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Introduction to Korean culture: Chunhyang

© John Nesbit

Korean film director Im Kwon Taek has a long track record of 96 films, but Chunhyang is the first that I've seen. In fact, Chunhyang is the first Korean film I've ever seen since most of that country's film fare has remained firmly within its borders. With the success of Hong Kong films in the U.S. and this year's phenomenal Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon securing ten Oscar nominations and beating Life is Beautiful for top box office receipts for a foreign film, we can hope that more Asian cinema will be released into the U.S. market in the coming months.

Chunhyang is certainly a worthy introduction to Korean cinema and to Korean culture. Indeed, the first shock you'll get is hearing pansori performer Cho Sang Hyun howling and barking to a drum beat and seeing a tiny figure in the bottom of the screen go on for a couple of minutes before we get the first visual imagery. If you haven't figured out that pansori is a Korean folk art, somewhat like opera without scenery, this will become more apparent later when you witness Cho Sang Hyun on the full screen yelping guttural tones to an intense Korean audience who hang on every word of his story. This is the first exposure to pansori that I've had, but it did remind me a bit of some lengthy Navajo chanting that I've experienced.

Im neglects to transform his film to suit Western culture, and that is one of the film's main charms (even though I heard several audience members giggle inappropriately at the pansori presentations). The fact that films like this and the Iranian film A Time for Drunken Horses have played in our local arthouse gives me hope that the foreign language film market is beginning to open up more.

Set in the 18th century, Chunhyang tells a simple folk tale of love. The sheltered 15 year old son of the governor of Namwon, Mongryong (Cho Seung Woo), sneaks out of the palace to go riding in the Korean countryside and sees the beautiful Chunhyang (Lee Hyo Jung), a commoner who is the daughter of a former courtesan. Chunhyang is chaste and has no plans to follow in the footsteps of her supportive mother, and she is very shy at Mongryong's initial advances.

Of course, he has fallen madly in love, and he eloquently writes "Like the sun and the moon, my love will never change" on her skirt. He soon gains the love of Chunhyang and marries her secretly. They are passionately happy until, Mongryong learns that his father has been called to Seoul to take a position with the king. The despondent Mongryong realizes that he cannot reveal his marriage to the lowly daughter of a courtesan until he has risen to a high place in the government. The unhappy lovers vow to remain loyal to each other until Mongryong can return as a high ranking official.

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