This is a film-remake of Er Woo Dong: The Entertainer  made in 1985 with Bo-Hee Lee as the titular courtesan, Er Yoon Chang, reviewed on out-of-print DVD HERE. It's a beautiful, and erotic, period piece, nicely shot - impressive costumes and art direction, very attractive females but doesn't come together as cohesively as the 85' rendition. Although, it remains an excellent, classically based story.

This is anamorphic and progressively transferred in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio and looks quite sharp and pleasing despite being single-layered. We are spoilt by the tight color separation of 1080P but this looks decent enough in-motion, although I'll wager a Blu-ray transfer would look majestic. There is depth - colors are a shade passive. I was happy with the overall appearance.

Audio is, predictably, clean but unremarkable with a few effects and traditional music in standard Dolby. The Korean dialogue is translated - subtitled in either English or traditional Chinese. There are no extras on the region 3 NTSC disc.

It's such a fetching and sexy period piece that I'd love to see remade with some subtle style and filmmaking skill. This version had appeal but the story deserves a better, and expanded, production. It seems the erotic aspects and nudity had too much emphasis - no doubt as a sales ploy. It is a part of the story but shouldn't overshadow the strong themes involving the Joseon (or is it Chosun?) Dynasty's spoilt bourgeoisie, sex as a tool of revenge, power etc.. The Korean beauties in this are pretty hot (ex. Eun-pi Kang was also in Wet Dreams 2, she changed her name from Kang Eun-Bi to Song Eun-Chae in 2012.) and it's a sweet looking film - impressively presented on the lesser format. But being bare-bones, and a bit of a wayward interpretation - the value is diminished. I had some enjoyment seeing it though. To each his own.

Gary W. Tooze