King Tangun
[…] An accomplished artist, Lee has shown her painting work in three solo shows, in addition to over fifty group shows throughout the world. In her graduate thesis film at USC, King Tangun, Lee tells a story from Korean mythology about the first king in Korea. Using cutouts and drawings, she depicts a bear and a tiger who pray to Holy Hwanung to be turned into human beings. Only the bear persists in fulfilling the requirements to stay in a cave for a hundred days, eating garlic; she is turned into a woman who later gives birth to the child who would become Korea's first king.
The film's dialogue (in English) is limited to voiceover and it is not the strongest element of the film; by far the majority of the work is accompanied only by music, which is a good decision. The film is slow-paced and employs a limited animation technique, but these work well with the subject matter. The bear and tiger characters are stylized in such as way that they are endearing and it is a pleasure to watch them. Like Airship, the movement in the film is artfully restrained. Also like Airship, this film imparts feeling even more than content; anyone unfamiliar with the Korean myth might have trouble understanding exactly what is going on. Nonetheless, the film is captivating, and I watched its gentle characters with pleasure. Clearly, others have as well. King Tangun has done well in festivals, earning a Special Prize for Children in Dong-A.LG International Festival of Animation, in Korea, and being selected for screenings in The World Animation Celebration (USA), the Ashland Film Festival (USA), the Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children (Canada), the 42nd International Film Festival for Children and Youth (Czech Republic), and others.
www.awn.com
|
