009
    ralch
    WEB-LETTERBOX. Las excelentes actuaciones de sus protagonistas elevan a esta película a otro nivel, por encima de una propuesta que luce demasiado maquinada para retar al espectador. Es, de hecho, muy incómoda en algunas partes, pero maravillosa en otras. / The excellent performa...( read more)nces of its protagonists elevate this to another level, above a core that seems too set up to challenge the audience. It is, in fact, very uncomfortable in some parts, but wonderful in others.
  • mdavidct
    July 6, 2009
    mdavidct
    awesome movie, is beatifull

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