OxfordPress.com

Grade: B+

Verdict: A luminous and exotic tale of true love and just deserts.

Details: Starring Cho Seung Woo and Lee Hyo Jung. Directed by Im Kwon Taek. In Korean with subtitles. Unrated, but there is very brief nudity and some scenes of torture. Two hours.

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Review: At first, the fine new Korean film "Chunhyang" is reminiscent of a lot of the movies people used to see at the New York Film Festival. Movies you admire more than enjoy. But as "Chunhyang" goes on, admiration gives way to something like enthrallment. Be patient and you'll see that this picture casts its own peculiar spell.

Much like "The Princess Bride," "Chunhyang" celebrates the art of storytelling. Only, it does so in a far more unusual way. The film opens with the ballad of Chunhyang--a well-known Korean folk tale--being performed before a modern audience by a pansori singer whose wailing singsong chants and guttural yelps set the story's rhythm and mood. Think opera, Asian style.

Taking us back to 18th-century feudal Korea, he begins his tale with the observation that the province of Namwon was "so full of spiritual energy that it bred many pretty people."

Two of the prettiest are 15-year-old Mongryong (Cho Seung Woo), the governor's son, and 15-year-old Chunhyang (Lee Hyo Jung), the daughter of a retired courtesan. They fall in love and, ignoring the chasm of class, are secretly married. Her mother knows; his family doesn't.

Then his father is called to Seoul by the king. Mongryong must go, too, but he swears he'll return as soon as he passes his exams.

By this point, some of the film's exotic allure has worn off and you may start to tune out. When our heroine sobs over their impending separation, the reds and golds of her billowing dress upstage her grief. The narrative seems to be little more than a framework on which to hang director Im Kwon Taek's incredible visual sense and the pansori singer's curious artistry.

Then the second, more dramatic half kicks in. After Mongryong leaves, a despotic new governor comes to Namwon. Hearing of her beauty, he summons Chunyang and demands that, as the daughter of a courtesan, she become one of his courtesans.

What follows is pure cruelty, and Mongryong, disguised as a beggar, plots a revenge worthy of Clint Eastwood.

Im Kwon Taek has directed almost 100 pictures, but "Chunhyang" is the first to have a commercial release in the United States.

OK, it's not exactly Jim Carrey material; this is a film you have to work with. Still, "Chunhyang"--with its accessible story line, recognizable themes of honor and fidelity and ravishing compositions--is a great introduction to a great filmmaker.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, (none)