CHUNHYANG A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
Beautiful but headache inducing. Kwon-taek Im's CHUNHYANG can probably best be thought of as a Korean opera. Featuring extensive sung narration in a type of ancient Korean music called pansori, which features a male singer whose singing sounds more like screaming, the movie can be jarring to untrained ears.
I haven't wished for earplugs so much since years ago when I took my young son to a live performance of the Power Rangers. The press notes include an article entitled "The Art of Noise," which quotes an ethnomusicology professor. The professor says that he didn't like pansori the first-time he heard it but that most people like it once they get used to it. That may be, but life is short, and I hope to avoid activities that assault my ears whether it be from the Power Rangers or pansori. Then again, people's musical tastes vary. To you, pansori may not be noise. It may be, well, music to your ears.
The movie begins, ends and sometimes cuts back to documentary footage of a pansori concert by Cho Sang Hyun. The singer, accompanied only by a drum, which his voice easily drowns out, is the film's narrator, and the movie is a dramatization of his long, narrative song. The concert was four and a half hours long, but the film, thankfully, only runs two. As they cut to the concert's audience, we see living proof that many Koreans are extremely moved by the music with reactions ranging from tears to dancing in the aisles.
The very traditional story concerns a love affair that dares to cross class boundaries. In the costume drama, Mongyong Lee (Seung-woo Cho), the governor's son, falls for Chunghyang Sung (Hyo-jeong Lee), the daughter of a courtesan. There are no surprises in the script or the acting. The same cannot be said of the production, which is sumptuous. The sets are impressive, the cinematography has a golden glow, and the costumes are intriguing. My personal favorite was the tall black hat with the wide brim that many of the men wore.
Mark Twain once said that "Wagner's music is better than it sounds." It may just be thus with pansori, but, for me, it's dominance of CHUNHYANG destroyed any hopes of my enjoying the film. On the other hand, the minimal story and acting aren't particularly compelling on their own.
CHUNHYANG runs a very long 2:00. The film is in Korean with English subtitles. It is rated R for some sexuality and would be acceptable for teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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