I had great expectations when I sat down with Bichunmoo. What little I'd seen and read about it, plus previous experiences with Korean cinema, suggested it would be a very good movie indeed. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed...
The story is too chaotic and incoherent. During some parts I had to ask myself "is this actually going anywhere?". Bichunmoo does eventually move towards its conclusion, but much of the movie consists only of random occurences that never seem relevant to the whole. It also suffers from a lack of focus. Too much time is spent on fairly insignificant characters, without ever really getting beneath the skin of the protagonists. Another problem is that I never really felt for Jinha. It's difficult to say if Hyun-joon Shin is to blame, but personally I didn't find Jinha a very likeable character even during his best moments... He fits into the "silent, invincible warrior/butcher" stereotype common to Japanese anime (indeed he almost seems like an anime character), which to me is strange in a movie that presents itself more as "a tragic tale of love and loss" or something along those lines.
It is also frustrating that it feels like the director/screenwriter seems to have simply chosen a random historical period as his backdrop without really paying much attention to it. I almost get the feeling that the main criterion was "I want this guy to use a sword... a LOT!" and everything else was just put there to accommodate that.
While there is some good camera work and music, my opinion is that Bichunmoo spins too many threads without ever weaving them together and falls victim to an avalanche of cliches and stereotypes pilfered from Hong Kong cinema and Japanese anime as well as, of course, other Korean movies. The plot never really seems to be going anywhere, and too often it is simply an excuse for Jinha to kill more people with his "superior Bichun techniques"... The ending is also left me quite unsatisfied, being just another cliche (as well as making Jinha come off as even more of a selfish bastard than he already was).
The story is too chaotic and incoherent. During some parts I had to ask myself "is this actually going anywhere?". Bichunmoo does eventually move towards its conclusion, but much of the movie consists only of random occurences that never seem relevant to the whole. It also suffers from a lack of focus. Too much time is spent on fairly insignificant characters, without ever really getting beneath the skin of the protagonists. Another problem is that I never really felt for Jinha. It's difficult to say if Hyun-joon Shin is to blame, but personally I didn't find Jinha a very likeable character even during his best moments... He fits into the "silent, invincible warrior/butcher" stereotype common to Japanese anime (indeed he almost seems like an anime character), which to me is strange in a movie that presents itself more as "a tragic tale of love and loss" or something along those lines.
It is also frustrating that it feels like the director/screenwriter seems to have simply chosen a random historical period as his backdrop without really paying much attention to it. I almost get the feeling that the main criterion was "I want this guy to use a sword... a LOT!" and everything else was just put there to accommodate that.
While there is some good camera work and music, my opinion is that Bichunmoo spins too many threads without ever weaving them together and falls victim to an avalanche of cliches and stereotypes pilfered from Hong Kong cinema and Japanese anime as well as, of course, other Korean movies. The plot never really seems to be going anywhere, and too often it is simply an excuse for Jinha to kill more people with his "superior Bichun techniques"... The ending is also left me quite unsatisfied, being just another cliche (as well as making Jinha come off as even more of a selfish bastard than he already was).