Sopyonje brought me to my knees before a tradition that previously was unknown to me - pansori. The power, tenderness, and pain that lies in art, in life, longing, and the music was conveyed in full force and with beauty. I couldn't directly understand the Korean words (subtitled) that were spoken or the songs that were sung, but i could feel and was in awe of the emotions especially in the second half of the movie. I can still hear the melodies, voice, and the drum.
11 Reviews
Art of pansori
Atavisten11 February 2006
Just like its Chinese brother 'Huang tu di' by Chen Kaige is 'Sopyonje' driven forward by its songs, but unlike the former is not the content of the songs most important, the art of the singing is. This art is called pansori, and is a Korean tradition with cousins in China and Japan. In 'Chiwaseon' did I'm Kwon-Taek portray the mad drunken master of a special calligraphy school, here he portrays the mad father that refuses to let go of the art as new times are dawning and has ambitions higher than anyone could accomplish and end up hurting his closest.
I'm Kwon-Taek is a true master at display here. Granted that you are interested in these arts, this movie will hold a strong grip on you from beginning to end by the power of its songs. The lead actress did an amazing job full of emotion through small gestures. Now, please get me one of those scrolls and a record of pansori, please.
I'm Kwon-Taek is a true master at display here. Granted that you are interested in these arts, this movie will hold a strong grip on you from beginning to end by the power of its songs. The lead actress did an amazing job full of emotion through small gestures. Now, please get me one of those scrolls and a record of pansori, please.
Unforgettable
strongmedicine516 April 2005
This is one of the best films about the Blues that I have ever seen. I defy you to find a member of the Hoary Tarnation of Blues, Delta, Mississippi, USA, that wouldn't spit, squint up at you and say, "Dang! That is the Blues!" Verdad! And while I'm exclaiming away, I swear to you that as I sat in our little local art house theater the audience just let the tears stream when they must with complete abandon. With no shame. Now there is some eastern magic.
The film begins in an interesting way. The style is clearly modern and places the story distant from a medieval or fantasy era. The young actor's (Kyu-chul Kim) style however hearkens to the older traditions in Korean Theater. And soon his search fades into the story of his emotional roots. The film doesn't make an obvious judgment about the 'life' of these three people or their domination by their father-mentor. Yet the film challenges you to decide if his assumption to rule these growing children is culturally acceptable or extraordinary even in their world at large.
There is a scene in a pension when the song master (Myung-gon Kim) becomes very drunk and garrulous. It is at once hilarious, tense and pathetic. Another, when the itinerants are walking with back packs in the middle of nowhere and begin a spontaneous dancing walk as they go along their way. These are glowing moments in cinema. The productions values are good and keep you placed always on the edge of the wild.
And then the music! This is the blues. Truly, I can say no more.
The film begins in an interesting way. The style is clearly modern and places the story distant from a medieval or fantasy era. The young actor's (Kyu-chul Kim) style however hearkens to the older traditions in Korean Theater. And soon his search fades into the story of his emotional roots. The film doesn't make an obvious judgment about the 'life' of these three people or their domination by their father-mentor. Yet the film challenges you to decide if his assumption to rule these growing children is culturally acceptable or extraordinary even in their world at large.
There is a scene in a pension when the song master (Myung-gon Kim) becomes very drunk and garrulous. It is at once hilarious, tense and pathetic. Another, when the itinerants are walking with back packs in the middle of nowhere and begin a spontaneous dancing walk as they go along their way. These are glowing moments in cinema. The productions values are good and keep you placed always on the edge of the wild.
And then the music! This is the blues. Truly, I can say no more.
Sopyonje, marvelous !
john_buntinx3 February 2006
Every time you look at this wonderful movie, be sure not to be disturbed by anything or by anyone. Especially if you are looking for the first time! In this case, it may be you find it boring for a short while, but don't you dare to give up! You must realize that the "slow motion" of this movie and the long silences are exactly some of the characteristics that make it one of the most wonderful movies I ever saw. You WILL find extraordinary contrasts at certain times. IN ANY CASE, KEEP CONCENTRATED AND CONTINUE LOOKING TILL THE VERY END!! You will not regret! I am a man, 55 years old, father of two big boys, and I am not ashamed to say that every time I look at this movie a few tears run over my cheeks... Thank you so much, I'm Kwon Taek !
