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

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

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

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

Painted Fire is gorgeous. Even a shot of the dirty and miserable Jang flinging himself about in a bare room of wadded-up paintings turns into a thing of beauty.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 2, 2003

A handsome film, filled with lavish costumes and set designs and told in a series of exquisitely composed images.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 14, 2003

There's much to fill the eyes.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 14, 2003

Slow and stilted.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 14, 2003

If you've never seen a South Korean film, or even if you have, Chihwaseon is an ideal place to start or continue.

| Feb 13, 2003

The film succeeds as the rehumanizing of a near mythical figure.

| Feb 11, 2003

Mr. Im's own aesthetic command is evident in the movie's wealth of beautiful, perfectly framed images of nature.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 24, 2002

Im Kwon-Taek recounts the life of a 19th century Korean painter with the workmanlike precision one expects from someone who's directed nearly 100 features in 40 years.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 26, 2002

Im Kwon-Taek has crafted a stirring, poetic portrait of the creative process as personified by Ohwon, an eminent late-19th century Korean painter.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2002