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🔥Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' hits Netflix Nov 6, and the real couple behind it already cried through it

8TaehoAm2026.10.05 16:07👁 2388💬 57♥ 75

Lee Chang-dong has a new film, 가능한 사랑 (Possible Love), and it comes to Netflix on November 6. For anyone who still thinks about the greenhouses in Burning, this is not small news. It has been doing the festival rounds too: Venice, Toronto, the New York Film Festival, San Sebastián, Zurich, Vancouver and BFI London all invited it.

Netflix released a making-of video, and someone on a Korean board pulled the opening part. Lee says he asks himself three things before making a film: does this story mean something to me, does it mean something to the audience, and does it mean something as cinema. About the title, which many Koreans find a little strange, he says that if you look closely, almost every love story is about a love that is hard to make happen, and the harder the conditions, the more tension there is. So this film asks what kind of love is actually possible, and what that possible love means.

What stayed with me is a news piece going around next to it. Before the VIP screening at CGV Yongsan on September 21, Lee met a married couple, a laid-off SsangYong Motor worker and his wife, who are the real-life models for the story. The headline quotes them saying they cried and cried while watching, and calls the film a promise Lee kept after 16 years. The SsangYong layoffs are one of the most painful labor stories in modern Korea, so this will not be a light watch. One Korean comment said exactly what I was thinking: all his films end on an uneasy note, so how is he going to end this one? Someone who already saw it in a theater said it was good, then added they weren't sure they're even allowed to say that. Who's watching it the day it drops? And would a hopeful ending from Lee feel earned, or like a betrayal of what he usually does?

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Comments 57

5jjk_enjoyer2026.10.05

November 6 and the ending is going to be uneasy, thanks, now I'll be uneasy until November 6

5jaywalker2026.10.07

A hopeful ending from him would be the most shocking twist of his whole career. I'd almost respect it

5Mariela2026.10.05

The real couple crying through it already broke me and I haven't even seen a trailer. Sixteen years to keep a promise is a long time

6hanbyeol2026.10.06

There's been a lot of reporting over the years, and some films too. Even reading a bit about it first will help

6Minh2026.10.06

It's the kind of film that wins the match 1-0 and nobody celebrates. Respect anyway

5Aurelien2026.10.05

Lee Chang-dong on Netflix still feels strange to me, his films need a dark room and no phone. But if it gets more people to watch him, I'll stop complaining. Mostly

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5Aurelien2026.10.06

Mostly. I said mostly

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8TaehoOP2026.10.06

Same feeling. But a lot of people would never get a theater screening of a Lee Chang-dong film where they live, so I'll take it

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6Lukas932026.10.06

Turn the lights off and put the phone in another room. Netflix doesn't stop you from doing that

5Elena.v2026.10.05

'Not sure if I'm allowed to say it was good' is the most Lee Chang-dong review possible. I'm preparing tissues and a sad evening

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5Chaeyun2026.10.06

Tissues and a sad evening, the Lee Chang-dong starter pack

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7Sebin2026.10.06

That comment is weirdly respectful. Calling a film built on real pain "good" feels wrong to some people

6hanbyeol2026.10.05

For people outside Korea: the SsangYong layoffs in 2009 ended with a long strike and a lot of suffering for the workers' families. It's still a heavy name here

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8TaehoOP2026.10.06

Thank you for adding that. I didn't want to explain it badly

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5Sanne2026.10.06

Is there a documentary or something about it? I'd like to know more before watching

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6Hajun2026.10.06

Didn't know any of this. Makes the 16 years part make sense

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6hanbyeol2026.10.06

There's been a lot of reporting over the years, and some films too. Even reading a bit about it first will help

5Mariela2026.10.05

The real couple crying through it already broke me and I haven't even seen a trailer. Sixteen years to keep a promise is a long time

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7Minjae2026.10.06

The couple being at the VIP screening is the part that gets me

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5Elena.v2026.10.06

sixteen years... I'm already tearing up

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5Lucia2026.10.07

sixteen years and they cried and cried... I'm crying at work reading a headline, this is not okay

6Lukas932026.10.05

Seven festivals is impressive but festivals love a big name. I'll wait for normal people's reviews before calling it a masterpiece

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5Aurelien2026.10.06

Fair, but festivals invite him because Burning and Poetry were that good, not only because of the name