Haunting and Beautiful
NIXFLIX-DOT-COM29 August 2003
One of the very best films to come out of South Korea. SOPYONJE tells the tale of pansori singers trying to survive in a world that no longer cares about them. The plight of the pansori singers is an allegory for traditional South Korea, a country being overrun by modernization and the Western world in the aftermath of World War II.
The film's soundtrack alone is worth watching. I've never heard such haunting and beautiful singing in my life. Truly, a masterpiece that deserves to be remembered.
10 out of 10
(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this film and reviews of other foreign movies)
The film's soundtrack alone is worth watching. I've never heard such haunting and beautiful singing in my life. Truly, a masterpiece that deserves to be remembered.
10 out of 10
(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this film and reviews of other foreign movies)
The film that made me wish I understood Korean
vegardb-29 November 2000
The story, not bad in itself, is not the main point. The music is. The main characters - a father and his daughter and son - are all folk music performers, and the musical numbers, dispersed throughout the film, make up an integral part of the film. It is not easily accessible for those used to the ordinary Hollywood stuff, but well worth the time if the musical genre presented - pansori - a form of Korean folk music, and actually the main character of the picture - appeals to you. Those who don't like the music will probably be very bored and should not waste their time on this. I loved it, but I know people who would fall asleep fast if they tried to see this.
A look at one aspect of the film
ezechiel918 March 2002
Sopyonje deals with a a cultural music called Pansori. Until I saw this film I knew nothing about it, but now I appreciate its Beauty and History. If you are looking for a movie that talks greatly about Korean Culture, this is it.
Sublime and Haunting!
IAdoreYou9 October 2009
I got the chance to see Seopyeonje in a Korean class in school. Our Korean professor was a bit excited to let us watch this film. So we sat in the speech laboratory and devoted our attention to the projection screen at the front.
I have to admit, after the first 30 minutes or so of watching this movie, I expected no more development in the plot, thinking that all the flatness of the story will endure until the end. I was bit by bit becoming impatient of watching it, annoyed by the (for me) dreary atmosphere of the 50s and rustic setting, not to mention the ear-splitting and irritating singing of the lead characters. I am also neither a fan of Asian flicks or Asian TV "novelas" and have no great tolerance of hearing characters speak languages alien to me, even if there were English subtitles flashing at the bottom of the screen. So I had to prolong my patience.
But lucky to be seated on a chair in the front row, I had my attention not taken away from the movie which if otherwise I might have given up watching and fallen asleep because of drastic tedium. Then I began to realize, a movie like Seopyeonje is not one of the typical contemporary flicks, hyped and high-budgeted, only to deliver shallow entertainment to the audience. It then registered with me that I was becoming critical of the film too early. So I gave myself another chance and continued watching, this time with a different perspective. Thus my reflections go.
Seopyeonje is not easy to watch without the watcher's religious attention. It is slow-paced and languorous at times, and I am convinced it is designed this way to convey exactly and completely its meaning. This meaning is the splendor of the arts, culture and tradition, inherent not only of Korea but of every nation. This movie would like us to appreciate and recognize the value of traditions and heritage slowly fading away while modernization advances and continues to overrun this world.
The movie talks of pain, longing, passion and fortitude without much talking and melodrama. The actors' portrayals of their characters are unaffected and what are typical of real life. Their gestures, singing and expressions fit so perfectly that there needed to be not anything more to communicate what they needed to communicate. The singing is by far the key element of the film, being a musical and one centered on Pansori, a traditional Korean folk music. I confess I did not bear the tones and screams of the Pansori reciters at first but my perception gradually changed as the movie progressed.
The culmination of Pansori art, as explained in the movie, is attained by overcoming grief and suffering. I can't help but be sympathetic about Songhwa (the female lead character) and her plight, but as she reached the peak of her art, my sympathy changed into admiration and the once annoying sound of Pansori transformed into a sublime and haunting melody to my ears.
