[Movie 2015] Memories of The Sword 협녀 : 칼의 기억

[rubie]

Good to read at least one English-language review praising the movie:

 

http://bloodbrothersfilmreviews.blogspot.sg/2015/08/memories-of-sword-2015.html

 

Hopefully there are more reviewers whose opinion of MoTS is along the lines of Blood Brothers.  I would love to read what M X says about the movie - complimentary or not.

@cynkdf thank you for highlighting this, I would have never found it at all. In all honesty, it is so surreal reading this review when the K-universe seems to have such an adverse view about the movie. While the Blood Brothers is an affiliate with Well Go USA (from their site), they do write about something familiar to them, and that that they knew what they're talking about, right? Maybe I'm so immersed in the low box office response and even more negative reviews that I am sounding like a cynical. Still we all have to watch the movie for ourselves before anything else. Hard to visualize what went wrong, all of the sudden.. after a great teaser, imo.

Same here, I'd like to read MisterX full review. His tweet sounded more sarcastic about the response than what he actually thought.. Well, hopefully,

Please inform the thread if and when Mr.X's review is up, ok. Sometimes I just can't keep up with everything. Really appreciate the Blood Brothers' review. All is not lost. 

Photo: yuzungs

 

[cynkdf]

 @rubie the same critic at Blood Brothers gave 2.5/5 to a recent movie (Tsui Hark movie) which I think was also shown by Well Go.  He also gave a high rating to I Saw the Devil - you might wish to read his review   The Naver site for MoTS has an average rating of 6.12 given by journalists (I think?) - I would like to believe that that is a more " accurate" assessment of the film.

 

@rubie I just glanced through quickly some of the reviews done by Matt Reifschneider - he must have watched over two hundred martial arts films, including many Shaw Brothers classics of the 60s and 70s.

[rubie]

@cynkdf I'm glad to hear that about Blood Brothers, they do indeed have an extensive list of martial arts movie reviews. Quite obvious that they're fans of the genre. I'll definitely check out the ISTD review, don't think I've read it. Thanks so much for the info.

Here's a clip from Well Go USA via Twitchfilm feat. JDY's scene

Exclusive Clip: In MEMORIES OF THE SWORD, A Master Fights Back

http://twitchfilm.com/2015/08/exclusive-clip-in-memories-of-the-sword-a-master-fights-back.html

 

[rubie]

Friday's box-office tally for MOTS. Despite going downhill, still hanging on at number 10 of the list. Probably making it through the weekend as there's no new movies till next Thursday. No matter what, 'Memories of the Sword' is still screening. Even just a few, every ticket counts.

Source: KoBiz

[irilight]

So sad it is not well received. It is coming to my country at the end of the month and I plan to go see it.

Well Go USA just published this trailer

 

 

[rubie]

@irilight , that's great to hear! Good or bad, whatever it is, please share with us your thoughts on the movie ok. And pics of the ticket too, if possible. It'll be nice to have that and share it at the thread. 

August 22, 2015

Kim Go-eun Recalls Difficulties in Latest Film

Source: The Chosun Ilbo

Actress Kim Go-eun gave her all in her latest film "Memories of the Sword," which was released last week.

"My body was aching all the time," Kim recalled. "There were so many scenes I had to be in. Nobody was mistreating me or anything, but I cried several times due to the burden of the role I played."

Kim even suffered minor injuries, as the periodical film includes not only a sword but jam-packed martial arts. "I didn't feel the pain of injury when shooting the film, but later on, my body hurt so much and I realized that I really like acting that much."

Having debuted in 2012 with "A Muse," which catapulted her from obscurity to fame with the controversial role of the film which revolves around an affair between a poet in his 70s and a teenage school girl, Kim has expanded her acting scope by starring in a couple of films including "Monster" and "Coin Locker Girl."

"I started acting just because I like acting itself, so I still feel awkward when people recognize me on the street," she said. "I don't expect so much fame, and I just want to keep doing what I like to do and I think I've been on the right track so far."

Kim said the experience has helped her grow. 

"I know there will be tough times ahead but I think this experience will give me strength when facing difficulties," she said.