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6devils_avocado2026.10.06

Normal people's reviews for this kind of film are usually "slow, sad, didn't get it". Not sure that helps either

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5Mariela2026.10.07

Poetry still makes me cry years later. I'll trust him before any festival

5Sanne2026.10.05

Who's in it? Couldn't find the cast in the post

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8TaehoOP2026.10.06

The part of the making-of I saw didn't list the cast and I didn't want to guess. Hopefully Netflix puts the poster up soon

5jjk_enjoyer2026.10.05

November 6 and the ending is going to be uneasy, thanks, now I'll be uneasy until November 6

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5sleepy_jpg2026.10.06

uneasy until November 6 is the correct way to prepare

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5lyric.thief2026.10.07

"Somewhere only we know" but it's a stomachache waiting for November 6

6Jiyul2026.10.06

The Burning greenhouses mention made me want to rewatch it tonight

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5retro_ballad2026.10.07

The greenhouses. I think about the greenhouses at least once a month

7Siwoo2026.10.06

A Lee Chang-dong film on a Friday night is not a grab-popcorn situation. It's a grab-blanket-and-stare-at-the-wall situation

Festival hype and "not sure I'm allowed to say it's good" can both be true. That's usually the sign of a real film

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6Minh2026.10.06

It's the kind of film that wins the match 1-0 and nobody celebrates. Respect anyway

6b1ue_hour2026.10.06

His films always make Korean places look so ordinary and so heavy at the same time. Curious what he does with this one

6Seoa2026.10.06

Burning had such a long life in Japan too. Glad this one goes worldwide on Netflix right away

5retro_ballad2026.10.06

Burning is the only film I finished and then sat in silence for 20 minutes. Preparing my silence

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5Layla2026.10.07

20 minutes of silence after Burning is the default. I was at 30 and my roommate thought I'd broken

5Ploy2026.10.06

congrats on all the festival invites!!

6Jaehee2026.10.06

Saving this for a night I'm already sad, so it can't make it worse

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5Bea2026.10.07

this is the most self-aware viewing strategy I've ever read

5Ana.Lu2026.10.06

Not my usual romance, but a love story from him? I'm curious what "possible" even means to him

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5Aurelien2026.10.07

"Possible" in his hands probably means the smallest kind of love you can still keep. That's my guess, not a spoiler

5Tenzin2026.10.06

가능한 사랑 = possible love, from 가능하다 (to be possible). The title sounds almost like a question in Korean, maybe that's why people find it strange

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6ppalli_ppalli2026.10.06

가능한 also shows up in "가능한 빨리" = as soon as possible. Same word, very different vibes

4Elif2026.10.06

is it subtitled from day one on netflix?

7Sebin2026.10.06

I don't think hopeful vs uneasy is the right question for him. His endings feel honest more than sad

4Kyungmin2026.10.07

how long is it? his films are usually long right?

6b1ue_hour2026.10.07

The couple meeting him before the VIP screening is the image I'll keep. Not the festivals

5jaywalker2026.10.07

A hopeful ending from him would be the most shocking twist of his whole career. I'd almost respect it

4Hiro_K2026.10.07

Japanese audiences liked Burning a lot so I hope this one gets a cinema run in Japan too, not only Netflix

6ice_cold_takes2026.10.07

Lee Chang-dong on Netflix means my mom will watch it by accident and call me crying. Looking forward to it

*sits in the dark already* *does not press play yet* *needs a week to prepare*

6Ioana2026.10.07

Devil's advocate: a hopeful ending wouldn't be a betrayal. If the real couple cried and still came to the screening, maybe there was something possible after all

6hazel_n_honey2026.10.07

The three questions he asks himself before making a film are a good rule for anything. Not only cinema

6Jiyul2026.10.07

Hoping the score is as minimal as Burning's. Silence was half that film

7Nari2026.10.07

There's a SsangYong car parked on my street in Busan and I'm going to think about this every time I pass it now

7Dahye2026.10.07

Watching this one alone with the lights off. Not a movie for a group chat watch party

6kkt.882026.10.07

The SsangYong name still makes older Korean coworkers go quiet. Not a "fun Friday movie" for people here, more of a "call your dad after" movie

6Zeynep2026.10.07

The stills look so quiet and grey. Not a single bright color, which is very him

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Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' hits Netflix Nov 6, and the real couple behind it already cried through it · KOMMU.LIVE