One of the most ravishing films in recent years, Im Kwon-taek's great triumph is both soul-satisfying and deliriously fun. Set in the 18th century, this romantic epic traces the passionate, outlawed love between Chunhyang, the beautiful daughter of a former courtesan, and Mongryong, the haughty (and equally beautiful) son of the provincial governor. When Mongryong is sent away to finish his studies, he unwittingly leaves his lover vulnerable to the sadistic designs of the district's new governor, a man for whom every woman is prey. Thrillingly narrated by a pansori singer, with great guttural whoops and an emotional register to rival that of Maria Callas, Chunhyang finds a master director working at the top of his form in a film that exalts a Korean theatrical tradition even as it vividly recalls the more modest legacy of the Hollywood musical.

Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Director award, Chihwaseon is a vivid portrait of the turbulent life and times of Korea’s greatest artist. As remarkably embodied by Choi Min-sik, the temperamental, passionate brush master Jang Seung-up paints with a martial artist’s fervor while indulging a rock star’s single-minded lust for life. Amidst the tumult and destruction of nineteenth century Korea, “Ohwon,” as he comes to be called, fights to escape both the rigid artistic boundaries and the social fetters that would deny his low-born, unschooled genius. Im Kwon-taek elegantly portrays both the near apocalyptic upheaval of turn-of-the-century Korea and the intimate interior battle between Ohwon's creative and libidinous desires.