i watched a korean movie called Sopyonje. i think it may be one of my favourite movies ever, although im sure i didn't catch everything that was said. it's about a family of traditional pansori singers who travel from town to town, performing for money.

the traditional music in the movie flows and mesmerizes. the whole thing is so goddamn sorrowful. the plot is as tragic as some old russian novel. it's a different kind of depressing from north american movies.

it's got a 8.4 rating on IMDB if anyone cares. plus the director's a pretty acclaimed guy.

after i watched the movie, i went through my mom's giant stack of rarely-listened-to cds. i fished out a couple pansori cds.

pansori is like the opera, but only in the sense that it tells a story through singing. there are no costumes, stages, props or orchestra whatsover. the entire story is sung by one person in simple attire, accompanied by someone on a drum. the point of pansori is that it tells the sad tales of the common people (as opposed to aristocratic people).

sometimes the most stripped-down pieces of art make your heart turn into a puddle of jello.