Painter of the Wind: Art, eroticism, lesbians, murder. I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille.
Painter of the Wind
She's an artist in drag. He's a teacher with no idea why his prized pupil bandages his chest...
This is a beautiful, artsy, culturally rich and character-driven drama, much more focused on the relationships between characters than the plot, which is largely secondary.
Thankfully, our heroine is a crossdressing painter with age inappropriate and quasi-lesbian relationships, searching for the truth of her father's murder while her pornographic paintings put her at constant odds with a conservative government. Who needs plot with characters like this?
Yoon Bok is an artist with an eye for the ladies. I'm pretty sure the drama intended her to be a lesbian -- she's fascinated with women and drawn to the female form, and her work is the equivalent of period porn, AKA ladies in the bath, showing, gasp, their bare shoulders!
One of my favorite scenes is when she's sketching the riverside, and her entire class waits with baited breath for her to dot a woman's nipple with red paint.
DEVIANCE! DEFILEMENT! Oh, think of the children!!! The nerve!
The 18th century Korean government doesn't like these paintings at all -- especially when they accidentally capture the queen's affair.
Amid execution threats and pornography witchhunts, Yoon Bok finds time to fall in love with a beautiful courtesan, Jeong Hyang.
They "swing" together, one of the most subtly filthy metaphors I've ever seen. Jeong Hyang covers Yoon Bok's hands and they rock, with plenty of eye contact and lower body maneuvering, YK wide-eyed and breathless, until she has her fill and cries out in ecstasy "It's done! It's done!"
And then.
AND THEN.
AND THEN!
All for the painting, of course.
Afterwards, Jeong Hyang is all, please will you go steady with me Mr. Artist, and Yoon Bok can't look at her when she says "What man could resist you?" a;fdskfjsdf;lsdjdkljfsdkf
Complicating things even further, Yon Book's also growing closer to her teacher, who has no idea of her true identity (or gender). Whenever she slips and does something feminine, he's like, hey, you'll never get a woman that way!
OH WAIT.
He also fights his own attraction, like when he gives her a manly clap on the shoulder and says "you've done well, little bean," except his hand wants to linger...
Both of them being painters, there's a lot of *shift* *bump* and oops-did-my-skin-touch-yours and here-let-me-correct-your-grip.
A MASTER OF STEALTH.
The subtlety rubs off.
Truly, they are masters of disguise.
The requisite "catching the crossdresser in the bath" scene. She sees her teacher and freaks, screaming GET OUT GET OUT OH JESUS GOD OH CHRIST and he's like flailing back at her WHAT'S WRONG YOON BOK???? and their screams attract another guy who's like HEY Y'ALL WHAT'S THE PROBLEM and poor Yoon Bok is squashing her chest on the side of the tub going AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
He also stole her bandage, which she uses to wrap her chest. So imagine your boss using your bra to lug around work supplies.
Prettiness!
Basically: your ship choices are teacher/student or girl/girl. You can't lose.
You know you just had impure lustful thoughts, you pervert.
She's an artist in drag. He's a teacher with no idea why his prized pupil bandages his chest...
This is a beautiful, artsy, culturally rich and character-driven drama, much more focused on the relationships between characters than the plot, which is largely secondary.
Thankfully, our heroine is a crossdressing painter with age inappropriate and quasi-lesbian relationships, searching for the truth of her father's murder while her pornographic paintings put her at constant odds with a conservative government. Who needs plot with characters like this?
Yoon Bok is an artist with an eye for the ladies. I'm pretty sure the drama intended her to be a lesbian -- she's fascinated with women and drawn to the female form, and her work is the equivalent of period porn, AKA ladies in the bath, showing, gasp, their bare shoulders!
One of my favorite scenes is when she's sketching the riverside, and her entire class waits with baited breath for her to dot a woman's nipple with red paint.
DEVIANCE! DEFILEMENT! Oh, think of the children!!! The nerve!
The 18th century Korean government doesn't like these paintings at all -- especially when they accidentally capture the queen's affair.
Amid execution threats and pornography witchhunts, Yoon Bok finds time to fall in love with a beautiful courtesan, Jeong Hyang.
They "swing" together, one of the most subtly filthy metaphors I've ever seen. Jeong Hyang covers Yoon Bok's hands and they rock, with plenty of eye contact and lower body maneuvering, YK wide-eyed and breathless, until she has her fill and cries out in ecstasy "It's done! It's done!"
And then.
AND THEN.
AND THEN!
All for the painting, of course.
Afterwards, Jeong Hyang is all, please will you go steady with me Mr. Artist, and Yoon Bok can't look at her when she says "What man could resist you?" a;fdskfjsdf;lsdjdkljfsdkf
Complicating things even further, Yon Book's also growing closer to her teacher, who has no idea of her true identity (or gender). Whenever she slips and does something feminine, he's like, hey, you'll never get a woman that way!
OH WAIT.
He also fights his own attraction, like when he gives her a manly clap on the shoulder and says "you've done well, little bean," except his hand wants to linger...
Both of them being painters, there's a lot of *shift* *bump* and oops-did-my-skin-touch-yours and here-let-me-correct-your-grip.
A MASTER OF STEALTH.
The subtlety rubs off.
Truly, they are masters of disguise.
The requisite "catching the crossdresser in the bath" scene. She sees her teacher and freaks, screaming GET OUT GET OUT OH JESUS GOD OH CHRIST and he's like flailing back at her WHAT'S WRONG YOON BOK???? and their screams attract another guy who's like HEY Y'ALL WHAT'S THE PROBLEM and poor Yoon Bok is squashing her chest on the side of the tub going AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
He also stole her bandage, which she uses to wrap her chest. So imagine your boss using your bra to lug around work supplies.
Prettiness!
Basically: your ship choices are teacher/student or girl/girl. You can't lose.
You know you just had impure lustful thoughts, you pervert.