Underplayed Gems

Chunhyang (2000)

Chunhyang poster
Original title
춘향뎐
Directed by
Im Kwon-taek
Genre
drama film, musical film, romance film
Country
South Korea
Runtime
2h
Rated
12
Rating
6.6 of 10 from 41 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A film adaptation of a classic Korean folk story about a young nobleman and a woman from a lower class who fall in love and marry in secret. When the nobleman leaves for the capital, a corrupt new governor tries to force the woman to become his concubine.

romanticmelodramaticstylizedmusicalepictheatricalbittersweetvisually rich

What happens

Chunhyang (Korean: 춘향뎐; RR: Chunhyangdyeon) is a 2000 South Korean period romantic drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek, with a screenplay by Kang Hye-yeon and Kim Myung-gon. Distributed by CJ Entertainment, the film was released on January 29, 2000 in South Korea. Lee Hyo-jeong plays Chunhyang and Cho Seung-woo plays Mongryong. It is a film adaptation of the pansori Chunhyangga, one of the most notable works in the pansori tradition. To date, there have been more than sixteen works based on this narrative, including three North Korean films. Im Kwon-taek's Chunhyang presents a new interpretation of this oral tradition with a focus towards a more global audience. It is the first Chunhyang adaptation that uses lyrics of pansori as a major part of the screenplay. The film uses the framing device of a present-day pansori 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. It was entered into the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. The film is the first Korean film which was presented at the 2000 Telluride Film Festival. At the 2000 Asia Pacific Film Festival, it won a Special Jury Award. It also won an award for Best Narrative at the Hawaii International Film Festival in 2000. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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