Forbidden Quest (DVD) (Korea Version) DVD Region 3

Kim Yoon Suh (Han Suk Kyu) is an inspection officer and scholar of the royal court. Generally regarded as a coward who won't even stick up for his own family, he has a difficult time dealing with more personal matters. As a writer he's highly respected, but when he happens upon an "indecent" book penned by the famous In Bong, of whom he hasn't heard before, he becomes intrigued by its erotic content and begins to worry if his current work lacks the same kind of excitement and dream-like qualities. Spurred on by his friend Hwang - who works in transcribing - Yoon Suh goes under the pseudonym of Chu Wol Sek and sets out to write his first erotic masterpiece. It's easier said than done though as Yoon Suh soon finds himself uncomfortable and somewhat embarrassed to be attempting such a feat. All that soon changes when he's invited to see the king's favourite concubine Jung Bin (Kim Min Jung), during which time a brief encounter draws them within a breath of each other, thus suddenly endowing him with the inspiration he needs to get underway. Sure enough his book is published and it's a success: a rousing tale of a man and his tawdry affair with a noble woman. But despite its success it's only the second best-selling book on the shelves. If he's to better In Bong then he's going to have to get inventive

It soon dawns on Yoon Suh that the best way to approach his second chapter is by inserting pictures. But not just any old pictures. These are to depict people in their throws of passion in all its detail, as he continues to invent different positions for the mind to wonder about. It just so happens that he has the perfect gentleman in mind for the job - Justice Administrator (a.k.a. "The Angel of Death") Lee Gwang Hun (Lee Bum Soo), having seen his marvelous paintings, which are merely done for hobby purposes. After some convincing Gwang Hun agrees to help Yoon Suh, along with the aid of two master forgers who Yoon Suh has taken under his wing. Together they produce a bestseller, inspired by Yoon Suh's burgeoning real life affair with Jung Bin. So popular is the book, in fact, it falls into the possession of the Jung Bin who quickly sees what is going on and heads out to take immediate action. Yoon Suh and Gwang Hun are soon caught up in a situation whereby trust and loyalty quickly lose their meaning and those who don't think before acting place themselves in grave danger.

First time director Kim Dae Woo has a pretty good track record when it comes to his screenplays for feature films such as An Affair, The Foul King and Untold Scandal. With Forbidden Quest he naturally works from his own script, and an epic one at that. Forbidden Quest runs for an almost whopping two and a half hours, and during that time it presents us with laughter and drama in equal measure; it even provides an exceedingly dark tone during its latter stages. However, Kim is ever so comfortable in his craft; the director's dialogue and handling of several themes are considerably sharp and nothing short of compelling. Keep in mind that most of this film deals with the eloquence of writing dirty love stories and you have to wonder how much good can come from it. But it goes beyond that because the director truly gets into the mechanics behind this method of storytelling with a fun and passionate verve. It's strangely amusing to see the principal male figures simulate sexual positions in order to get a feel for their work, because we know that they have no one else to turn to. Homoerotic subtext is certainly debatable, though I'm inclined to not even bother, as this is purely a deliberate, comical device. Furthermore it's the communication between Yoon Suh and his curious fellows that contributes greatly toward raising smiles all round, particularly Kim's slow transformation of Yoon Suh's character from cowardly aristocrat to an honest enough fellow.

Forbidden Quest's solid structure is what ends up complimenting the feature the most, as it succeeds in handling a tone that dramatically shifts act by act. In order for this kind of thing to work, there has to be a logical sense of progression. There cannot be a closing without these characters having to pay for their actions in some way or another. Because we're dealing with betrayal and royal families, it is therefore only natural to see someone atone for their sins. Kim confidently addresses social taboos and repression without the need to pretentiously milk his commentary. The way in which he shows a country on the brink of change is admirable, and he enforces this especially in the closing stages, by bringing things around to a point where everything must start all over again. The contrasting differences between social change run their steady course throughout. His controlled direction means that no specific genre elements contained within outdoes the other: Yes it's comical, yes it's dramatic and yes it can be down right nasty, but none of those aspects dominate to the point that we feel let down by the overall product. This is something that can be widely argued against a large number of films coming out of South Korea that have dared to bridge multiple genres. His film is surprisingly subtle and tasteful, never resorting to cheap gags or offensive situations like it could have so easily done, but instead remains rather discreet and mild mannered. We know that sex sells, but here Kim proves that we don't have to physically see breasts and bums for it to be erotic and tantalizing. Instead, this aspect actually aids the storytelling, demonstrating an understanding of how sex works within the world by closely examining some papery pastimes. Where women could so easily become objectified or otherwise in a film such as this, the director wisely turns it against the men, with the exploiters becoming the exploited to some degree. And so, despite being a long film, Kim neatly breaks it down into sections that are easily stomached and remain respectful to both gender and subject matter.

