Director Im Kwon-taek’s 95th film (the 94th was the superb Chunhyang) is the fictionalized account of the life of Jang Seung-ub (known as Ohwon), a legendary Korean painter of the late 19th century. With inexorable subtlety, the movie shows Jang’s rise from poverty to renown against the background of the political turbulence of the period.

Jang’s genius, appetite, and prodigality are natural forces for which Im seeks no explanation. He scatters and destroys his masterpieces, surrounds himself with kisaeng (Korea’s geishas — in a memorable close-up, when he’s extracted from one of them by soldiers, his semen spills on the floor), and drinks constantly ("If you want to paint, first learn to drink," he counsels). Im’s classicism depends on the tension between the flow of lines across space (which is in harmony with the flow of life) and the arbitrary, austere rectangle of the film frame. Covering 50 years, the narrative gives an impression of constant movement caught in stately snapshots. The film’s fusion of history, legend, and art is so complete, and its elementalism so direct, that the Empedoclean ending is justified. In Korean with English subtitles. (117 minutes)