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Oasis
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    100
    An unforgettable experience from yet another filmmaker who is making South Korean cinema one of the most vibrant of any emerging on the international scene.
  2. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: John Powers
    90
    At once a romantic melodrama, a sharp social comedy and a fierce political commentary on Korean society's cruelty to social outcasts. It's also a triumph of artistic indirection: Not a single scene plays out the way you expect. This is a film that gives humanism back its good name.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    90
    Oasis is utterly beguiling because Lee, like many other percipient Asian filmmakers, is simply more attentive to his characters' emotional tumult than the audience's.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    88
    Director Lee Chang-Dong has boldly crafted a challenge rarely found on film. But if you choose to meet it, you'll be rewarded with one of the most original, indelible romances in recent memory.
  5. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    88
    Oasis is that rare miraculous whirlwind romance that moves from attempted rape to reverence without kicking up a lot of dust.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    80
    In a sense, Oasis is an unabashed tearjerker, but Lee keeps knocking the melodrama off-balance, making all the big emotional payoffs a little discomforting, because they're not that far removed from something really disturbing.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    The remarkable if overlong Korean film Oasis strips away much of the sentimentality and goody-two-shoes attitudes that the movies traditionally display toward disabled people.
  8. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    80
    An eloquent expression of both unorthodox romance and bitter disillusionment with the hypocritical institutions of family and society.
  9. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    A brave film in the way it shows two people who find any relationship almost impossible, and yet find a way to make theirs work. The problems with the film come because it overstays its welcome.
  10. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    You'll have to look long and hard to find a performance as emotionally raw as that of Moon So-ri in the startling South Korean love story Oasis.
  11. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    75
    In the 2002 South Korean film Oasis, one can appreciate one of Asia's best directors (Lee Chang-dong) and one of the region's best actresses (Moon So-ri).
  12. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    70
    Although overlong and diffuse, Oasis, written and directed by Lee Chang-dong, boasts many powerful moments.
  13. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Martin Rubin
    70
    Skating fearlessly on the edge of tastelessness and sentimentality, Oasis is another strong, provocative film by Lee Chang-dong.
  14. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    The combination of Lee's discomforting subject matter and distancing style -- calculating artlessness punctuated by occasional flights of lyrical fantasy -- makes this slow-moving drama a challenge that doesn't seem entirely worth the effort.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.3 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. EdB.
    9
    A daring, disturbing film encompassing practically every universal theme and emotion facing any human being. This film takes the concept of the literary "fool" and twists it a turn tighter, in a wrenching portrayal of taboo love, family, deceipt, betrayal, prejudice, exploitation, sibling rivalry, misapprehension, public humiliation, greed, guilt, shame, and at the very least Hope, truly a masterpiece of story-telling, told with so little guile and pretension as to be almost child-like in its innocence. The Oscar-deserving scene of the public, psychological melt-down by the leading male actor at the birthday dinner is a performance of a lifetime and stunning in its emotional clarity. This film puts to shame almost everything coming out of Hollywood these days.… Full Review »
  2. Jake
    3
    Another dishonest film about mental retardation and physical disability, meant to flatter the audience with its own (presumed) benevolence, in contrast to the unfeeling or selfish characters in the film. The male character is evidently mentally retarded, but his traits and behavior belong strictly to the movies. The woman apparently has cerebral palsy, but with normal intelligence. Consequently, the "affair" between makes no sense, unless (like the filmmaker) you can't distingiush between physical and mental disability. I can only suggest that the critics who loved the film devote time to caring for a severely disabled person, and see if their experience conforms to this nonsensical film.… Full Review »
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