Hyeongsa

I just saw this at the Toronto Film Festival. I really looked forward to it, after watching the trailer. The cinematography was no doubt a visual feast, beautiful composition and choreography, a lot of the time it resembles a comic book, the mysterious "sad eyes" and the exaggerated Namsoon, but the entire film just feels like a big loop of artistic sequence, a bit of story, artistic sequence, etc etc. After a while, it seems that a lot of it are just there for eye candy, didn't really do much in terms of contributing to the story, eventually it just became tiresome and repetitive. I can't say it was bad at all, but just the cinematography wasn't engaging enough, it was a sharp contrast of gorgeous visuals and an insipid story.

This movie is disguised as historical action,romance and detective film. It has every element of any Asian action genre film.

Underneath it, this movie is very self-conscious and experimental film. Of course, there is a compromise between mainstream movie and director's personal movie. That is "having narrative" in this movie.

Director expresses his visual vision which is loosely based on detective story.However if you try to follow story in this movie,you will be utterly disappointed.

This is almost another form of alienation effect. There is narrative but narrative can not handle its grandized style. It is not style for narrative but narrative for style. Director almost challenges you what movie is and means to you. In this grossly capitalized movie making world, can movie be presented as an art form or a painting. is it even possibility of discussion?

If you like this kind of geeky challenge(almost Brecht like) or exploration, this is movie for you. If not, I say still give a shot and focus on style and rhythm and visualization and do not waste to spend too much time to follow the "story". If you are interested in this director, you can google it and will be able to find interviews. I think this movie Lee expressed more his personal vision and visual challenge than previous one and he is definitely pushing it.

Movie is based on comic book characters and stories written by Bang Hak-gi.Korean soap opera "Damo (female detective)" also is based on this comic book story.

Female leading lady(Ha ji won) played similar role in drama "Damo". Damo was great hit series drama in Korea.

This movie did not do well in korean box office but there is a cult following for this movie. When you try to buy DVD, make sure that it is quality you want because director did several digital enhancement on this movie after release.That is what I heard anyway and you do not want to miss gorgeous visual in this movie.

I saw this film at the opening night of the Hawaii International Film Festival, as an unannounced special screening. Outrageously colorful and stylized, it's a tale of a girl trained as a sword-fighter who works as a cop, and a mysterious masked swordsman who may or may not be in league with a gang who is flooding the country with counterfeit money. The plot is confusing enough, but it really doesn't matter: it's just an excuse for some amazing set- pieces involving crowds of sword-fighters, fighters chasing through markets and dye factories, barroom brawls, and over the top humor. And swordplay as foreplay. Not likely to get a US release, but a lot of fun. Modern Korean cinema, in my opinion, is leading the world in terms of set and scenic design, and innovative cinematography. Catch this film to see what I mean.

I walked into this movie knowing almost nothing about it except for a very basic synopsis that is nothing special and the knowledge that people either love it or hate it. I walked out of it, totally in love.

Duelist is a prime example of art film that doesn't try hard at pushing an elaborate story into its viewer. There is very little dialogue, barely enough to let us know what's going on, and most of the story is told via movements, lightings and music. Honestly I was kinda puzzled during the first half, not knowing where it was going, but the curiosity and Gang Dong-won being a feast to the eye made me stay. And I didn't regret any minute of it. The two leads have ridiculous chemistry and they totally compliment each other. My only issue with the processing is the excessive use of slow motion that time seems to flow differently in Duelist, but it also makes everything so pretty I'm not complaining.

Featuring one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard, being that the music is an essential part in leading the viewers, Duelist tells a love story through sword fights that look so passionate and intimate it's almost dancing. A brilliant visual feast, like a poem, it's peculiar and sometimes over-the-top theatrical, so it might not be everyone's cup of tea. I personally absolutely love it and have been raving about it to anyone who would listen. Try it yourself to find out which side you are on.

I don't know how many of the reviewers of this movie realize just how difficult some of the visual effects the director managed to pull off really are. I'm currently an art student and I've helped in the filming of more than a few movies in my life and I've seen more movies than most people have even heard of and yet this movie has stood near the top of the list of my favorite films since I saw it. Now maybe I'm biased because this movie has more emotion depicted in one scene of swordplay than movies like the Notebook. If you missed it the first time through you were obviously reading a book by its cover because its story is told through expressions and movements of the characters not through the traditional blunt, in your face talking which can sometimes neglect the need for visuals in a movie. Half the movies that have come out in the past five years wouldn't be worth a damn except for their dialog. They would be better as books on tape. This movie is all about the visuals and how they blend with an amazing score. Very few directors can pull off emotions through pure visual splendor and music. How this has a barely above a five rating is disgusting. I recommend this movie to anyone. They say the plot is thin but if your just basing that off the dialog you've missed three quarters of the story. Watch the actors body language and how the music builds upon it.