Im Kwon-taek's narrative approach focuses on detail, regarding both the actual story and the overall visuals, with Jeon Il-seong's cinematography matching the actual paintings of Seung-up in beauty, without neglecting realism

| Jul 26, 2020

This South Korean film is one of the few authentic artist biopics ever created for the screen. It doesn't crudely guess at the source of the late 19th century painter Jang Seung-up's genius. It simply exhibits it.

| Jan 10, 2018

In spite of these few moments of wonder, and even the dense, moving thematic content, the film ultimately doesn't leave a lasting taste.

| May 15, 2007

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2006

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 6, 2005

[A]n elegant, painterly film...

| Aug 8, 2004

The sturdy and goateed Choi Min-sik gives an extraordinary performance as the mercurial Ohwon whose moods fluctuate from sadness to rage, anguish, and depression.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 25, 2004

For all its beauty and artistic ambition, the film remained stubbornly remote and soulless to me.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jan 9, 2004

| Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 6, 2003

This Korean drama is a credible portrait of its main character, the revered 19th-century artist Oh Mon Jang Seung-up, and it looks beautiful enough to be a work of art itself.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 20, 2003

Director Im Kwon-Taek steeps this film with reverence for Korean lore and history.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 20, 2003

It is quietly observant, with a detached eye for the telling moment, and the visual compositions are often exquisite.

Full Review | Jun 20, 2003

The problem is, painting isn't a spectator sport, as the interminable scenes of Jang at work continually confirm.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 6, 2003

[Chihwaseon] rushes through the life of its subject in nimble leaps and bounds, concentrating on the livelier and more spectacular parts and avoiding the dull historical and biographical stretches.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 6, 2003

Another masterpiece from one of the world's more neglected great directors, a master artist who here reveals the soul of another.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 5, 2003

A fascinating, consummately crafted and ultimately moving study of a man who conforms surprisingly closely to western archetypes of the artist as rebel and hedonist.

| Jun 3, 2003

It's one of the best films of an artist's life you'll ever see.

Full Review | May 30, 2003

The movie's attention to anthropological and historical detail means things are slow to come alive. But once they do, the nature of Jang's psychic torture is palpable and unmistakable.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 16, 2003

A vividly entertaining portrait.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 16, 2003

The film's sexy romanticism and its tragic sense of Korean history will thrill even those who have never set foot in an art gallery.

| May 14, 2003