Seopyeonje

Seopyeonje
Theatrical poster
Hangul	서편제
Hanja	西便制
Revised Romanization	Seopyeonje
McCune–Reischauer	Sŏp'yŏnje
Directed by	Im Kwon-taek
Produced by	Lee Tae-won
Written by	Kim Myung-gon
Based on	Seopyeonje  by Lee Cheong-jun
Starring	Oh Jeong-hae Kim Myung-gon Kim Kyu-chul
Music by	Kim Soo-chul
Cinematography	Jeong Il-seong
Edited by	Park Soon-deok Park Gok-ji
Distributed by	Taehung Pictures
Release dates	10 April 1993
Running time	112 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean

Seopyeonje (Hangul: 서편제) is a 1993 South Korean musical drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek. Its story tells of a family of traditional Korean pansori singers trying to make a living in the modern world. The film was originally expected to only draw limited interest, and was released on only one screen in Seoul. At the height of its popularity, it was shown on only three screens at once in the entire city of over 10 million.^[1] Nevertheless, it ended up breaking box-office records and became the first Korean film to draw over a million viewers in Seoul alone. When it was released, Sopyonje's success also increased interest in pansori among modern audiences. The film was acclaimed critically, both in South Korea and abroad, getting screened in Cannes Film Festival and winning six Grand Bell Awards and six Korean Film Critics' Awards.

Im Kwon-taek also used pansori as a narrative tool in his later films Chunhyang (2000), based on the popular Korean story Chunhyangga, and Beyond the Years (2007), an informal sequel to Sopyonje.

Plot

In a jumak (a tavern) on a small pass called Soritjae of Boseong County, South Jeolla Province,^[2] during the early 1960s, Dong-ho who is in his 30s, recalls his past as he is listening to a rendition of "pansori" sung by the jumak owner.^[3] Dong-ho and his sister were raised by the pansori singer Yu-bong, who treats them sternly and with a strict training regimen in his attempts to make serious artists of them as Yu-bong feels that a truly great pansori artist must suffer. Eventually Dong-ho runs away but his sister stays behind.^[4] Some critics have stated that this movie glorifies the father's patriarchal power as he seeks to limit his daughter's sexuality.^[5] However, most believe that the pansori singer is symbolic for (South) Korea, transcending a history of suffering to achieve greatness.^[6]

Notes

1. Kim, Kyung-hyun (2004). "9. 'Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves': Transgressive Agents, National Security, and Blockbuster Aesthetics in Shiri and Joint Security Area". The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema. Durham and London: Duke University Press. p. 270. ISBN 0-8223-3267-1.
2. http://www.jeonlado.com/v2/ch04.html?&number=7249
3. http://100.empas.com/dicsearch/pentry.html?s=K&i=291896&v=43
4. Lopate, Phillip. "Movies: About Sopyonje". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
5. The Remasculinisation of Korean Cinema, by Kyung Kim
6. http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=318917

Bibliography

• Cho, Hae Joang (2002). "Sopyonje: Its Cultural and Historical Meaning". In James, David E. & Kim Kyung-hyun. Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 134–156. ISBN 0-8143-2869-5.
• Kim, Kyung-hyun (2004). "2. Nowhere to Run: Disenfranchised Men on the Road in The Man with Three Coffins, Sopyonje, and Out to the World". The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema. Durham and London: Duke University Press. pp. 60–66. ISBN 0-8223-3267-1.
• Stringer, Julian (2002). "Sopyonje and the Inner Domain of National Culture". In James, David E. & Kim Kyung-hyun. Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 157–181. ISBN 0-8143-2869-5.
• Adam Hartzell's review at koreanfilm.org
• "Im Kwon-taek's Retrospective". 5th Festival of Korean Cinema in Italy. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-31. External link in |publisher= (help)

External links

• Sopyonje at the Internet Movie Database
• Seopyeonje at the Korean Movie Database
• Video on YouTube