영화 - 황진이

The left poster, meant for the local market, describes Hwang Jin Yi as "16세기에 살았던 21세기의 여인" or "A 21st century woman who lived in the 16th century". The right poster, meant for the international market, describes her as "Queen at her heart, Humble in her spirit". I thought the left poster's tagline summarises the movie better.

The Korean movie "Hwang Jin Yi" (황진이-黃眞伊) was released in Korea on the 6th of this month. This movie, which cost US$10 million and 4 years to produce, is starred by Song Hye Kyo (송혜교-宋慧橋) and Yu Ji-tae (유지태-劉智泰) . Given the popularity of Song Hye Kyo in Singapore, the likelihood of this movie being shown in Singapore is quite high but it will probably take another 3 months or more for the movie to reach our shore.

Hwang Jin Yi is a famous courtesan of the 16th century Joseon Dynasty. The movie is about her transformation from a noble to a servant at a time when social class determines almost everything. In the movie, Hwang Jin Yi's love interest is Nom Yi, the only man whom she holds in her heart throughout her life. Nom Yi is a servant by birth while Hwang Jin Yi is born a noble. Their love does not seem to be blessed from the start. This is probably a forewarning of a sad ending.

The original sound track of Hwang Jin Yi, "If you were me" (그대가 나라면-如果你是我), is sung by "Due", a duo which is new to the Korean music scene. The mixture of contemporary and musical singing style in the song is well executed and refreshing. The infusion of Tenor vocal gives the song a majestic feel. I think it will do equally well as a theme song for the Olympic Games or the World Cup. There is an Italian version of the song which is called "Se Tu Fossi Io" I guess it also means "If you were me" since "Se", "Tu" and "Io" means "If", "You" and "I" respectively in Italian . Happy listening.