Seopyeonje is one of the finest cinema I have seen. It is characteristically sad and somber but all at once beautiful, emotional and moving. It certainly left an indelible mark in me. I recommend it to those who love art, culture and traditions and bored of mainstream Hollywood movies and to those who simply want to stray from convention.
I have to admit, after the first 30 minutes or so of watching this movie, I expected no more development in the plot, thinking that all the flatness of the story will endure until the end. I was bit by bit becoming impatient of watching it, annoyed by the (for me) dreary atmosphere of the 50s and rustic setting, not to mention the ear-splitting and irritating singing of the lead characters. I am also neither a fan of Asian flicks or Asian TV "novelas" and have no great tolerance of hearing characters speak languages alien to me, even if there were English subtitles flashing at the bottom of the screen. So I had to prolong my patience.
But lucky to be seated on a chair in the front row, I had my attention not taken away from the movie which if otherwise I might have given up watching and fallen asleep because of drastic tedium. Then I began to realize, a movie like Seopyeonje is not one of the typical contemporary flicks, hyped and high-budgeted, only to deliver shallow entertainment to the audience. It then registered with me that I was becoming critical of the film too early. So I gave myself another chance and continued watching, this time with a different perspective. Thus my reflections go.
Seopyeonje is not easy to watch without the watcher's religious attention. It is slow-paced and languorous at times, and I am convinced it is designed this way to convey exactly and completely its meaning. This meaning is the splendor of the arts, culture and tradition, inherent not only of Korea but of every nation. This movie would like us to appreciate and recognize the value of traditions and heritage slowly fading away while modernization advances and continues to overrun this world.
The movie talks of pain, longing, passion and fortitude without much talking and melodrama. The actors' portrayals of their characters are unaffected and what are typical of real life. Their gestures, singing and expressions fit so perfectly that there needed to be not anything more to communicate what they needed to communicate. The singing is by far the key element of the film, being a musical and one centered on Pansori, a traditional Korean folk music. I confess I did not bear the tones and screams of the Pansori reciters at first but my perception gradually changed as the movie progressed.
The culmination of Pansori art, as explained in the movie, is attained by overcoming grief and suffering. I can't help but be sympathetic about Songhwa (the female lead character) and her plight, but as she reached the peak of her art, my sympathy changed into admiration and the once annoying sound of Pansori transformed into a sublime and haunting melody to my ears.
Seopyeonje is one of the finest cinema I have seen. It is characteristically sad and somber but all at once beautiful, emotional and moving. It certainly left an indelible mark in me. I recommend it to those who love art, culture and traditions and bored of mainstream Hollywood movies and to those who simply want to stray from convention.
The music will always live because of this movie
Polaris_DiB16 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Not since Harlan County, USA have I seen a movie that so made me want to buy the soundtrack where selling a soundtrack wasn't the point. Sopyonje, Kwon-Taek Im's labor of love, is a movie with a very specific cultural framing device to tell a recognizably archetypical story--or rather, three of them. We have the starving artist in the father, the parted siblings story in the children, and the musicians-standing-in-for-country symbolism all in one. However, the overarching narrative functions, as familiar as they may be, always take second place to the power of the music itself. Out of sheer surprise did I come to learn about, hear, appreciate, and end up really wanting to experience again the Korean folk style known as Pansori.
Im's best approach in here is his visual, as he seeks to engage the audience in Pansori without adhering strictly to musical conventions or get too expressionistic in the editing, sticking closely to the performative aspect of Pansori alone by letting the camera stand back and the music do its own work. That does not leave the movie lacking for visual elements, however, as this is one of those obnoxiously gorgeous pieces of celluloid where one wouldn't mind pasting a single frame as a piece of art unto itself on the wall. My favorite shot involves a wide angle long take as the full family, united, sing and dance along a curved road as they progressively get closer the camera, at which point they split to a more stagy left-and-right movement and maintain that space for the entirety of the song--which is all about how they are a family trying to figure out what road they are supposed to follow in the first place. The song ends; the scene cuts--and we never see which road they took next.
