Lee Chang-dong has his way of writing his characters - that as the story goes along - they become pitiful or annoying at the same time. It doesn't take away the fact how masterful he is as a storyteller, rather it proves to show his deftness by putting the spotlight towards these people who are on the sidelines, the outcast and the neglected, because they have their own stories to tell, too. He exposes the griminess of society, challenges organized religions, and lays bare the spiteful or loathsome things that people do, it's not to lose hope in humanity but to instill to us some empathy and to render a broader sense that humans are complex individuals.