The King's Man

[seichan]

(a smidge of spoilers ahead)

The King and The Clown or The King's Man is thus far my favorite Korean movie. It used to be My Sassy Girl. I have to admit that I don't find many Korean movies truly entertaining. Kong-gil (played by Lee Joon-Ki who looks very cute on his homepage) is the object of everyone's attention in this period drama. Jangsung is the 'hero' character in this movie. The pair of them are street performers/clowns in Joseon Korea. After an incident, they head to Seoul and make it big by putting on acts that mock the king.

First impressions: Beautiful costumes and very nice scenery make this a visually stunning movie. Koreans' lewd and crude humor is prominent in the entertainers' plays. It's quite funny all throughout the movie. The dialogue easily keeps your attention. It's cleverly written and I like how they reveal explanations to everything in bits and pieces through the clowns' performances. The 'gay' is pretty much downplayed once the movie develops. The focus is mainly on the King's deterioration and the supposed 'corruption' in the court. Kong-gil's character is likable in that he seems to sympathize with the crazed King. Jangsung keeps trying to protect Kong-gil, but really Kong-gil was tainted already..(I guess that's a spoiler). Although they allude to more graphic action, the only action you see is a kiss that cuts away before you know what's going on. akujunkan mentioned a cut scene...which probably will depress fangirls. But...really, there was an incredible amount of restraint in regards to the homosexual subject matter; so much so that I thought near the end that the King's Man could have been referring to the scribe.

I was worried that this would be an uncomfortable, sad movie that Farewell, My Concubine was, but it wasn't. The whole movie portrayed a hopefulness with the clowns. It was inevitable what happened to the King, but the movie's editing left an optimistic feeling at the end. The movie was so well-made and enjoyable that it became the highest grossing Korean movie ever. I read that people thought the fangirls might have contributed to that number. I thought that Kong-gil had a flabby stomach in the beginning and wasn't as cute at the movie promo pictures depicted him as...ha ha. He could've used some sit-ups.

I thought that this movie was going to get a USA release, but haven't read any news regarding this yet. Maybe I only thought that because it was reviewed in the NYTimes a few months ago. Anyway, I recommend this to anyone who wants a funny, action-filled, historical drama with a touch of romance. (The foreign DVDs are out now) +++

Comments

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'm sure americans called referred to it as the korean brokeback, also...not that that is a bad way to up its popularity. it'd be surprisingly nice if it could get a decent usa release.

http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=3116

that article mentions a musical spinoff and animated cartoon for it.....haha. i'm mystified by the musical spinoff. it'll probably be as bad as the lord of the rings musical. (^_^)

[x-reggg.livejournal.com]

...actually, it was in a Hong Kong newspaper ^^;;