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Shin-yeong Jang, Song Il Kook, Lee Jung-Gil, Seol Gyeong-gu, So-ri Moon ... see more see more... , Byung-ho Son , Ga-hyun Yun , Kwi-Jung Chu , Kyung-gu Sol , Nae-sang Ahn , Seung-wan Ryoo

Jumong star Song Il-kook headlines this three-part period drama produced for Korean television, and set during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In-hee (Jang Shin-Young) is on the run from an arranged... read more read more... marriage when she crosses paths with handsome musician Gi-hyun (Il-kook). Their friendship blossoming into love over the course of the next few years, In-hee lands a job in radio while Gi-hyun finds success as a saxophone player. When Gi-hyun discovers In-hee's boss Young-jin (Lee Jung-Gill) - a Korean national whose loyalties reside with the Japanese - is the same man who previously killed his wife and escaped prosecution, he is shipped to Japan to labor in the coal mines. Years later, Japan is defeated and a vengeful Gi-hyun returns to Korea to discover his home country is a much different place than it was before the war. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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84% liked it

507 ratings

Critics

89% liked it

28 critics

Unrated, 3 hr.

Directed by: Chang-dong Lee

Release Date: January 11, 2003

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DVD Release Date: November 23, 2004

Stats: 79 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (79)

  • 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 moreters 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.
  • gator681
    July 14, 2005
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Oasis" is a movie from South Korea about the relationship between two very unlikely people:[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]Jong-du Hong(Kyung-gu Sol) is a three-time loser. At the beginning of the movie, he has just been released ... read morefrom jail for involuntary manslaughter after two and a half years.(Specifically a hit-and-run accident.) He has also served time for assault and attempted rape. He is not particularly violent but is seriously lacking in any kind of impulse control and is quite childlike even though he is getting close to being 30. To call him the black sheep of his family is an understatement. He is only able to contact his family after his release because he could not pay a restaurant bill. After landing a job as a food deliveryman, he looks up the family of the man who was killed in the hit and run accident. He comes across the man's daughter:[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]Gong-ju Han(So-ri Moon) is severely afflicted by cerebral palsy. Her family is using her to obtain a nicer apartment. Meanwhile, she is left to her own devices which is how Jong-du Hong finds her.[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Oasis" is a decidedly offbeat movie that is anchored by a truly great physical performance from So-ri Moon. She is so good that it is difficult to watch her at times. The movie seems to have a great deal to say about how handicapped people are treated by their families in Korea. But the movie is slighty undone by the occasionall bits of whimsy and fantasy.[/font]
  • alanjayh
    April 20, 2010
    alanjayh
    Slow moving drama at times, I think this story says more about the attitudes and treatment about the handicapped in S. Korea than about any love story between the two leads. I thought the film was a bit too ordinary, but the scenes where So-ri comes out of her body and acts like... read more a vibrant human being were quite beautiful and special. The acting is excellent, especially by Kyung-gu Sol. He is one of the finest performing today, and don't miss him in his two signature films, "Public Enemy" and "Another Public Enemy".
  • 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 morewere 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.
  • 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 moreters 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).

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Critic Reviews

Philip Wuntch
September 9, 2004
Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News

A loving and lovely film. Full Review

Roger Ebert
August 27, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A brave film in the way it shows two people who find any relationship almost impossible, and yet find a way to make theirs work. Full Review

Wesley Morris
August 6, 2004
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

The actors' scenes together are simultaneously abrasive and oddly gentle: two untamable people trying to stabilize each other. Full Review

Roger Moore
July 9, 2004
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

Perhaps the most harrowing screen romance ever. Full Review

G. Allen Johnson
June 25, 2004
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

Lee's humanitarian plea for tolerance is one of the most original films of the decade, and Moon provides the soul. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
June 17, 2004
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

A love story of two young people marginalized by family and society that becomes a scorching indictment of the indifference, cruelty and hypocrisy of those institutions as the couple inevitably come i... Full Review

Andrew Sarris
May 20, 2004
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

Take my word for it: Oasis is one of the most deeply felt love stories of the screen in ways that you must endure a little suffering of your own to appreciate. Full Review

Lisa Rose
May 13, 2004
Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger

The lead performers have collected prizes at international festivals, and deservedly so. They play their roles with such courage and compassion that one sees the souls of the characters rather than th... Full Review

V.A. Musetto
May 7, 2004
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

You'll have to look long and hard to find a performance as emotionally raw as that of Moon So-ri.

Stephen Holden
May 6, 2004
Stephen Holden, New York Times

This remarkable if overlong Korean film strips away much of the sentimentality and goody-two-shoes attitudes that the movies traditionally display toward disabled people. Full Review

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Oasis Trivia

  • Rhys Ifans appeared in which music video?  Answer »
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