Hyeongsa (2005)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Myung-se Lee

Writers:

Hae-jyung Lee (writer)
Myung-se Lee (writer)

Release Date:

9 September 2005 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Mystery

Plot:

Set years ago in the era of the Joseon Dynasty, the story follows a young police officer named Namsoon (Ha Ji-won) who...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts

Cast

Ji-won Ha	...	Namsoon
Sung-kee Ahn	...	Detective Ahn
Dong-won Kang	...	Sad Eyes
Young-chang Song	...	Minister of Defence
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bo-yeon Kim

Also Known As:

Duelist (International: English title)

Runtime:

UK:108 min | UK:108 min (uncut) | Canada:111 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:6 | Australia:M | UK:12A | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Company:

Production M

Cinematic Challenge. narrative for style.

This movie is disguised as historical action,romance and detective film. It has every element of any Asian action genre film.

Underneath it, this movie is very self-conscious and experimental film. Of course, there is a compromise between mainstream movie and director's personal movie. That is "having narrative" in this movie.

Director expresses his visual vision which is loosely based on detective story.However if you try to follow story in this movie,you will be utterly disappointed.

This is almost another form of alienation effect. There is narrative but narrative can not handle its grandized style. It is not style for narrative but narrative for style. Director almost challenges you what movie is and means to you. In this grossly capitalized movie making world, can movie be presented as an art form or a painting. is it even possibility of discussion?

If you like this kind of geeky challenge(almost Brecht like) or exploration, this is movie for you. If not, I say still give a shot and focus on style and rhythm and visualization and do not waste to spend too much time to follow the "story". If you are interested in this director, you can google it and will be able to find interviews. I think this movie Lee expressed more his personal vision and visual challenge than previous one and he is definitely pushing it.

Movie is based on comic book characters and stories written by Bang Hak-gi.Korean soap opera "Damo (female detective)" also is based on this comic book story.

Female leading lady(Ha ji won) played similar role in drama "Damo". Damo was great hit series drama in Korea.

This movie did not do well in korean box office but there is a cult following for this movie. When you try to buy DVD, make sure that it is quality you want because director did several digital enhancement on this movie after release.That is what I heard anyway and you do not want to miss gorgeous visual in this movie.