 

[Guest adikkeluangman]

[Official] 'Memories of the Sword' Stills (Junho) 

[rubie]

August 22, 2015

‘Memories of the Sword’ is a story of revenge and blades

Source The Malay Mail Online

LOS ANGELES, Aug 22 — Korean period drama “Memories of the Sword” is opening in the US after its debut in South Korea on Aug 13.

What is there to expect? Initial reviews say the film is drama-heavy with visually-appealing martial arts sequences that just fall short of being great.

As to the acting, Korean superstars Lee Byung-Hun (last seen in “Terminator: Genisys” )and Jeon Do-Yeon got good plaudits for their performances, as well as Lee Jun-Ho, an actress actor who is also in the pop band 2PM.

Watch the trailer if you’re nostalgic for some good old-fashioned Asian swordfighting. The film promises plenty of swordfighting.— Pic courtesy of Lotte Entertainment

The film promises plenty of swordfighting.— Pic courtesy of Lotte Entertainment

[rubie]

'MEMORIES OF THE SWORD' USA & CANADA MOVIE SCREENING

Source: Well Go USA

Please check out the website for tickets purchase

USA THEATER LOCATION August 28, 2015

NEW JERSEY

Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas
339 River Rd
Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201)943-4257

AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036

LOS ANGELES

CGV Cinema
621 Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90005
(213) 388-9000

Regal Cinemas La Habra 16
1351 W Imperial Hwy
La Habra, CA 90631
(844) 462-7342

Regal University Town Centre 6
4245 Campus Dr
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 854-8818

SAN FRANCISCO / BAY AREA

AMC Cupertino Square 16
10123 N Wolfe Rd
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 252-5960

SEATTLE

Cinemark Century Federal Way
2001 S Commons
Federal Way, WA 98003
(253) 946-0942

AMC Loews Alderwood Mall 16
18733-33rd Ave. West, Alderwood Mall
Lynwood, WA 98037
(425) 921-2980

BOSTON

AMC Loews Boston Common 19
175 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 423-5801

DALLAS

AMC Grapevine Mills
3150 Grapevine Mills Parkway
Grapevine, TX 76051
(972) 539-5909

ATLANTA

AMC Sugarloaf Mills 18
5900 Sugarloaf Pkwy
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
(678) 847-9262

SAN DIEGO

AMC Fashion Valley 18
7037 Friars Road
San Diego, CA 92108
(619) 296-0370

PHOENIX

AMC Arizona Center 24
565 N 3rd St
Phoenix, AZ 85004
(602) 307-5371

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Rave Fairfax Corner 14
11900 Palace Way
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 378-6550

Cinemark Egyptian 24
7000 Arundel Mills Cir
Hanover, MD 21076
(443) 755-8990

HAWAII

Pearlridge West 16
98-1005 Moanalua Road
Aiea, HI 96701
(808) 483-5339

CHICAGO

AMC Showplace Niles 12
301 Golf mill Center
Niles, IL 60714
(847) 544-7380

NEW YORK CITY

AMC Loews Bay Terrace 6
The Bay Terrace, 211-01 26th Ave
Bayside, NY 11360
(718) 631-0382

CANADA THEATER LOCATION August 28, 2015

TORONTO

Cineplex Cinemas Yonge Dundas
10 Dundas Street East #402
Toronto, ON M5B 2G9, Canada
(416) 977-9262

Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk
5095 Yonge St
Toronto, ON M2N 6Z4, Canada

VANCOUVER

Cineplex SilverCity Coquitlam
170 Schoolhouse Street
Coquitlam, BC V3K 4X9, Canada
(604) 523-2911

[rubie]

My mistake (for assuming it'll stay at #10), ;Memories of the Sword' has fallen off the Top 10 chart at the Korean box-office since yesterday. At number 11 on Saturday and Sunday, the tally stands at 415,010 audience admission.

 

Not sure what they're talking about, though obviously discussing MOTS with comparison(?) with Chinese martial arts movies and even Lord of The Rings (?)

