Chunhyang (2000)

Chunhyang is a Korean film, directed by Im Kwon-taek that stars Lee Hyo- jeong and Jo Seung-woo.The renowned Korean filmmaker offers his own unique take on a classic romantic fable with this 13th century tale of a stunningly beautiful young woman torn between the man she loves and the governor she's obligated to marry. The film uses the framing device of a present-day narrator who, accompanied by a drummer, sings the story of Chunhyang in front of a responsive audience.The film flashes back and forth between the singer's presentation and scenes of Mongryong (Cho Seung Woo), a young nobleman who falls captive to the beauty of the commoner Chunhyang (Yi Hyo Jeong). They profess their undying love to each other and elope, soon after which, Mongryong is forced to accompany his father to Seoul for three years. In the interim, a tyrant named Byun comes to power in Chunhyang's province and demands that the beauty marry him. She refuses, and Byun schedules her for execution -- just as Mongryong returns to the province to reclaim his true love.This is a movie that presents a Romeo and Juliet set in premodern Korea. Also,it is a folk tale in a postmodern form that refreshes both the eye and our ideas about storytelling as the viewer gets a glimpse of Korean culture.After viewing this film,it may linger long in one's memory as the movie is characterized not only of its own way of storytelling but also its rich colors and striking images giving off an iridescent afterglow.

This is a Korean film telling the story of two lovers torn apart by class. The son of a governor and the daughter of a courtesan. It has the air of a fairytale and is a very good film.It may be difficult for some people to get into the film in the beginning if you are not familiar with pansori. Pansori is a centuries old Korean form of storytelling in which a storyteller sings the story while a drummer drums and makes short vocal sounds or words of encouragement. It is initially jarring for those of us who mostly watch American and European film, but stick with it. I first saw this in a film class and it was among two films that I wrote about for class and liked so much that I purchased on my own once the class ended.As the film begins the viewer is placed in the position of someone watching a pansori performance. From here the film transitions from the world of Chunhyang to the pansori audience. Part of the enjoyment of the film comes from watching the reactions of the pansori audience to the story. It is akin to being in a movie theater and sharing the same experiences with everyone else watching the film.Aside from the format, the story itself is enchanting, full of love, loyalty, and courage. The acting is very good and the actors are not bad looking themselves. The pansori performance is a song of the story so it has some poetic qualities that don't necessarily push the story forward, but are enjoyable if you are patient. All in all it is a look into Korean culture and storytelling that not many films from America, Europe, or the rest of the world do for their own cultures. Most films today just stick to the basic narrative design or are pretentious and abstract. This one creates a new experience for anyone who is willing to give it a chance.

With the Korean story telling tradition performed on stage, it was a interesting and novel way to tell the story. The story was beautiful and the moving. I figure it to be a Korean fairy tale given its happy ending and having a moral to the story.I didn't find the story telling method completely successful. The music and drumming added tension to the film, but the Pansori seemed to intrude in the film too frequently, describing everything that is going on when it could be done visually, rendering many scenes as some sort of announcement, not letting the ambiance set in. The scene of the whipping seemed to be a little forced, having the camera show us various audience members crying, as if we don't know this is a dramatic situation. It might have worked better if they let the dialogue be spoken by the character Chunghyang instead of the Pansori, since the Pansori does not have much dynamic range in his voicing, being always loud. The character saying it while being whipped gives a different impression than the Pansori screaming it.But all in all, still a good film.

Beautiful Korean film of one of those country's legends--Mongryong (Cho Seung Woo) falls in love with a lower-class girl Chunhyang (Lee Hyo Jung). They marry and she vows to remain faithful to him when he must leave to finish his education. Then an evil governor takes over and wants Chunhyang for himself. The film looks absolutely stunning--gorgeous costumes, vivid color and beautiful scenery. The leads are attractive, the acting is good and the film moves quickly. But I only can give this a 5. Why? The film is (mostly) narrated by a VERY annoying man who's performing the tale in front of an audience. His voice is harsh and grating and he YELLS EVERY WORD AT FULL VOLUME! His narration is not needed--he's basically telling (actually yelling) at us about what's on the screen. Thanks bud! I can see! Also the narration is sometimes laughably out-of-place (while we see the two lovers chasing each other around the bedroom, he's screeching about food!). He single handedly almost destroyed the film for me--I considered leaving a few times, but the movie was so beautiful I couldn't. Without him, I'd give the film a 10--but I can't. Too bad.