On August 7th, 'DELVAUX 2015/2016 Fall-Winter Collection Presentation' was held at Hyundai Department Store in Samsungdong, Seoul.
Actress Lee Min Jung attended the presentation in beige-color outfits with a jacket, and she matched a blue bag. Lee Min Jung recently gave birth to her first baby, but she still captured many people's attention with her gorgeous look.
Meanwhile, Lee Min Jung gave birth to her first baby on March 31st.
The upcoming “Memories of the Sword” is in many ways the type of experimental film that would be overlooked by a Korean director.
Set in the turbulent final years of the Goryeo Dynasty (912-1392), an unusual era to be shown on the silver screen, it also ventures into the expansive field of martial arts films, which has been considered the realm of Chinese or Hong Kong cinema.
“I wanted to take my cinematic ability to the next level,” said director Park Heung-sik during a press screening event on Wednesday at Lotte Cinema in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul.
He has crafted a number of notable drama films such as “I Wish I Had a Wife” (2001) and “My Mother, the Mermaid” (2004), but it is his first time trying out an action movie.
The film largely revolves around the poignant relationship and heartbreaking fate of three swordsmen - Yu-baek (Lee Byung-hun), Wol-so (Jeon Do-yeon) and Hong-yi (Kim Go-eun) - who are destined to kill each other.
Yu-baek and Wol-so, both of whom are skilled swordsmen, used to love each other very much, vowing to use their special set of skills to make the world into a better place, along with Yu-baek’s older brother Pung-cheon (Bae Soo-bin).
However, Yu-baek, who has always been the ambitious dreamer of the group, suddenly betrays the others and becomes a member of the royal court.
For the next 18 years, Yu-baek cunningly plots his way up the social ladder, while Wol-so, who has gone blind, keeps a low profile and waits to one day take revenge on her former beloved.
Young girl Hong-yi, who was left an orphan when she was a baby, also waits for the day when she can get back at the assailants who killed her parents.
In order to compensate for the complicated relationships, the film utilizes a number of flashbacks to explain each of the characters’ pasts.
While it is not certain whether the explanations are thorough enough to lay out why they are targeting each other, they seem even more frivolous once they start to hinder the film’s flow.
In terms of martial arts, also, many scenes cannot improve on the martial arts masterpieces from Hong Kong and China like “Hero” (2002) and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000).
The three protagonists precisely perform the choreographed action sequences, most of which take place up in the air. While a round of applause should be given to the actors for pulling off so many wire scenes where they soar through fields of white flowers and fly between bamboo stalks, these scenarios are something that we have seen before.
Park admitted that the drama is the core element of the film, not the action.
“Growing up, I have seen many martial arts movies from China and Hong Kong, but I tried to differentiate my film by showing really dense emotion,” said Park.
“It is as if I used action sequences as a means to deliver the emotions,” he added.
Realizing his intentions, many action sequences were filmed in slow-motion, which at some points maximizes the film’s visual aesthetics, but at other times takes away from the thrill and tension that are supposed to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Choosing between showing splashy action scenes and depicting the tragic fates of the protagonists, Park definitely went with the latter.
However, the loose links connecting the triangular relationship ultimately make the viewer wonder: Wait, what are they fighting for?
“Memories of the Sword,” opens nationwide on Thursday.
Actor Lee Byung-hun, right, and Junho, actor and member of K-pop boy group 2PM in a scene from "Memories of the Sword" / Courtesy of Lotte Entertainment
Choosing a film starring actor Lee Byung-hun has generally been a safe choice for moviegoers.
The star not only has the ability to captivate an audiences, such as in "A Bittersweet Life" (2005) or "Masquerade" (2012), but he also the gift for choosing the right scripts to make a box office hit.
Such success is unlikely for Lee's latest film "Memories of the Sword," which will to be released this Thursday, however.
Lee does not convince as director Park Heung-shik seems seriously torn between whether the film is a romance between Lee and actress Jeon Do-yeon or a martial arts action movie with lots of stunts.
Set in the doomed late period of the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392), "Memories of the Sword" portrays the story of three swordsmen ― Deok-gi (played by Lee), Seol-rang (Jeon) and Hong-ee (actress Kim Go-eun), who all plan to kill each other.
Lee portrays Deok-gi, a resistance warrior who later seizes absolute power after betraying his comrades in a rebellion.