Published on August 22, 2015 by 하이라이트

150822 SBS Movie Word feat. Memories of The Sword

 

 

[cynkdf]

Can't remember if this has been posted, will delete if necessary - positive review of MoTS:

 

http://filmcombatsyndicate.blogspot.sg/2015/08/screener-review-memories-of-sword-2015.html

 

Wonder if the movie is generally more favourably thought of by people who are fans of martial arts movies? A positive tweet by Simon Abrams, a freelance film critic whose work has been featured in The Village Voice, Esquire  and rogerebert.com:

 

 

Looking forward to reading Mr Abrams' review, to see what he thinks works (and also what doesn't).

[rubie]

Thanks so much @cynkdf for another positive review on MOTS, we are certainly spoiled by your wonderful sharing. We've not had the review by Film Combat Syndicate although it was dated/published August 15. All the review we had since the release (about 5) had all been on the negative side & borderline trashing perspective. It's great that Blood Brothers, Film Combat Syndicate and Simon Abrams came to appreciate the movie. I guess this is one movie that people will either love or hate it, a lot.  The high-wire flying type of martial arts is not synonymous with Koreans, imo.. and with a great cast, they could be expecting something different. How different, who knows what everyone really wants.. Apart from that the emphasis on comparison with other movies may be too much for some, and not being able to see 'Memories of The Sword' for what it really is. Not without flaws but certainly something quite entertaining  as any other period pieces,

Looking forward to Simon Abrams' review as well. His tweet is like a light at the end of the very dark tunnel.

Photo credit: yoyolee07

 

 

 

[rubie]

Strange things can happen..  'Memories of The Sword' was down at number 11 on August 22-23 (Sat & Sun) but today -- Monday, Aug 24, it's back in the Top Ten at # 10.  

Wae.. in a good way. 

Source: KoBiz

[rubie]

‪#‎MemoriesOfTheSword‬ ‪#‎협녀‬ ‪#‎LeeByungHun‬

 

Photo credit: yoyolee07

 

 

[Guest adikkeluangman]

Can I know the gross total in the above chart in USD or Won? I think maybe people went to watch the popular movie when it released and then wait until paycheck time to watch next week later.  I guess from this we can say by Korean standard movie with popular/talented actors if the admission fall between 300,000-500,000 on first week is kinda flop. Maybe this movie will be like An Ode to My Father. It such below the radar at first and pick up few weeks later.

But to compared Korean cinemas with my own local cinemas it such a far cry. Even the so-called flop movie of this still beat my country best admission movie on the same week release.

[rubie]

August 25, 2015

Stranger than yesterday,.. 'Memories of The Sword' going up to number 9 from #10 at the Korean box-office today.

And a little bit more audience watching, too. All good.

Source: KoBiz

[rubie]

Can I know the gross total in the above chart in USD or Won? I think maybe people went to watch the popular movie when it released and then wait until paycheck time to watch next week later.  I guess from this we can say by Korean standard movie with popular/talented actors if the admission fall between 300,000-500,000 on first week is kinda flop. Maybe this movie will be like An Ode to My Father. It such below the radar at first and pick up few weeks later.

But to compared Korean cinemas with my own local cinemas it such a far cry. Even the so-called flop movie of this still beat my country best admission movie on the same week release.

Can't be totally certain but I think it would be the amount in USD because of the $ (dollar) symbol. Or else they would indicate that it's in Won or KRW and using ₩ instead. It feels to me it's in USD because the top movies would be making billions of won and it's hard to indicate billions in the English chart.

I've checked online the ticket price in Korea is basically 8,000 won on normal days, a bit more on weekends/holidays/3D cinemas. I used Veteran's total admission to find out the total in won (74,400,000,000 = 74 billion?) and used the currency converter to check and it gives the number as 62 million USD. Looks about right?

But anyone who knows better, please feel free to clarify.

[rubie]

August 26, 2015

'Memories of The Sword' down to number 10 but still in the Top Ten at the Korean Box Office.

Just hang in there, ok! 

Source: KoBiz

[rubie]

August 26, 2015

The Hong-yi Games

The acting is better than the swordplay in Memories of the Sword.

by Kristian Lin Fort Worth Weekly

Memories of the Sword Starring Kim Go-eun, Lee Byung-hun, and Jeon Do-yeon. Directed by Park Heung-sik. Written by Park Heung-sik and Choi Ah-reum. Not rated.

