Chunhyang (2000)

Director:

Kwon-taek Im

Writers:

Sang-hyun Cho (story)
Hye-yun Kang (writer)

Release Date:

29 January 2000 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Her spirit became inspiration. Her name became legend.

Plot:

Mongryong marries the beautiful Chunhyang without telling his father, the Governor of Namwon. When his father is transferred to Seoul...

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Hyo-jeong Lee	...	Chunhyang Sung
Seung-woo Cho	...	Mongryong Lee
Sung-nyu Kim	...	Wolmae
Hak-young Kim	...	Pangja
Jung-hun Lee	...	Gov. Byun Hakdo
Ji-youn Choi	...	Gov. Lee
Hae-eun Lee	...	Hyangdan (as Hae-Eun Lee)
Kyung-yeun Hong	...	Kisaeng Leader
Sang-hyun Cho	...	Pansori Singer
Myung-hwan Kim	...	Pansori Drummer
Hae-ryong Lee	...	Lord of Soonchun
Jun-hwam Gok	...	Lord of Okgwa
Keun-mo Yoon	...	Lord of Goksung
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Taell Bae
Bong Chotae
Tae-won Gan
Duk-Seoung Ha
Oh Jin	...	Representative of parliamentary Jun
Suk-koo Lee
Kyoung-jin Moon
Jae-hyung Park
Young-tak Song
Chongll Yoon	...	Old farmer

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Japan:PG-12 | Australia:R | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:13 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Trivia:

A "pansori" (on which this movie is based) was a four to six-hour long musical poem performed by a singer and a drummer.

Quotes:

Mongyong Lee: "Like the sun and the moon, my love will never change."

Movie Connections:

Version of Seong Chunhyang (1987)

Epic love musical

Cahiers Du Cinema called this epic an "experimental film", and indeed, it is as experimental as Lars von Triers DANCER IN THE DARK by heavily relying on music and songs. On the other hand, the differences are quite obvious. Here the songs come from the off most of the time (until the camera surprisingly moves to the classic singer on a stage) and do something that usually reduces the quality of a movie: they tell you what's going on in the pictures. But those pictures are of such an elegic beauty (with the typical yellow "Im-tone") that you feel a story is told to you by your grandfather and it unfolds perfectly in front of your eyes. I saw the screening during the MIFED 2000 together with only one (!) other guest and am quite astonished that film fans and buyers might overlook this masterpiece about an exclusive one-on-one love that touches our hearts.