Jo In-sung Turns Restrained in Lee Chang-dong's Venice-Winning 'Possible Love'

Jo In-sung takes a quieter path in his latest role. The actor stars in director Lee Chang-dong's new film "Possible Love" as Sang-woo, the husband of a documentary filmmaker, in a performance that is more restrained than his recent work.

The Netflix film opened in South Korean theaters on Sept. 23. Jo In-sung plays Sang-woo, the husband of Ye-ji (played by Jo Yeo-jeong), a documentary director whose project follows a laid-off worker and his wife. "Possible Love" follows what happens when the two couples come together through the documentary and begin to confront the gaps between their lives and their unspoken desires.

The film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize in the competition section at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.

Sang-woo stands in sharp contrast to Ho-seok, the laid-off worker played by Sul Kyung-gu. Ho-seok is a worker pushed out of a job by the structures of capital. Sang-woo, by contrast, is a man whose wealth has been passed down through generations. Through the two men, the film explores the divide between capital and class..

Sang-woo treats Ho-seok and his wife Mi-ok, played by Jeon Do-yeon, with warmth. But the offhand things he says and does make it hard to tell where that goodwill actually ends. Rather than showing big emotions, Jo In-sung plays Sang-woo with restraint, emphasizing the character's ambiguity.

That ambiguity carries through his relationships with Ho-seok, Mi-ok and Ye-ji, characters who each occupy a different social position. Sang-woo is friendly one moment and distant the next, warm and then indifferent, and those shifts create tension across the group.

"Possible Love" explores several themes at once: capital and labor, love and desire. Jo In-sung matches that tone with a more restrained performance, letting Sang-woo settle into the film rather than push against it.

This is Jo In-sung's third film to reach audiences this year. He appeared earlier in director Ryoo Seung-wan's "Humint" and director Na Hong-jin's "Hope," playing very different characters across very different genres.

"Possible Love" opened in theaters on Sept. 23 and will begin streaming worldwide on Netflix on Nov. 6.