Kim Dae Woo has also managed to create a sumptuous looking film with the help of cinematographer Kim Ji Yong and art director Cho Keun Hyun (A Tale of Two Sisters). Its wide scope captures a beautiful moment in history, while Kim's compositions are magnificent, magically highlighting characters and surroundings with splendid use of colors and detail, as well as creating a lively environment filled with plenty of nuance. Kim also uses visual trickery to enhance several scenes, some of which entails CG work as a means to provide laughs. The whole fantasy element of the film is charmingly played, becoming awfully reminiscent of the kind of narrative devices employed in Lee Jeong Hyang's Art Museum By The Zoo and, to a lesser extent, Gwak Jae Young's My Sassy Girl.

Han Suk Kyu and Lee Bum Soo form a great partnership here; the last time they appeared in the same film together was in 1996's The Ginko Bed. They share more screen time this time around, and there's a comfortable rapport between them. Han Suk Kyu has great presence, enlivening just about every film he's worked on. In Forbidden Quest he proves once again that he's more than up for the task of taking on challenging roles, and that's what makes him such a prized actor in his homeland, with an impressively varied CV and a loyal following. Lee laps up his role and provides a nice counter as Han's hapless sidekick, trying to keep his moonlighting as an erotic artist a secret while running the Justice Administration. And to round off a solid cast we have the rising talent of Kim Min Jung, who previously provided worthwhile turns in her debut Whispering Corridors and Bus Stop.

DVD
enterOne presents yet another wonderfully packaged film. A sturdy magnetized case houses two digipacks and a reproduction of the script, though, unsurprisingly, it's in Korean only.

A/V
Forbidden Quest is graced with an almost perfect 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. I say almost because Edge Enhancement and a very small amount of aliasing disturb it. Otherwise we have a very crisp image, with excellent color reproduction all round, strong blacks and good contrast levels. A fitting transfer for a fine-looking film.

Korean DD2.0 and DD5.1 Surround tracks are optional. As expected the 5.1 track is well produced. Again we don't have a DTS option, which leaves me to wonder if Korean distributors are starting to wind down on this a little, though to be perfectly honest films like this don't warrant huge sound theatrics. Regardless of that, there's nothing worth disputing here; the track admirably does its job, using rear surrounds to good, though subtle effect, while much of the dialogue takes place across the center stage, presenting no problems in terms of clarity. Forbidden Quest's score, which consist of a couple of beautiful compositions is detailed nicely throughout. There are also optional English subtitles that contain very little in the way of grammatical errors; easy to read and well timed, we have another strong effort from enterOne.

Extras
Disc 1 contains an audio commentary as well as an after commentary, which is a brief video interview. Disc 2 contains the rest of the extras. The menus are in Korean so I can't translate each one but I'll do my best. Starting with interviews (19.03) we have the director and two other crew members (presumably art direction and I can't guess the other) explaining bits and pieces, while we watch clips of Han Suk Kyu and Lee Bum Soo rehearsing lines, with script meetings also being shown. We see the actors learn calligraphy and go through make up. Next up is behind the scenes footage (35.09) where we simply see scenes being shot, with each scene corresponding to a specific actor who is briefly interviewed beforehand. There are moments here where actors break into laughter, especially during the simulated sex scenes. We look at set design next (18.10), which shows just how much detail and care went into the production of the film. It's quite stunning to see them go from sticks to realistic streets and houses. A look at props follows next, with preparations for blue and green screen shooting, with the final part looking at wardrobe and make up. An interview with the film composer (I think) follows next and then two other people talk for a bit (see how hard my job is?), with a short look at CG afterwards. A selection of non-anamorphic deleted scenes with time codes is next up, of which there are five in total. Finally we get the theatrical trailer, a press conference with the lead actors and director, shooting for the promo campaign and a moving still gallery.

Overall
Not everyone is going to get along well with Forbidden Quest; it is a long film which will undoubtedly test the patience of many, but it's a lavish production backed by yet another strong performance from Han Suk Kyu. Director Kim Dae Woo has made a very impressive debut with a sharp script that has a genuine wit about it, as well as strong themes that are cleverly realized. He successfully blends several genres and, by the end of it all, the viewer comes away with a feel good vibe. enterOne has certainly done a commendable job in presenting it on DVD, so for those curious I recommend you get straight in there and pick it up soon.

by Kevin Gilvear - DVD Times