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Chihwaseon (2002)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 40
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 7

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 1,096

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Movie Info

Renowned Korean director Im Kwon-Taek (Chunhyang) tells the story of legendary iconoclastic Chosun Dynasty artist Oh-won (Choi Min-Sik). With little reliable documentation of the artist's life, the director (along with co-writer Kim Young-Oak) used dramatic license to fill in the details of the man's life. Born a peasant named Jang Seung-ub in 1843, the artist used his talents to escape a life of poverty. A wealthy nobleman, Kim Byung-Moon (Ahn Sung-Ki), recognizes Jang's talent, and takes him

Unrated, 1 hr. 57 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Directed By: Kwon-taek Im

Written By: Kwon-taek Im, Yong-ok Kim

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2002 Wide

On DVD: Feb 3, 2004

Kino International

Cast

Min-sik Choi
Jang Seung-Up (Oh-won)
Ahn Sung-ki
Kim Byung-Moon
You Ho-Jeong
Mae-Hyang
Yunjin Kim
Jin-Hong
Ye-jin Son
So-Woon
Han Myoung-Gu
Lee Eung-Heon
Tae-Woo Jung
Jang Seung-Up as a Teen...
Choi Jong-Sung
Jang Seung-Up as a Boy
Sung-kee Ahn
Ho-jeong Yu
Yeo-jin Kim
Yejin Kim

Critic Reviews for Chihwaseon

All Critics (44) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (7) | DVD (1)

It is quietly observant, with a detached eye for the telling moment, and the visual compositions are often exquisite.

June 20, 2003 Comment

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

[Chihwaseon] rushes through the life of its subject in nimble leaps and bounds, concentrating on the livelier and more spectacular parts and avoiding the dull historical and biographical stretches.

June 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Another masterpiece from one of the world's more neglected great directors, a master artist who here reveals the soul of another.

June 5, 2003 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune

| Comment

Michael Wilmington

Chicago Tribune

Top Critic

The movie's attention to anthropological and historical detail means things are slow to come alive. But once they do, the nature of Jang's psychic torture is palpable and unmistakable.

May 16, 2003 Full Review Source: Boston Globe

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Wesley Morris

Boston Globe

Top Critic

A vividly entertaining portrait.

May 16, 2003 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

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Manohla Dargis

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

A handsome film, filled with lavish costumes and set designs and told in a series of exquisitely composed images.

March 14, 2003 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

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Edward Guthmann

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

In spite of these few moments of wonder, and even the dense, moving thematic content, the film ultimately doesn't leave a lasting taste.

May 15, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

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Par Parekh

Film Journal International

[A]n elegant, painterly film...

August 8, 2004 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher

| Comment

MaryAnn Johanson

Flick Filosopher

The sturdy and goateed Choi Min-sik gives an extraordinary performance as the mercurial Ohwon whose moods fluctuate from sadness to rage, anguish, and depression.

June 25, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

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Judith Egerton

Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

For all its beauty and artistic ambition, the film remained stubbornly remote and soulless to me.

January 9, 2004 Comment

Donald Munro

Fresno Bee

This Korean drama is a credible portrait of its main character, the revered 19th-century artist Oh Mon Jang Seung-up, and it looks beautiful enough to be a work of art itself.

June 20, 2003 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City

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Jeff Vice

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Director Im Kwon-Taek steeps this film with reverence for Korean lore and history.

June 20, 2003 Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune

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Sean Means

Salt Lake Tribune

The problem is, painting isn't a spectator sport, as the interminable scenes of Jang at work continually confirm.

June 6, 2003 Full Review Source: BBC

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Neil Smith

BBC

A fascinating, consummately crafted and ultimately moving study of a man who conforms surprisingly closely to western archetypes of the artist as rebel and hedonist.

June 3, 2003 Full Review Source: Sight and Sound

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Geoffrey Macnab

Sight and Sound

It's one of the best films of an artist's life you'll ever see.

May 30, 2003 Full Review Source: Oregonian

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Shawn Levy

Oregonian

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Chihwaseon

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Jang Seung-Up is an artist that just can't catch a break. His talent is noticed at first, but he is soon buried beneath an ever increasing number of art students. He is eventually noticed after making a perfect copy of a more established artists painting, after having just one look. This brings about attention, which

November 5, 2009

Luke Baldock

Super Reviewer

Up until recently,a number of films dedicated to the lives and times of exceptional painters,fine artists in a broader scope started emerging out of nowhere.Ladies,gents,I present you the unanimous masterpiece of them all,forget Pollocks and Fridas,Sung-up,a humongous legend in the Joseon dynasty in Korea,a fabulous

October 27, 2008