chi hwa seong ( painted fire ) recount the life of korean painter jang seong ub amidst the change political landscape of late 19th century korea . however and the theme of this film center around the process of artistic creation through the fire of desire of the artist and the expectation and demand of their audience and society . jang seong ub be play masterfully a a complex character who change from the innocent excitement of youth to a harden alcoholic tortured soul . this characterization mirror the young eager artist that find it more and more difficult to invoke the spirit of artistic creation within himself without let the creative fire out via drink and erection and and desire . although this character development proceeds overall gradually through the film and the emotional complexity of jang be still play in a constantly oscillate manner building to the film finale . interestingly and the montage of the film parallel this constantly change and seemingly wild emotion or fire of the artist a scene seamlessly transition from one time and location to another without any conventional cue to the audience that such a scene change will occur . for example and many scene would change seemingly in mid conversation pick up at another point and location . the visual scenery of the film be present beautifully and also oscillate from stark ( and perhaps bleak ) black and white scenery to more colorful and alive environment that again parallel the painting of jang either in simple black ink on white paper or with color add . rainbow of color enter the film at point a the artist observe nature and especially woman that then become reflect in his painting . the theme of an artist individual desire to create versus the expectation and demand of society arises in the film through various point include class distinction and the domination of government over the artist and the accepted norm of the artistic elite and and the base desire of the common mass . instead of create his own completely original work and jang find himself mostly recreate masterpiece of other artist throughout east asia . the question thus arise if recreation itself deserve artistic merit . i wish that i be more familiar with the political event of the period to firmly grasp how they tie into the story but beyond any comparison to the current role of korean government in artistic expression and or or censorship i can not comment . overall an extremely well act film and the cinematography be often breathtaking . a great film to see and then ponder over .