MEMORIES OF SWORD MOVIE MOVIE

A simpler story would have made this more readily accessible, but the payoff regarding adolescent infatuation delivers just the right touch of mystery. Shot with a sense of visual whimsy beyond summersaults and acrobatic fight scenes, the film takes you back to an ancient Korean dynasty with very modern issues. Large swaths of Memories of the Sword, however, are truly engrossing. Limited dialogue true to the genre sometimes seems to get lost in the subtitles. The middle of the film gets bogged down in getting us prepared for the final revelations.

Flashbacks are used to fill in the backstory – as the characters themselves try to figure out who’s who and what’s going on. Questions of identity and secret agendas are at the core of any good melodrama. That she has had a privileged upbringing –burdened with an implacable, unexplained curse to revenge her parents’ death - only makes her more compelling. On an emotional level, we are thrown into any young woman’s turmoil as she tries to make her way in her adolescent world. Memories of the Sword then becomes an exciting, though sometimes awkward, martial arts melodrama – with a resultant toning down of epic fight scenes and a ratcheting up of crying scenes. Sul-rang and Yu-baek still appear to be deeply in love – though enemies with their own unresolved issues. Another one is Yu-baek - who betrayed the other two conspirators and then usurped the throne. Sul-rang is one of three warriors who led a rebellion against an evil king. That, however, is not the name she’s known by now.

Then you meet the woman Hong-Yi calls “mom,” Sul-rang. You don’t know whether to like her of to fear her. He stalks her to share his wisdom with her, or so he says.īut Hong-Yi is rash, sexually available, deeply troubled. Hong Yi opens the film exulting in her martial arts’ power as she summersaults over a sunflower, then goes on a fighting spree that draws the attention of her kingdom’s ruler, Yu-baek.

The first third of the film gives you hope that you’re witnessing another Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or maybe even a Kill Bill Part Two. Amid all this confusion, of course, all she has to hold on to is the power of her sword, and her potential as a killer. But when betrayal costs the life of a master swordsman, a plot for justice and revenge rages for decades between the two survivors. I know I watched it twice, enjoying it more the second time.Īmid all the secrets, sword fights and heart-rending betrayals, you just need something to hold onto – as our teenage heroine, Hong-Yi (possibly not her real name), tries to figure out how she is an orphan, but feels like a kid with two overbearing, demanding parents. When a corrupt Monarchy threatens the Goryeo Dynasty, three warriors lead a revolt to save its people.

MEMORIES OF SWORD MOVIE MOVIE

A spoiler alert might have been in order, but watching this somewhat mysterious movie is more entertaining if you have some sense of where it’s going. Or, at least, that’s what I think what happens in Memories of the Sword. The same preparation would be advisable for the final duel between Hong-yi and Deok-gi, when the film’s fixation on slow-mo gets so obsessive that probably half of the fight consists of shots of the heroine and villain literally frozen in place.A Korean, martial arts princess - raised to revenge her parents’ executions - kills them instead. Still at least you can make out the action in this portion of the film, but you’d do well to prepare to endure the camera literally zooming in and out every five seconds in the third set, which is how events play out when Hong-yi storms Deok-gi’s fortress at the climax. In one moment, the combatants look too guided, in another they’ll bound along like they’re jumping on a trampoline and in another, they’ll just morph into CGI cartoons.

The second set mostly takes place in the latter third, beginning with a training sequence where Hong-yi spars with a sword master while both of them use the power of wire-fu to run up bamboo trees – shucks, if only I could remember where we’ve seen THAT before! Comparisons to “ Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” aside, this is some of the goofiest and most uneven wire-fu that’s been done in a while.

Memories of sword movie