Chi-hwa-seon


Chi-hwa-seon or Chwi-hwa-seon is a 2002 South Korean historical drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek. It stars Choi Min-sik as Jang Seung-eop, a nineteenth-century Korean painter who changed the direction of Korean art.
The film was entered into the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where Im Kwon-taek won Cannes [Film Festival Award for Best Director|Best Director], shared with Paul Thomas Anderson for Punch-Drunk Love.
In 2020, the film was ranked 13th by The Guardian among the classics of modern South Korean cinema.

Synopsis

It begins with the Korean artist being suspicious of a Japanese art-lover who values his work. The story then goes back to his early years. Beginning as a vagabond with a talent for drawing, he has a talent for imitating other people's art, but is urged to go on and develop a style of his own. This process is painful and he often behaves very badly, getting drunk and being hostile to those who care about him and try to help him.
These events are set against the struggle for reform within Korea, caught between China and Japan.

Cast