my grade
-/5

average
3.73/5

Sopyonje

main information

english title Sopyonje
original title 서편제
aka 西便制
french titleLa Chanteuse de Pansori
year1993
countryKorea


cast & crew

director IM Kwon-taek - 임권택
actor KIM Kyu-chul - 김규철
KIM Myun-Gon - 김명곤
KIM Ki-Cheon - 김기천
CHOI Jong-Won - 최종원
KO Dong Eop - 고동업
LEE In-Ok - 이인옥
OH Jeong-Hae - 오정해
scriptwriter KIM Myun-Gon - 김명곤
editor PARK Gok-Ji - 박곡지
PARK Sun-Deok - 박순덕
cinematographer JEONG Il-Seong - 정일성
assistant director KIM Hong-jun - 김홍준


additional Info

duration1H52


synopsis

The specifically Korean tradition that is reclaimed in Sopyonje is the type of folk-song known as pansori, described as a musical sublimation of South-West Korea's collective grief and suffering - in other words, a kind of blues. The film's three central characters are itinerant pansori singers in the 1950s, a time when many aspects of Korean culture came under siege from Japanese and western influences. The story unfolds through flashbacks. A man named Dong-ho is roaming the rural hinterlands, ostensibly to find rare herbal medicines for his sick son back in Seoul, but actually in search of Song-hwa, the woman he grew up with. Orphans, they were both apprenticed to the pansori master Yu-bong (played by the film's writer, Kim Myung-gon) who pressured them to sacrifice everything for the art. Dong-ho rebelled and ran away, to become the man he is now. Song-hwa stayed, lost her sight, and outlived Yu-bong. Rumor has it that she is still travelling and still singing pansori... The tale has one truly shocking twist, but the overall one is plaintive, elegiac and serenely beautiful.

buy it
info
actions
plus
  • links
  • serial/remake
  • box office
  • awards
  • pics
  • trailer
  • audio extract