Mija is a 66-year-old grandmother living in a modest apartment with her uncommunicative teenage grandson, Jong-wook. Facing the onset of dementia, Mija joins a poetry class, where the tutor encourages students to see beauty in the world. As she begins to craft her poem, writing notes about the things she sees, a sense of strength awakens in Mija. However, life is about to get more complicated when her small community is rocked by the suicide of a schoolgirl and Mija finds herself caught up in a conspiracy to cover it up.

Director Lee Chang-dong demonstrates his unique visual style with this lyrical summertime drama. Korean screen legend Yun Jung-hee delivers a subtle performance as a woman facing the realities of memory loss. Poetry is a remarkable meditation on the nature of life, death and memory, foregrounding the summer as a time of growth, rebirth and change.

Caroline Seddon