The same week that The Diary of a Teenage Girl expands to Tarrant County (see above review), another teen movie hits our theaters. It’s called Memories of the Sword, and even though it’s somewhat derivative, this attractive and well-acted South Korean film is the sort of the martial-arts adventure that fans of the genre (or moviegoers freaked out by the idea that teenage girls have sex) might be more comfortable with.

The highly convoluted plot is set roughly 1,000 years ago, where Hong-yi (Kim Go-eun) is as carefree as any girl can be who’s training to kill two specific people. She’s crushed when Sul-rang (Jeon Do-yeon), the blind woman who has raised her, reveals that she herself is one of her targets. Years ago, Sul-rang and her lover Duk-gi (Lee Byung-hun) led a popular uprising, only to betray their cause and murder Hong-yi’s real parents. Now the girl has to avenge them by killing the woman she thinks of as her mother, plus a man who’s an immensely skilled fighter and the head of the country’s military.

You can easily see the influences at work with director/co-writer Park Heung-sik. The swordfighters flying through the air recall Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, individual fight sequences are heavily influenced by scenes from the Kill Bill movies, and the historical pageantry and sumptuous costumes are reminiscent of Zhang Yimou’s Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The only time Park achieves the fluidity of those films is during the climactic sequence when Hong-yi stages a singlehanded assault on a heavily guarded castle. That almost compensates for the howler of a plot development when one character, having been run through with a sword, is cured by … acupuncture! Wow, those medieval Korean acupuncturists must have been really good.

Fortunately, this film has some of the best actors South Korea has to offer. Lee has shown off his fighting skills in Hollywood movies like Red 2 and Terminator Genisys. Here, he also gets to project streaks of sadism and thwarted love in his villain, and he’s particularly menacing in a scene when this traitor turns on his new boss and shows his true colors to an impotently spluttering king (Kim Tae-woo). Conversely, Jeon is better known as a dramatic actress — if you haven’t seen her soul-cleaving performance in Secret Sunshine, you need to — but she looks quite credible whether she’s handling a sword or playing the guilt-ridden teacher bringing retribution down on herself. Lee Kyeong-yeong contributes some badly needed comic relief as an old swordmaster who tutors our heroine to fulfill her mission. A lead actress needs a powerful presence to hold up in this company, and the relative newcomer Kim Go-eun is more than equal to the task, whether she’s slicing her way through the royal guard or getting drunk at a bar after discovering her family secret. These actors keep Memories of the Sword watchable and give us faith that we’ll see them in better projects.

[rubie]

Nope.. no good news today 

Alas, after 2 weeks, it's been really hard to salvage anything of short-lived hope

MOTS down to number 17 with only 24 screens left, and just 426K total admission.

 

Nonetheless, fans in the US watching the movie tomorrow (Friday, 28th), please enjoy & share your thoughts and tickets with us here.  

 

August 26, 2015

Movie review: ‘Memories of the Sword’

BY CARY DARLING Star-Telegram

☆☆☆

The plot in the South Korean martial-arts period-piece Memories of the Sword may verge on the incomprehensible but, boy, is it gorgeous.

Director Heung-Sik Park’s take on a classic Chinese wuxia tale — a medieval-set meshing of war, love and wire-work choreography where characters can become airborne as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — bears all the classic elements of honor, betrayal and revenge.

While Park doesn’t do much new with these elements and the clanging action scenes aren’t particularly revolutionary, the film gets by on its ravishing good looks.

Go-eun Kim is Hong-yi (who later goes by Seol-hee), a girl who decides to use her considerable skills with the sword to avenge the death of her father. He was part of a peasant uprising while she was an infant but he and her mother were betrayed by his cohort Yoo-beak (Byung-Hun Lee). Yoo-beak is now the big guy in the kingdom.

It gets more complicated from there, and many viewers may just give up trying to follow what is going on. That’s just as well. Memories of the Sword is more a parade of striking images than a coherent story.

In Korean with English subtitles

Exclusive: AMC Grapevine Mills