| Language: Korean Director: Yun-su Jeon Running time: 108 min Release year: 2008 |
| Cast: Gyu-ri Kim, Kim Yeong-Ho, Nam-gil Kim, Chu Ja-Hyeon, Han Myeong-Ku, Kwon Byeong-Kil, Yeo Ho-Min, Park Ji-Il |
Movie Review:
“Portrait of a Beauty” (Korean title “Miindo”) is based on a controversial 2007 novel titled “Baramui Hwawon” by Jung-myeong Kee. The novel gives a fictional account of 18th century folk painter Yoon-bok Shin, better known under his pen name “Hyewon.” Hyewon’s paintings are noted for its eroticism and its realistic depiction of everyday life. The novel then asks the purely hypothetical question … “what if Yoon-bok Shin was a girl and disguised himself as a man?” Although there isn’t any historical evidence to back this assumption, the novel sold enough to quickly inspire the 2008 SBS drama “The Painter of Wind, ” starring Korea’s little sister - Geun-yeong Mun. With that, film-makers decided to bring the novel “Baramui Hwawon” to the big screen as “Portrait of a Beauty.”
As a child, Yun-jeong Shin (Min-sun Kim) often painted for her older brother. Their father fiercely pushed her brother to pursue painting, but because of his lack of talent relied on his sister’s paintings. When the pressure became too much her brother committed suicide. Her father, upon discovering that Yun-jeong painted for her brother, then pushes Yun-jeong to take her brother’s identity (girls at the time were not allowed to paint) and enter the world of court painting. |
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Now as an adult, Yun-jeong, who uses her brother’s name Yun-bok, becomes accepted in the King’s court as a painter and works under the tutelage of Hong-do Kim (Yeong-ho Kim). It doesn’t take long for Hong-do Kim to notice Yun-bok’s immense talents, as well as his feminine features. Yun-bok then meets Kang-mu (Nam-gil Kim), a carefree glass seller whom she falls in love with. When Hong-do takes notice of their relationship, he becomes engulfed by jealousy and is willing to do anything to end their relationship.
“Portrait of a Beauty” has that unusual premise (a woman takes the identity of a man to become a famous painter), copious amounts of nudity & sex, and tragic melodrama of the Shakespearean kind. Sounds good you say? On paper it does, but the finished product is rather lackluster.
First warning sign would lie with Yun-se Jeon - the movie’s film director. Yun-se Jeon’s prior film “Le Grand Chef” had moments of fun, but was ruined by poorly done flashbacks of Joseon era South Korea. Well, “Portrait of a Beauty” is entirely set in Joseon era South Korea so that’s not a comforting sign. The next sign of possible trouble would lie with casting Min-sun Kim in the starring role of Yun-bok Shin. Although she has taken steps to play more diverse characters (reference “Rainbow Eyes” where she convincingly plays a tough as nails cop), you’re not going to confuse her with Do-yeon Jeon anytime soon. What stacks the table further against her, is her own beauty and the director’s odd decision to not disguise her more when playing a man. In the first half of the film, when Yun-bok’s identity still needed to be kept under wraps, you wouldn’t believe for a second that anybody would think she is man. This killed any sense of realism the movie might have had.
Beyond Min-sun Kim’s unconvincing portrayal of Yun-bok Shin, her co-stars were just as bad. Yeong-ho Kim, who received a lot of praise for his recent work in Sang-soo Hong’s “Night and Day,” portrayed the rugged scholar aspects of Hong-do Kim well, but when it was time to display emotions he totally blew it. Nam-gil Kim, who played the glass seller, wasn’t as bad, but he doesn’t do anything to distinguish himself either.
The film does have a surprising amount of nudity and sex scenes for a commercial Korean film. The first scene involving two models as they mimic Kama Sutra positions for painters, doesn’t carry a lot of heat but I did learn a thing or two about sexual positions. The second sex scene has Min-sun Kim going all “Wei-Tang” for the cameras.
Although I didn’t have high expectations going into “Portrait of a Beauty” the movie never engages in any meaningful way. Performances are weak throughout the film which is probably the biggest factor for this sense of detachment. The decision to not have Min-sun Kim look more like a man in the early portions of the film also dampens any enthusiasm for the film that may arise. A decent love triangle (or is it quadrangle?) story starts to emerge in the second half of the film, but (again) poor acting dampens everything. Most likely “Portrait of a Beauty” will only be remembered for its steamy sex scenes and its preposterous premise. The movie itself? Blehhhh…….. |
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