Star-crossed lovers with sharp pointy weapons: Bichunmu (Chinese/Korean coproduction)

[dangermousie]

OMG.

I have a new drama obsession.

And it's a very unlikely one.

It is the Chinese-Korean collaboration Bichunmu (also known as Bichunmoo and Dance in the Sky). There is a Korean movie of the same name. Both the drama and the movie are based on the same source).

Period epic dramas and me are an uneven combination. Some I end up loving (like 2006's adaptation of Return of the Condor Heroes) and a lot lose me because they are too long or have odd beards :P

Luckily, this looks like it will fall on the former side of the divide.

Binchunmu combines two of my favorite things: star-crossed forbidden lovers and the couple that kicks butt with the help of lots of swords.

The story is set during Ming Dynasty. Jan, who is a Korean warrior (who later becomes a rebel leader) and the illegitimate daughter of a Chinese commander, fall in love. Did I mention that, unbeknownst to the lovers, her father is the one who had his family killed? And it goes from there...

Anyway, I was sold on this from the beginning, where a young teenager (most likely their son) is standing, looking at a sword and necklace (???) which is entwined around it, and it flashbacks and intercuts between the kid, and the heroine and the hero, with the massed army behind them and in front of them, and her telling him she will never leave him again, and then they charge, their army at their back, and she is fighting and he is fighting and then it's some time later and they are the only ones left alive, and they are faced by the wall of archers and they look at each other, and lift their swords and just charge into them. It's just...

GUUUUH.



Anyway, the only MV on youtube I found is still pics but here it is:

And here is the opening I liked:

ETA: First ep is largely about Jan's parents who were all sorts of awesome (and hot) but it seems a family trait to be a loving couple who gets hideously slain together. Pity.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The one problem I have with the looks of this series, and that I've had since hearing about it, is that they seem to have made Sullie a warrior woman. Now, my love for such is rather well documented, but one thing I liked about the movie was that Sullie WASN'T yet another warrior woman, but a "proper lady" of the times. It also looks like the ending won't be as amazingly OTT melodramatic like the movie(where I am convinced only her awesome brother had a brain) We shall see on both fronts.

But the hero went up many levels of hot between adaptations(and, it seems, the actor may have since Musa, too...)

I hope they don't change her husband, though. I liked that they didn't take the easy route and make him evil and a bad husband and father, but rather a man who did a Very Wrong Thing to be with the one he loved, but did seem to genuinely love her and the son(who he probably knew wasn't his...I can't recall exactly)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Her becming a warrior woman is one of my fave things. Ornamental court lady is more realistc but less fun.

Re: ending. It would be hard to make it more ridiculous than the movie. I like the movie and like cheese but I really rolled my eyes.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The court lady aspect was rather crucial to the plot, as far as her role in it goes, which is my chief concern about that.

The ending was just...virtually every person that kid knew and loved just killed themselves in front of them...though, it is important to note that that's how hot damaged warriors come to be...

hmmm....

SEQUEL!!! I now cry! SEQUEL!!!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am trying to remember why her being a court lady was crucial. *don't spoil me though, I'd rather be ignorant for now, with the drama* I actually don't remember her being crucial to the political plot, except as love interest of hero/mother of his kid/daughter of evil dude. But that movie was a little too muddled for me anyway.

Re: double death. Seriously. She keels over telling him to live for their kid, so the first thing he does? Offs himself in front of the child. Yeah.

In the drama, it at least makes sense. They are not with the kid, and they are in battle. He is a rebel leader, so I can't see why he won't be 'right, got a famly now, I am going now, bye, rebellion is over.' And she is a warrior with a grown son, so her choice also makes sense.

That movie's ending? LOL.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

just crusical in that it's part of what led to her being in the place she was and the plot setup... because she lacked the skills or means to rebel against the path others chose for her. I just find it hard to see the plot progressing as it did beyond the early betrayal if she's of the warrior persuasion.

It was a TRIPLE death, because he also loved his stepfather who just died...he had ONE RELATIVE left...who will now raise him to be a strong and noble swordsman despite the deep pain in his soul.

Unless the kid is at the grave several years later, they also aged him a good bit...i think he was 10-12 in the movie.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am glad they aged him.

Re: warrior. Nah, whether she can fight or not, I can see why she, if proper background, would not want to have a child out of wedlock. I think any woman of the time would do the same...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It changes whethor or not there are other roads open to her. In the movie, she had no means to care for herself or start a new life(if she could get away and to a new place, no one would have to know she wasn't a widow...it's just the getting away) and no way to fight back against the men manipulating and controlling her life. Her only choice was to make the best of what was handed to her(and, iirc, she was married off before learning she was pregnant)

Look at Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon...part of her plotpline was that it opened the doors of another world for her, and made her essentially incapable of allowing the same thing to happen to her. It's been the exact same in pretty much everything I've seen where that's come up...once she's seen that side of the world, the independence it grants her compells her to rebel against that level of control.

But all this, obviously, is just concerns I've had(and actually seen expressed by others...urm...less kindly...elsewhere) since learning of it...I won't know if I like the change or not until I actually watch it.

I'm not sure I care one way or the other about the kid's age, as it looks like the parents are actually old enough to be his parents.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but what would she do with a little kid in tow?

This said, as of ep 2 (which was adorable btw) she has no idea how to fight nor is she trying to, so we'll see if/when/how it changes.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'm not closed to the idea, it's just that there are so few period heroines whose strength isn't at least partially defined by her ability to fight that I hate to lose one.

I wonder if her brother(if I remember the movie right, their father kept them separated through a lot of their childhood) or husband will teach her after they're separated. THAT would be a fun "reunion"

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

so few period heroines whose strength isn't at least partially defined by her ability to fight that I hate to lose one.


I confess I find the non-fighting ones boring. Needlework and being ornamental are OK but really doesn't work for me. But then I am a huge Starbuck fan :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Whereas Starbuck is why I had to stop watching.

The only period dramas I've seen where I'd say that a central female was strong where the ability to fight wasn't involved are Musashi(though Otsu does learn skills throughout, she never reaches the point of "warrior chick" by a long shot) EotS and Hwang Jin Yi. None of whom wasted time being ornamental or indulging in needlework. The flipide, though, is that too often "can use a sword/fight well" is used to declare a character to be trong when really, he isn't.

P.S.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I remember the other girl's court role being crucial, the one who helped him heal when he was poisoned etc etc. I wonder if they kept her in.

I don't even care if it's the same story as the movie, I confess, as long as it's fun. But we'll see. First ep is good but who knows how it will go.

Re: P.S.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

we would probably have to read the manwha to know which is strictly the better interpretation...that said, the movie was very fun, but not necessarily very good...

[stardreemer.livejournal.com]

Oh dear...just what I need...another drama...:)

You have talked about so many dramas that look so good! When am I going to find time to watch them all?

:)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am the evil pusher, after all.

But yeah, I get so confused with all the ones I want to watch at once!