Painted Fire,also known as Strokes of Fire or Drunk on Women and Poetry, is a South Korean drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek.It stars Choi Min- sik,Ahn Sung-ki,Yu Ho-jeong,Kim Yeo- jin, and Son Ye-jin.It tells a story of Jang Seung-up, a nineteenth- century Korean painter who changed the direction of Korean art.Painted Fire has its story set during the 1850s. Kim Byung-moon saves young Seung-up from being beaten by a group of drifters. Seung-up draws him a picture to explain the reason of being beaten. Kim looks carefully at Seung-up's rough yet extraordinary talent and years later, Kim encourages Seung-up to pursue the life of a true artist and gives him a pen name, Oh-won. Seung-up meets Mae-hyang, a daughter of a declined Yangban or nobility who attracts him deeply. But, they part when she runs away from persecution of the catholic. Seung-up leaves and wanders about in pursuit of the truth of art. Nobody can hold on to him. Only through pleasure can he eagerly stroke his paintbrush. He confirms the power of his brush stroke through his painting of a monkey with a liquor bottle in hand while mocking the world. As fame builds up, he yearns to change and stretch beyond his limits. Then one day, he experiences all his body's energy flowing into the paintbrush. Seung-up, in a misshaped bowl, discovers the state he has strive to attain and turns his back to the world and fades away.Painted Fire is one excellent and outstanding movie.It had brilliant performances from its cast especially Choi Min-sik.The story was absorbing from beginning to end. The direction was phenomenal as we get into the persona of Jang Seung-up,his story and his art.In summary,it is one great Asian cinema experience.

inspite of many movies dealing with great artists or a genius, chihaweseon pointed out the real dilemma in which an artist is capted...the decision whether to ease the demands of the popularity or to create something new and to define ones' own style.Chiahweson's desperate seek for inspiration and broadening his conscious led him to live the way he did, restless, outrageous, and yes very drunk! But still he defended and retained the most important ethical rules for an artist: respect to his Master, respect to the nature and the gradual seek for improvement and to perfection.

Not sure why the other comment on this film was so negative, but I loved this movie. I am a student of Asian art with a particular love of Korean art, culture and history. I thought this movie borough a very controversial and interesting character to life. Jang Seung-up is one of the (maybe the most) famous Korean artist and continues to be revered as a master. Given the tumult of the time in which he painted and his own conflicted nature, it is amazing that he produced so much work, in so many styles and with such skill. This movie honors his talent while taking a direct look at his erratic and somewhat self-destructive personality. The cinematography in MY opinion was beautiful, many of the outdoor panoramic shots looked like Korean landscape paintings (which I found a lovely conceit rather than "overly arty") and I think that Choi Min-sik portrayed Jang Seun-up with a necessary intensity and unpredictability. I would highly recommend this film to art lovers and movie lovers alike.

A portrait on the very fine Korean painter Ohwon that shows him in struggle, but always redeemed by his reputation, with the leaders. He is bold and does not want anything to come between him and his vision and so he says nay to the king and aristocrats if they want him to copy his previous successes. Him being a moody drunkard doesn't help him much with personal matters either. But he gets along fine.There some really strong poetry in these images, not only are the pictures very focused on the process of creating the paintings and the paintings themselves, we also see the nature and the beauty that inspires him, namely the Chinese and Korean masters, his teacher, the gisengs and their love and alcohol.People around him don't get much focus, the movie is about him and his art, but what we see of them they are independently thinking not backdrops for Ohwon. Choi Min-shik is good in acting out the temperamental artist and the supporting actors are good also. Ahn Sung-ki fits his role perfectly.The love scenes here were very, very hot and one image out in the reeds will stick to my irises for a while.This is the kind of movie that should represent Korea abroad, not the likes of 'Taegukgi'. Korean culture is shown in a wide variety of facets here. I would like to see more of this kind of movie, first maybe one about haiku poet Matsumoto Basho?