Painted Fire

While this isn't a masterpiece on the level of his great "Chunhyang," it packs a sophisticated cinematic punch.

Old-fashioned, beautifully crafted biopic of painter Jang Seung-up.

Art history majors may write in with corrections. Meanwhile, I'm declaring that the masterly, big-canvas biographical drama Chi-hwa-seon: Painted Fire is about the Jackson Pollock of 19th-century Korea.

Scene after scene blends masterfully with the work of Ohwon’s paint brush, and the power of images and symbols reveal not only a great artist, but also a pivotal era in Korean history.

The film is art in all its visual splendor, and no matter how confusing the historic story line may be to Westerners -- and it is -- the images on screen more than compensate for the faults.

Mr. Im's own aesthetic command is evident in the movie's wealth of beautiful, perfectly framed images of nature -- shots so full of passion and perception that they could almost be paintings themselves.

In the scope of things, Ohwon's story is a route into the larger story of an uncertain and tumultuous period in Korea, and it's here that Chi-hwa-seon loses its grip.