Painted Fire

Choi Min-sik as painter Jang Seung-eop in Painted Fire

Im Kwon-Taek's Painted Fire, from 2002, is a superb biopic of 19th century Korean painter Jang Seung-eop. The lowborn Jang rose to the status of court painter amidst the tumult of his era. Portrayed here as a rebellious aesthete and hellion, the role of Jang provides a nice opportunity for Choi Min-Sik, best known as the protagonist of Park Chan Wook's Oldboy, to show off his acting range. This he does in a titanic performance going from muted sensitivity to truculent fury. 

The film suffers from the decision to use Mr. Choi to portray the painter as a young man. A parade of bad wigs does not help. However, as Jang grows older, the picture gains its stride. Choi has a field day portraying Jang's dalliances with prostitutes, testy relationships with patrons, and drunken benders. The film is a riot of color and sensuality whether portraying flesh, flowers, fauna or food. Mr. Im's main theme here, as in his masterpiece Chunhyang, is the forging of Korean national identity despite its being buffeted  by two more dominant cultures in Japan and China. Painted Fire is a rung below Chunhyang, but only just.