Calendar

 The way it works:

PRIOR to the meeting (whenever works for your schedule), watch "Poetry" on Kanopy - one of the library's video streaming service - and then come to the meeting prepared to discuss!

You will need an Ashland library card or a Boston Public Library e-card to use Kanopy. Click here to access Kanopy or for more info on the BPL e-card (see if you are eligible and then register - you can use any of BPL's online resources with this card!).

Please register to receive the program link - which will be in your confirmation and reminder emails (check your spam folder for them!). Contact ashlandprograms@minlib.net with any questions.

Synopsis:

Mija (veteran actress Yun Jung-hee) is a beautiful woman in her sixties who moves gracefully through life, contemplating a trivial daily routine that is ill-suited to her refined persona. With elegance and a dash of eccentricity, Mija takes care of her ungrateful grandson Wook (Lee David) and makes a living by cleaning house for an elderly man who, though paralyzed by a stroke, still responds to her charm with bouts of drug-induced arousal.

On a whim, Mija enrolls in a poetry class at the local cultural centre and begins a personal quest to find the perfect words to describe her feelings. However, she's plagued by the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and struggles with new vocabulary and the challenges of the creative process. When her world is turned upside down by the discovery of a monstrous crime, it is Mija's unique and touching poetry that allows her to defy the weight of shame and distance herself from a painful proximity to violence.

Running Time: 139 mins

Year: 2010

Filmmaker: Lee Chang-dong

Features: Yun Jung-hee

Language: Korean

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library.

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