Review of You Can’t Stop a Flowing River / 흐르는 강물을 어찌 막으랴 , directed by Im Kwon-taek

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I feel like a lot of my blog introductions, especially when it comes to movies, have been lamenting on the fact I don’t have a ton of time lately. I used to work as a film critic (which, in fact, was so incredibly underpaid that I now make more off of this blog’s display ads than I ever did publishing anywhere else), and then when I was in graduate school I was writing a lot about film, so I used to watch so many movies.

But now I work an 8-5, come home, and then doom scroll my evenings away instead of watching the movies I used to love so dearly. And recently I realized I want to stop doing that, so I’ve set limits on my phone and am fully prepared to sit back and watch more movies and read more books in order to feed my brain.

Anyways, I first learned about the Korean Film Archive when I was in college. I had taken so many college courses in high school that I could basically sign up for any 300 or 400 level course I wanted, which is how I, a first semester freshman, ended in a 340 level Korean cinema class. That was when my love for film really began to take root, and it was right after I had briefly lived in Korea.

I don’t watch movies on their free YouTube channel as much as I should, but I do try to tap into their archive whenever I’m in the mood for it. When I saw You Can’t Stop a Flowing River had been uploaded and it was directed by Im Kwon-taek, I knew I wanted to watch it. I ended up splitting my viewing across multiple days because of how busy I was during this time—I am literally about to relocate to Korea at the time of typing this.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

A young man in the Joseon dynasty is given the chance to marry for power, but it means leaving behind the one he actually loves.

This movie serves as a cautionary tale: the main character, the male protagonist, is Ji-won. He lives Ie-hwa, a woman who is beautiful in his eyes, but there’s a big problem: she doesn’t have high status in Korean society. Despite this, they choose to get married and have a great wedding, even though there’s a sinking feeling in her heart.

Right after their marriage the terrible news arrives: Ji-won is to marry the princess of Joseon. That would mean he would leave Ie-hwa behind and become the royal son-in-law, but that would break both of their hearts. He’s reluctant to do this, but feels like he has no choice and ends up agreeing to marrying the princess.

Ie-hwa is naturally devastated by these series of events, but Ji-won and she engage in an affair despite the danger it might bring to both of their families. She ultimately chooses to end her life because she can’t cope with what’s happening before her eyes, and Ji-won ends up becoming quite a powerful figure in the Joseon royal family.

After Ie-hwa’s death, the princess’ half brother finds himself doubting Ji-won and his intentions. In classic Joseon royal family fashion (look up the history of Joseon if you haven’t before—these royals were brutal), he decides to try to find a way to eliminate Ji-won before it’s too late.

He decides on using Ie-hwa’s parents to get back at him, but Ji-won accidentally ends up killing her father when he refuses to take what’s happening to him. He feels really bad about what he’s done, but that’s when it kickstarts a new plot line in the movie: Ie-hwa is alive and at the grave.

Overall Thoughts

Before this, I had only seen Chunhyang from Im Kwon-taek, so I can’t particularly comment on the motifs of his movies as a whole, but I feel like he does a great job with historical movies. Some directors can’t nail down the atmosphere and make it feel a bit too contemporary, but this feels like a parable that was passed down in Korean folklore (kind of like Chunhyang).

That said, this isn’t my favorite movie, but I enjoyed watching it a lot. Eighties Korean movies have this rawness to them that I think is missing from the sharper, more modern movies, which can be both a boon and a bane for modern viewers looking to dive deeper into Korean cinema.

I think if you’re into historical movies then definitely give this one a shot, or if you want to explore deeper into a Korean director’s filmography, specifically Im Kwon-taek, then this is definitely worth a shot!

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