Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageChi-hwa-seon (2002)
Director: Im Kwon-Taek
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Im's deceptively effortless follow-up to Chunhyang is a racy, frequently funny and finally rather moving semi-fictional portrait of a Korean master-painter, Ohwon, who worked, womanised and drank his iconoclastic way through the second half of the 19th century. At first the narrative zips along so briskly that it's hard to do much more than merely keep up - and admire the film's luscious visual elegance. As it proceeds, however, subtle details in the script, coupled with Choi Min-Sik's charismatic performance, lead to a deeper understanding of Ohwon's personality, of his relationship to the social and political turbulence around him, and of Im's own ideas about art and creativity. In some respects a little like Five Women Around Utamaro, but with rather more gags and pep, it's great fun.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Im Kwon-Taek
Producer: Lee Tae-Won
Cast: Choi Min-Sik, Ahn Sung-Ki, You Ho-Jeong, Kim Yeo-Jin, Son Ye-Jin, Han Myoung-Gu, Jung Tae-Woo full cast
Duration: 117 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now