Storytelling Giant

Even as Im's film makes its way across the U.S., one critic after another is busy bemoaning this period as the Worst-Ever in the History of Movies. And it's true enough--provided your definition of "movies" extends all the way to Hollywood studio movies, which have never been worse. But in Asia and the Middle East, rapturous new film cultures are being born. And they're not all composed of smarty-pants enfants terribles, either: Im Kwon-taek is a man who has just made his "breakthrough movie" at the age of 64. As I sat watching Chunhyang with a rapt, breathless audience composed largely of middle-aged and elderly Korean-Americans, I experienced that feeling of collective elation that one encounters only a handful of times throughout a lifetime of watching movies. Whether or not Chunhyang gets listed in Variety as an "Art-house Hit," its particular gift is nearly one of a kind. And for me, it constitutes more than enough spiritual sustenance to get over the fact of Freddy Got Fingered.