Can 'Possible Love' win Lee Chang-dong top prize at Venice film festival?

At the Venice International Film Festival, filmmaker Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love received a seven-minute standing ovation, signaling a strong comeback for the director. Early reviews have been highly positive, building hopes that Lee might finally win the top prize, the Golden Lion, which he missed two decades ago. Twenty-four years after his Silver Lion win for best director with Oasis in 2002, Lee returns to the Italian film festival, this time competing for the festival's highest honor.

Possible Love, Lee's first film since Burning in 2018, has been praised as a profound meditation on trauma, loss of dignity, yearning, and class envy. The Hollywood Reporter described it as a sad but beautiful chamber piece, with a superlative ensemble. The International Cinephile Society awarded the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling it an absolute knockout about love having the potential to bridge divides and deliver freedom, even for a brief moment.

During the film's press conference, Lee addressed the eight-year gap since Burning, expressing that he felt their lives themselves. The positive response to Possible Love at the Venice Film Festival offers a glimmer of hope that Lee might finally achieve the Golden Lion he was denied two decades ago.