Bichunmoo (2000)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Young-jun Kim

Writer:

Young-jun Kim (writer)

Release Date:

1 July 2000 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

Ai mo, fukushû mo, kono tsurugi ni yadoru [Japan]

Plot:

A sweeping, epic tale of a martial arts warrior who attempts to defy a kingdom to be with his love.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Martial Arts | One Word Title | Based On Comic

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Hyeon-jun Shin	...	Yu Jinha
Hee-seon Kim	...	Sullie
Jin-yeong Jeong	...	Namgung Junkwang
Dong-jik Jang	...	Lai
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yu-jeong Choi	...	Lady Yeojin (as Jin-hie Choi)
Ju-bong Gi	...	Kwakjung
Bang Hyep	...	Namgung Sung
Hak-cheol Kim	...	General Taruga
Ju-yeon Kim
Su-ro Kim	...	Ashin
Han-garl Lee	...	Changryeon
Hyeon-kyeong Ryu
Tae-hwa Seo	...	Saijune

Also Known As:

Flying Warriors (literal English title)
Out Live (International: English title)

Runtime:

Hong Kong:118 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | Australia:MA | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13

Company:

Taewon Entertainment

San-ku-kai goes widescreen

These cheap "flying" Kung-fu flicks were somewhat popular in the 60's and 70's. Goofy, brainless, cheap and cheesy, playing in "selected" theatres (actually X-theatres) along with X-movies. Guilty pleasure for some. I was myself, in my teens, fond of cheap Asian flicks like "The flying guillotine" ("Xuedizi"). Guess what? I grew up.

There have been some attempts at making them acceptable through humor: several Sammo Hung's movies tried successfully this approach (the very funny "Gui da gui" being a good example). John Carpenter's "Big trouble in little China" was an attempt at going "mainstream" with this minor genre, blending it with more western elements. I was not convinced. Nor was the box office...

There were indeed interesting kung-fu movies during the last three decades, personally I was impressed by King Hu's 1969 very visual "Hsia Nu", and delighted with the comical approach of some of Hung's productions (mainly "Prodigal son").

Then we had the "fantasy" line of Kung-fu, heavily wired and acrobatic, promoted mainly by Yuen Wo Ping. Kitsch stuff for kitsch people. Oh well. Wo-Ping gave us the two "Wong Fei-Hung" with Jet Li, that were at least visually outstanding, so I may forgive the rest.

Now since the success of big-budget derivatives like "Crouching tiger.." and "Matrix", a door was open, and we have this invasion of mediocre and totally insipid asian "fantasy/wireworks" kung-fu movies that neither have the comical appeal of some older stuff, neither have the "martial arts" spirit, nor have the visual gloss of stuff like "CTHD" or "Matrix".

With "Bichunmoo", we fall at the "San-ku-kai" level. How stupid can a movie get. Now if this childish, disgusting style goes bigscreen with big budgets, this means that there are people that actually buy this stuff. How appalling. It tells a lot about the state of Culture nowadays. I think I'll kill myself. Oh no, wait, I have to see the upcoming Gilliam's "Brothers Grimm" and Kar Wai Wong's "2046" first. Maybe will I survive after all...