Sopyonje comes at a point in Korean history where modernization, like in many other countries, brought it's hopes and its fears. The characters speak carefully about democracy, not sure if they should trust it, while still trying to fight to be regarded as equals; the folk music of Pansori is in decline and in some cases even literally overshouted by other modern sounds, but the father's love for Pansori bypasses the passionate and becomes downright abusive. Nevertheless Im succeeds most at doing what he seeks to do in the long run--keep Pansori alive by introducing it to international audiences.
Sopyonje was not expected to be a huge moneymaker in Korea, only opening in one theatre. It hit some international festivals and ended up becoming world renowned. If anything, there's the true underdog story if the actual narrative in the movie seems too clichéd and sappy for you.
--PolarisDiB
Im's best approach in here is his visual, as he seeks to engage the audience in Pansori without adhering strictly to musical conventions or get too expressionistic in the editing, sticking closely to the performative aspect of Pansori alone by letting the camera stand back and the music do its own work. That does not leave the movie lacking for visual elements, however, as this is one of those obnoxiously gorgeous pieces of celluloid where one wouldn't mind pasting a single frame as a piece of art unto itself on the wall. My favorite shot involves a wide angle long take as the full family, united, sing and dance along a curved road as they progressively get closer the camera, at which point they split to a more stagy left-and-right movement and maintain that space for the entirety of the song--which is all about how they are a family trying to figure out what road they are supposed to follow in the first place. The song ends; the scene cuts--and we never see which road they took next.
Sopyonje comes at a point in Korean history where modernization, like in many other countries, brought it's hopes and its fears. The characters speak carefully about democracy, not sure if they should trust it, while still trying to fight to be regarded as equals; the folk music of Pansori is in decline and in some cases even literally overshouted by other modern sounds, but the father's love for Pansori bypasses the passionate and becomes downright abusive. Nevertheless Im succeeds most at doing what he seeks to do in the long run--keep Pansori alive by introducing it to international audiences.
Sopyonje was not expected to be a huge moneymaker in Korea, only opening in one theatre. It hit some international festivals and ended up becoming world renowned. If anything, there's the true underdog story if the actual narrative in the movie seems too clichéd and sappy for you.
--PolarisDiB
Maybe the best Korean movie ever made.
happymin3 March 1999
I truly believe that this is the best film ever made in Korea until this date (1999). But it may be too difficult to grasp the film's true beauty for most Westerners who are foreign to Korean "chang" which is traditional Korean folk singing.
Amazing display that mixes cultural, musical and domestic aspects
IamROCKAS9 July 2023
Pansori - the traditional Korean musical storytelling, which is performed by a singer and a drummer, is the key component in this movie. If I were to describe it, I'd compare it heart that fuels this movie and makes it function - it encompasses the Korean culture during the period when Japanese and Western influences are taking over the Korean peninsula.
This movie isn't a musical but music is everywhere around the three main characters and music, or rather - the continuation of this traditional kind of music - is the main motivator for everything. For one, it's the task to save it; for the second, it's the task to please her father; and for the third - it's the task to convince them that Pansori isn't profitable anymore. Each of them had different views on the music and the music filled them up in a different way, creating this unorthodox father-pupil family tandem. Even though their trio broke up and broke them up emotionally, the chain of events concluded with one of the most powerful musical exhibitions in the cinema I've ever seen. The raw emotional display, the sadness mixed with guilt, pity, and remorse, the closure that is both making the audience cry and making the audience feel immense joy - everything that comes into making this movie has an effect that sincerely moves people. At the very least, it moved me more than anything else recently and I couldn't be happier.
This movie isn't a musical but music is everywhere around the three main characters and music, or rather - the continuation of this traditional kind of music - is the main motivator for everything. For one, it's the task to save it; for the second, it's the task to please her father; and for the third - it's the task to convince them that Pansori isn't profitable anymore. Each of them had different views on the music and the music filled them up in a different way, creating this unorthodox father-pupil family tandem. Even though their trio broke up and broke them up emotionally, the chain of events concluded with one of the most powerful musical exhibitions in the cinema I've ever seen. The raw emotional display, the sadness mixed with guilt, pity, and remorse, the closure that is both making the audience cry and making the audience feel immense joy - everything that comes into making this movie has an effect that sincerely moves people. At the very least, it moved me more than anything else recently and I couldn't be happier.
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