79
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThis astoundingly beautiful Korean production is poignant, original, and engrossing.
- 100Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonA spectacular, engrossing, big-hearted film based on one of Korea's great national epics and made by that country's top filmmaker.
- 90Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasIm Kwon Taek's exquisite Chunhyang brings to the screen one of Korea's most cherished folk tales, a timeless romance in which the lovers are challenged by differences in class.
- 90Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonA three-ring circus of visual pleasure, showing us the beauty of Korean garment, custom and national character.
- 88Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrIt's sweeping yet intimate, stately yet impassioned, stylized yet immediate.
- 88Miami HeraldSara WildbergerMiami HeraldSara WildbergerAs magical as "The Wizard of Oz," the film leaves its spare setting and blooms into action in a colorful springtime world to tell the story of an epic romance lush with silken costumes, giggling courtesans, comic servants and rulers cruel and compassionate.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerNew York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerThe Korean director im Kwon-Taek has made more than 90 films since his first in 1962, and perhaps this explains why his latest, Chunhyang, seems so effortless and masterly. Based on a highly popular eighteenth-century Korean folktale, it's a movie that, stylistically, mixes the traditional with the avant-garde; the narrative may be ritualistic, but there's a let's-try-it-on-for-size friskiness to the filmmaking.
- 80Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAll the backing-and-forthing between olden and modern days intensifies the emotional impact of a compelling story, and underlines the enduring power of narrative itself.
- 70Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonIm's movie approaches a seething, primitivist beauty that evokes Makhmalbaf and parallels the contrapuntal textual investigations of Resnais.
- 70The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottThe extravagance of the sets and costumes increases the theatricality; Chunhyang is an almost childlike delight for the eyes.