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A rare treat from Korea
By STEVE PERSALL
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 22, 2001
Im Kwon Taek is a household name if your home is Korea, where his films have thrilled audiences for nearly 40 years. Chunhyang is one of his rare offerings to obtain a U.S. distribution deal, and fans of Asian cinema will be pleased. Chunhyang is a lush love story concerning a governor's son (Cho Seung Woo) who marries the daughter of a prostitute and doesn't inform his father. The young woman, named Chunhyang (Lee Hyo Jung), is bound by tradition to join her mother's profession. Their secret passion and her fidelity make for uncomfortable situations the director conveys with a unique device, a singing narrator -- pansori in Korean -- lending a hypnotic sense of opera to all this soap. The film opens today at BayWalk 20 in St. Petersburg and Channelside 9 in Tampa.Grade: B+
- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic
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