His first feature, This Charming Girl, attracted much attention from major film festivals, including Sundance and Berlin.
[1] Since his debut, Lee has emerged as one of Korea's leading sources of small-budgeted, intimate dramas about ordinary people.
He is particularly skilled at inhabiting the worlds of female characters, and he has worked with a range of impressive up and coming actresses including Kim Ji-soo, Han Hyo-joo and Im Soo-jung, and most importantly Korea's top actress Jeon Do-yeon.
[2] Though Lee empathizes with women marginalized by a patriarchal society, he refuses to exploit easy cultural signifiers to arouse audience sympathy.
Other influences are Robert Altman’s earlier works, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and other American independent films from the 70s and 80s, including the Coen brothers’ Blood Simple.