MEMORIES OF THE SWORD

Ever since she was able to stand on her own two feet, Hong-yi trains as if possessed for a mission of vengeance. Her parents were killed when she was just a baby. She was raised by a blind woman with a gift for the martial arts, who puts all her energy in getting the girl ready to kill the two men who are responsible for making her an orphan. She’ll know she’ll be ready when she’ll be able to leap over the tallest sunflower in the field. In the meantime, we go back to the past to see how her parents came to their end. Her father, Punch-chun led the resistance against a tyrannical lord, together with his two friends Duk-gi en Sul-rang. But his companions were seduced by the promise of wealth and power and betrayed their friend, setting in motion the cycle of vengeance.

A dazzling leap over a sunflower kicks-off this action-epic. This mix between Chinese wuxia martial arts styles and Korean history is top class eye-candy. Director Heung-sik Park (My Mother The Mermaid, Children of Heaven) tells an engaging, colorful tale set in gorgeous sets with fight scenes that can rival those of Zhang Yimou’s spectacles. Go-eun Kim, praised for her part in the acclaimed Coin Locker Girl, is a physically and emotionally convincing heroine, while Korean heartthrob Byung-hun Lee (I Saw The Devil, GI Joe) relishes playing the bad guy. Memories of the Sword is a sweeping story with majestic fights that will guaranty a stiff neck and popping eyeballs.