Memories of the Sword
This Korean period wire fu martial arts
film is lovely to look at but is as emotionally barren as a burnt out marriage.
Not admittedly for lack of trying - it is overly wrought with talk of dying,
revenge and fate but the script feels so manipulative and incohesive that
none of it sticks. But the visuals and sets are gorgeous with some very graceful
wire fu and a lot of killing by the sword. The film has two big Korean stars
- Lee Byung-hun (Bittersweet Life) and Jeon Do-yeon (You're My Sunshine),
but both of them spend the entire film just looking morose and weeping. Neither
are at all likeable. The other main actress in the film is Kim Go-eun who
won the Asia Rising Star Award at my old festival the New York Asian Festival
but as cute as she is she seems more suitable for Korean comedies and romances.
There is a tragic cloud that surrounds
the story. Years previously three leaders of a rebellion against the crown
have the King's son as a hostage, but one of them (Lee) betrays the cause
and kills the main leader while his love (Jeon) looks on. But they spare
the leader's baby girl who Jeon raises in guilt. But she raises her with
a strange and convoluted logic - she tells the girl that her father was killed
by two people and trains her to revenge them some day. Of course, she and
her ex-lover who is now a high ranking official are those two people. There
is also a half-baked romantic angle thrown in for no particular purpose between
Kim and a fellow swordsman (Lee Jun-ho) who looks like he should be in a
boy band - and as it turns out he is (2PM).
The film shuffles along slowly towards
the inevitable face off with flashbacks, vows of vengeance, tears and guilty
suffering that turn it into a weepy melodrama as much as an action film.
There are though a few nicely choreographed wushu scenes that are poetic
and the final fight in the snowfall is well-done and finally hits some pathos
that had been missing through the film.
Rating: 5.5/10
