Were it not for Seol-rang, the traitor would have finished off Poong-chun’s infant daughter, Hong-yi too, and the girl still bears the scar of a gash made by his sword.Įighteen years later, Deok-ki has risen in court to become the King’s most favored man yet he misses Seol-rang, whom he still loves. However, they were double-crossed by Seol-rang’s lover, Deok-ki (Lee), who killed his sworn brother Poong-chun (Bae Soo-bin) and his wife. During one uprising, the rebels captured Jon-bak (Kim Tae-woo), the son of an evil magistrate (Moon Sung-geun) and stormed the city gates. Seol-rang once belonged to a band of warriors dedicated to overthrowing the corrupt monarchy. Innocent teenager Hong-yi ( Kim Go-eun) has been raised by her blind adopted mother Seol-rang (Jeon) with the sole mission of avenging her parents’ deaths. The yarn circles around three martial artists, each caught in his or her own anguished predicament. However, Park’s story is too much of a potboiler to achieve Hu’s philosophical depth, and the director’s style is more reminiscent of Lee Myung-se’s “Dualist” in its visual extravagance and incoherent, quasi-surreal narrative. The Korean title “Hyubnyeo: Kal ui ki-eok,” which roughly translates as “Martial Arts Heroine: Memories of the Sword,” alludes to King Hu’s “A Touch of Zen” (“hyubnyeo” being the Korean Hanja pronunciation of “Xia Nu,” the Chinese title of Hu’s classic about a female swordswoman with a righteous vendetta). ![]() but will have a good stab at overseas ancillary following its U.S. The pic took a beating at the domestic B.O. Helmer Park Heung-sik aspires to the vibrant color schemes and multiple twists of Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers,” but his underdeveloped screenplay (co-penned with Choi A-reum) and overwrought narrative makes for plodding viewing, squandering the clout of its A-list stars Jeon Do-yeon (“Secret Sunshine”) and Lee Byung-hun (“I Saw the Devil”). The same preparation would be advisable for the final duel between Hong-yi and Deok-gi, when the film’s fixation on slow-mo gets so obsessive that probably half of the fight consists of shots of the heroine and villain literally frozen in place.An archetypal tale of love, betrayal and revenge among swordplayers of South Korea’s Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), “ Memories of the Sword” is a visually arresting but vacuous, instantly forgettable period martial-arts romance. ![]() Still at least you can make out the action in this portion of the film, but you’d do well to prepare to endure the camera literally zooming in and out every five seconds in the third set, which is how events play out when Hong-yi storms Deok-gi’s fortress at the climax. In one moment, the combatants look too guided, in another they’ll bound along like they’re jumping on a trampoline and in another, they’ll just morph into CGI cartoons. The second set mostly takes place in the latter third, beginning with a training sequence where Hong-yi spars with a sword master while both of them use the power of wire-fu to run up bamboo trees – shucks, if only I could remember where we’ve seen THAT before! Comparisons to “ Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” aside, this is some of the goofiest and most uneven wire-fu that’s been done in a while. Somehow, someway, the fact that an action sequence is completely worthless if the viewer can’t coherently see what’s happening on screen continues to not be a universally accepted fact among action filmmakers. ![]() The first comes in Hong-yi’s initial few skirmishes in the first third, each one completely undone by terrible editing and excessive shaky cam. The sword fighting sequences in the film fall into three separate categories of how not to do it. Not that the film gets any more exhilarating whenever something’s actually happening onscreen. Hong yi puts her foot down Hong yis training goes airborne A novel approach to sword sparring A rare moment of remorse from Deok gi Deok gi casually dodges an assault
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |