Siblings Ja-in (Moon Chae-won) and Nam-yi (Park Hae-il) sharpen their skills in Kim Han-min’s spectacular historical epic, WAR OF THE ARROWS
WAR OF THE ARROWS (CHOEJONGBYEONGGI HWAL) (Kim Han-min, 2011)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Friday, July 26, $12, 7:00
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.wellgousa.com
Kim Han-min’s War of the Arrows is a spectacular historical epic, a tense, gripping adventure that, at its heart, is about family, loyalty, and responsibility. After the Qing Dynasty declare their warrior father (Yoon Dong-hwan) a traitor and execute him, Nam-yi (Lee David) and his sister, Ja-in (Jeon Min-seo), barely escape to the compound of master Kim Mu-seon (Lee Geung-young). While Ja-in matures into a strong-minded young woman (Moon Chae-won), Nam-yi (Park Hae-il) becomes a wastrel, drinking to excess and not caring about anything other than protecting his sister. When Mu-seon’s son, Kim Seo-goon (Kim Mu-yeol), asks Nam-yi for Ja-in’s hand in marriage, he refuses, but the two are in love and decide to get married without his blessing. However, the ceremony is interrupted by a band of Mongol marauders, who take Ja-in and deliver her to Prince Dorgon (Park Ki-woong). In response, Nam-yi dedicates himself to getting his sister back, sharpening his already remarkable skills as an archer as he is hunted by a group of Manchu killers led by the cool, calculating Jyuushinta (Ryu Seung-ryong). Writer-director Kim (Handphone, Paradise Murdered) melds John Ford’s The Searchers with Zhang Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers in War of the Arrows, splendidly balancing the bloody battle between the Joseons and the Manchu and the tender love story of Ja-in and Seo-goon. But at the center of it all is Nam-yi’s struggle for redemption in a world that has let him down too many times. Beautifully shot by Kim Tae-sung and Park Jong-chul, War of the Arrows is a modern-day classic, an endlessly thrilling examination of a critical period of Korean history as seen through the eyes of a man brought back to life by a deeply entrenched sense of honor and courage. War of the Arrows is screening July 26 at 7:00 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image’s monthly Fist & Sword series, which continues August 10 with Wong Kar-wai’s latest, The Grandmaster, with the award-winning director on hand to talk about the film.