Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' Hits Netflix With Oscar Buzz Intact

Lee Chang-dong has been quiet for eight years. Now, all at once, he's everywhere.

'Possible Love,' the director's long-awaited follow-up to 'Burning,' arrived on Netflix on November 6, and it comes loaded: a Venice Silver Lion in its pocket, a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score from its theatrical run, and a formal nomination as South Korea's Oscar submission for Best International Feature Film. That's a lot of weight for any film to carry, and from most directors it would feel like marketing. From Chang-dong it just feels like consequence.

The setup is deceptively simple. As reported by Variety, the film centers on two married couples: one formed by a man who has lost his job and his wife, the other by a documentary filmmaker and her husband. When the filmmaker turns her camera on the laid-off worker and his family, the four lives get tangled in ways that are, to put it gently, not easily untangled. According to the Film at Lincoln Center program notes, the film unfolds as "a brilliantly unfolding narrative about economic precarity" where class difference becomes the fault line everything else runs along.

The runtime is 164 minutes, and yes, you should clear your evening. Chang-dong has never been a director who rewards impatience. 'Secret Sunshine' (2007) asked the same thing of you. So did 'Burning,' which ran 148 minutes and felt like it lasted a week in the best possible sense. The length is the point. He builds dread and longing slowly enough that by the time something shifts, you've forgotten you were waiting for it.

The cast here is as formidable as any he's assembled. According to Netflix Tudum, 'Possible Love' features Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Cho Yeo-jeong, and Zo In-sung. Jeon Do-yeon, who won the Palme d'Or acting prize at Cannes for 'Secret Sunshine' nearly two decades ago, is the kind of actress who can make a camera feel like it's intruding. Cho Yeo-jeong, who most audiences know from 'Parasite,' brings a different kind of coiled energy. The pairing is not accidental.

The Netflix deal does something interesting beyond the film itself. As Variety reported in September, following the Venice win, Netflix moved to expand its lineup of Lee Chang-dong films worldwide, meaning international subscribers can now dig into his back catalog, including 'Secret Sunshine' and 'Peppermint Candy.' That kind of retrospective access matters. It's how auteur reputations get built in the streaming era, not just through one title but through the full body of work landing in front of an audience that might be encountering the director for the first time.

According to Gold Derby, 'Possible Love' is Certified Fresh at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 93 on Metacritic after its theatrical run. Numbers like that can feel meaningless with certain films, but with a nearly three-hour Korean-language drama about labor and desire and the uncomfortable distances between married people, those scores carry a different kind of signal. Critics are not coasting on reputation here. The film is earning it.

South Korea selected it as its submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, as confirmed by Netflix Tudum. That category has become genuinely competitive in recent years, with 'Drive My Car' and 'The Zone of Interest' raising the bar considerably. 'Possible Love' looks built to clear it.

The film is streaming now. If you have three hours and you're willing to let a filmmaker think at full speed, this is where you should be on a November night.

Sources cited:
- Variety (https://variety.com/2026/tv/festivals/lee-chang-dong-netflix-films-possible-love-venice-1236860979/)
- Netflix Tudum (Venice win) (https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/possible-love-lee-chang-dong-venice)
- Netflix Tudum (cast & Oscar submission) (https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/possible-love-cast-release-date-photos)
- Film at Lincoln Center / NYFF64 (https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/possible-love/)
- Gold Derby (https://www.goldderby.com/film/2026/possible-love-trailer-release-date-lee-chang-dong-netflix/)
- Deadline (https://deadline.com/2026/09/netflix-venice-lee-chang-dong-possible-love-1237101493/)