Sul Kyung-gu

Watch the glances. Sul Kyung-gu often plays a man with a tough exterior, and a small change of expression can suggest how much he is keeping to himself. Anger, guilt and vulnerability recur in these parts; he is particularly good at making them apparent without much dialogue. We find that restraint persuasive because it leaves us something to notice, rather than requiring a speech to explain what the character feels.

His breakthrough came as Kim Yeong-ho in Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy (2000), followed by Hong Jong-du in Oasis (2002). The same year as Oasis, he also played Kang Chul-joong, the anti-hero policeman in Public Enemy (2002). That movement between intimate drama and action thrillers continued through the 2010s and 2020s. His reunion with Lee in Possible Love (2026) brings us back to the patient attention to troubled people that we most value in his work.

In Possible Love, he plays Choi Ho-seok in a drama about two marriages and a documentary. Jeon Do-yeon gives the performance we value most as Ahn Mi-ok, but Sul’s share of the ensemble work matters. Alongside Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong, he makes the pressures of money feel inseparable from what these people want. We were moved by the way these performances allowed sympathy for people whose behaviour did not necessarily deserve our approval.

Possible Love also shows the limit of what such acting can repair. The writing sometimes makes the connections between marriage and money too explicit, and Sul’s restraint cannot stop us noticing. He does help sustain our interest across a long film, and his work with the other actors makes the time feel well spent. Give it an evening if patient ensemble drama is your preference, and watch how much he contributes without needing to be the centre of attention.