Actress Jeon Do-yeon in "Memories of the Sword"
/ Courtesy of Lotte Entertainment
Eighteen years later, Deok-gi encounters a young female sword fighter Hong-ee who is searching for the swordsmen that killed her parents. She is the daughter of the former leader of the rebellion force and was raised by Seol-rang, a comrade and former lover of Deok-gi.
Learning that Hong-ee will meet with Deok-gi, Seol-rang confesses to Hong-ee that she and Deok-gi betrayed their comrades and orders Hong-ee to kill her.
Lee is a scene stealer as always, powerfully portraying how a young and ambitious warrior with a lowly status decides to move up the social ladder and establishes his own country after abandoning his morals and betraying his comrades.
But as the plot progresses, the story becomes confusing and fails to explain why the three protagonists are destined to draw their swords against each other.
The director revealed that he used action scenes to show why the lives of the three main characters are intertwined.
"I don't deny that it is a martial arts film, but I made this movie thinking it is basically a romance drama," Park told reporters during a press preview held at a theater in Seoul, on Aug. 5.
"Unlike Hong Kong action movies or Chinese martial arts films, which mainly focus on action scenes, I used fighting scenes as a way to convey each character's emotions."
As Park mentioned, most of the action sequences are in slow motion and carefully choreographed and coordinated. The three protagonists shine throughout the film as the action scenes wow the audience. However, the plot is still insufficient to explain the characters' tragic fates.
"Memories of the Sword" has drawn attention as it is Lee's first appearance in a local film after the 45-year-old actor was embroiled in blackmailing scandal last year.
Although he won the lawsuit against the two blackmailers, who threatened him with a video clip showing the three trading lewd jokes, Lee has been criticized for being involved in such a scandal. The lawsuit delayed the release schedule of "Memories of the Sword," which was originally set to screen last winter.
Though Lee seems to have moved a step closer to his fans with his superb acting, it remains to be seen whether he has chosen the right script to return to the big screen.
'Memories of the Sword,' thrilling but often incoherent martial arts epic
By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- "Memories of the Sword" is a straight genre picture, a fight movie of the old school. But at its heart is a story of star-crossed love.
Although it claims to be a Korean-style wu xia film with lots of melodrama, the film still contains many cliches of Chinese films of the genre - a secret of parentage, a protagonist training in martial arts for revenge while growing up, and a tragic story of love. Characters hop between titled roofs of traditional Korean houses and walk on the air as if they can fly.
These superfluous genre elements caused some audience members to burst out laughing while watching the film, even when the lead characters are serious.
Set in the late Goryeo era (918-1392) under the rule of a military regime, a chaotic period when even those from a low class could become king by resorting to the power of their swords, the movie starts with the story of a boyish girl named Hong-i (Kim Go-eun) who learns swordsmanship from her blind stepmother Wolso (Jeon Do-yeon).
One day, the stepmother divulges a secret that she and Yubaek (Lee Byung-hun), one of the most powerful men of the period, killed Hong-I's parents and that she must avenge their deaths. Hong-i falls into great shock and chaos at first, but later engages in a duel to the death.
The relationship among the three original sword masters -- Yubaek, Wolso and Pungcheon, who is Hong-i's father -- is complicated by the web of their common past. They led a people's uprising 18 years ago together, but it ended in failure because of Yubaek's betrayal. Wolso and Yubaek loved each other but the relationship turned to hatred after the incident.
Slipping backwards and forwards in time, the movie interweaves the themes of a past story of love between Yubaek and Wolso and their modern-day hatred. For all the melodramatic bluster, the emotions are more proclaimed than felt, in part because the narrative lacks a delicate description of each character's personal history and historical background. So the audience is confused regarding with whom they should emphasize. Hong-i may be the one as she has the key to two other protagonists' fate. Her final choice as for at whom she should aim her sword, however, appears to be rather forced or contrived.
Leading the 121-minute running time instead of narrative is the film's meticulous costume and production design, as well as superb acting by the cast.
The gorgeous visuals -- fighting or training scenes in a bamboo forest, a field of reeds, or a snow-covered palace courtyard -- rekindle memories of Zhang Yimou's picturesque period martial arts movies "Hero" and "Lovers" or of Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Lee persuasively portrays Yubaek, son of a slave and a man of ambition who transforms into a high-ranking official of Goryeo, but never forgets the love of his life. Jeon, winner of the best actress award at the 2007 Cannes International Film Festival for "Secret Sunshine," by director Lee Chang-dong, proved her potential once again by successfully playing a blind sword master.
"Memories of the Sword' is set to open in local theaters on Thursday.
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