The Korean Wedding Chest

Movie·2009·1h 22m

The Korean Wedding Chest

Language

German

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// overview

The Story

Original title: Die koreanische Hochzeitstruhe

Ulrike Ottinger’s provocative mélange of ethnography, stunning tableaux and baroque vignettes was inspired by what she calls the “well-stocked miracle” of Korean wedding chests, assembled according to time-honored customs. This exploration of love and marriage in South Korea looks closely at ancient and present-day rituals, revealing what is old in the new and new in the old. Her inquiry leads us from shamans, temples and priests, to the enchanted maze of 21st-century Seoul, where vendors of medicinal herbs co-exist with high-tech beauty salons for wedding couples and secular marriage palaces. Using film much like a canvas, Ottinger creates a modern fairytale flush with mythological heroes, traditional rites, ancestral symbolism, dreams of eternal love, and a whole lot of Western kitsch. One of her most acclaimed documentaries, it captures the amazing phenomenon of new mega-cities and their contradictory societies caught in a balancing act.

Producer

Ulrike Ottinger

Cinematography

Ulrike Ottinger

Editor

Yang Jin-mo

Themes

woman director

Audience Score

50%

1 votes

Skip18%
Timepass41%
Go for it30%
Perfection11%

Where to watch

Streaming availability not listed for your region yet.

// cast

Cast

Ulrike Ottinger

Ulrike Ottinger

Narrator

// crew

Crew

Ulrike Ottinger

Ulrike Ottinger

Director, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography

Yang Jin-mo

Yang Jin-mo

Editor

Bettina Blickwede

Editor

Lee Sunyoung

Director of Photography

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