Poet

2024 Nara International Film Festival –– Golden Kojika Award and Audience Award

Director SUN Kun’s The Poet is about a woman working in a stone processing factory who finds comfort and release through writing poetry, breaking free for a moment from the dull routine of her daily life. It’s clear the director knows this environment deeply—each scene feels incredibly authentic, with careful attention to visual detail.

What really impressed me were the poems recited by the protagonist. They don’t feel pretentious at all; instead, they’re natural, sincere, and quietly powerful. Poetry becomes her weapon against numbness, perhaps her only way out spiritually.

In the film’s final moments, when she softly recites her poem directly into the camera, her eyes seem to reach out, silently asking us: can poetry truly save a person’s soul, or is it just a fleeting illusion?

– Page ZHANG