Bichunmoo [2000 film]

Highly entertaining Wuxia style Korean effort set in a 14th century China which is under Mongolian rule. Two young lovers Jinha (Hyeon-jun Shin) and Sullie (Hee-seon Kim) find themselves caught up in a deadly dynastic war between Mongolian and Chinese forces. Sullie, against her will, is married-off to a powerful warlord and Jinha discovers he is the inheritor of a secret and deadly sword-fighting art. Despite misunderstandings, and strange contrivances (including death), that run over decades, the two star-crossed lovers find a way to reunite. "Bichunmoo" has many interesting story elements, but the script by director Young-jun Kim is vast, meandering and confusing. It is difficult to keep up with who is who and who is in alliance with show more who at any one moment. There are huge leaps forward in time with no real explanation and bewildering plot developments. At one point Jinha looks to be dead after being ambushed and shot by multiple arrows. He falls into the sea and the next minute he has been dragged out, has a face mask put on and remerges as the leader of a band of deadly black-clad ninjas. This is just one example of a neck-snapping plot development where no real explanation is offered – perhaps something is being lost in translation? The film looks very nice, however, with some first-class art direction and costuming. Young-jun Kim has a clear eye for an iconic shot and there are some marvellous individual sequences. The wire-fu fight sequences are good for the most part despite some blistering editing and the score, by Seong-jun Kim, is a strange, but enjoyable, mix of death metal histrionics and beautiful toned classical piano. Overall “Bichunmoo” is an entertaining and enjoyable affair but it is overly long, overly confusing and overly melodramatic for it to be a complete success. show less