Before being sidetracked by a gig as South Korea's Minister of Foreign Culture, Lee Chang-dong had helmed two of his country's most compelling dramas in recent years: Peppermint Candy, a brilliant mash-up of Forrest Gump and Irréversible that's superior to both, and Oasis, which opens with a sociopath raping a disabled mute and blossoms into one of the decade's most delirious romances. Relieved of his administrative duties, Lee returns to the director's chair with Secret Sunshine, which earned its lead Jeon Do-yeon the Best Actress prize at this year's Cannes. The award was unsurprising: Among his countrymen, only Hong Sang-soo matches Lee's exceptional handling of actors. Lee has a rare gift for depicting how the minor dissonance of everyday interactions eventually explodes into public displays of rage and despair, and performances are critical to his emotionally bracing storytelling, which typically plants slightly unhinged social misfits in stiflingly conformist environments.