I just got back from seeing this movie. Apparently, I am one of the last people in Korea to see this movie.
When it first came out, I was completely disinterested in seeing it. Mainly because EVERYONE was raving about it. I am the kind of guy that if everyone likes something, I tend to dislike it. My dislike often has nothing to do with the quality or nature of the thing. It is often just a matter of me being different than the group.
However, as more and more people talked about the movie, I realized that I would probably end up seeing it at some point, one way or another. Resigned to seeing the movie, I tried to go into it as objectively as possible. Everyone around me was touting the movie as being one of the best movies ever. People were raving about how progressive it was to deal with gay themes. People were in hysterics about how wonderful Lee Jun Ki, the actor playing the effeminate part was, and how good looking he was. As anything that is over-hyped and over-sold is always a let down, I tried, fairly successfully, to isloate myself from reviews, discussions, and exposure to people talking about the movie.
The very basic outline of the story is (COMPLETE SPOILERS BELOW):
BEGIN SPOILERS
Two street performers, one scarred and manly (”Jang Saeng”), the other soft, smooth and feminine “Kong Kil”), decide they want to move up in the world. So, they hatch a plan to perform for the king.
Along the way, they meet up with a group of three street performers who are even worse off than they are. As part of their plan to get to the king, Jang Saeng, Kong Kil and the other performers begin to do plays parodying the king. They eventually get arrested and make a deal that if they make the king laugh they can go free, but if the king doesn’t laugh, they will lose their heads.
After making the king laugh, the king allows them to remain as his entertainers. However, under the law, they should be sent out. As part of a plan to remain, they convince the king to invite all of the top Yangban class (gentlemen of high class) and call performers from all over the country to perform for the Yangban. The plan is that once the Yangban are gathered and performances begin, the main characters will parody the Yangban’s corruption. Then if the Yangban insist on sending the performers out, it would be a sign of their guilt. Thus, they would be allowed to remain.
The plan works, for the most part. However, the king is seen to begin a decent into madness. He begins to fixate on Kong Kil, and insists on spending long periods of time alone with Kong Kil. The king’s woman becomes jealous of Kong Kil, and begins to plot the removal of Kong Kil.
The peformers perform a play in a chinese opera style about a king whose “entertainer” mother was poisoned by the king’s paternal grandmother. This play weakens the king’s mental state futher as he takes the play to be the story of what happened to his own mother.
By now, the king has made many enemies within his inner circle of advisors, within the Yangban class, and even within his household.
Kong Kil and Jang Saeng want to leave the king’s court, but the king will not allow Kong Kil to leave. The king’s woman becomes even more jealous of Kong Kil and pays someone to forge Kong Kil’s handwriting on a statement against the king. The king goes to kill Kong Kil but Jang Saeng takes the blame. Jang Saeng is tortured and imprisoned.
Jang Saeng is freed by one of the king’s betrayers but refuses to leave Kong Kil and returns to mock king. While the king tries to shoot Jang Saeng with arrows, Kong Kil goes to Jang Saeng. During this, the palace is overrun by the king’s enemies. It is implied that Jang Saeng and Kong Kil commit suicide.
END SPOILERS
I enjoyed the movie. It was not one of the best movies I have ever seen, but it was very good and very watchable. I will definitely be adding it to my DVD collection.
The cinematography was very well done. Gorgeous colors, beautiful scenery, very good use of space, lighting, and texture. If I had to make a complaint about the cinematography, and I am streching to find one, it would be that a few of the scenes appeared to be set pieces. I’m not sure if that was becasue they actual were filmed on a set or because of artificial lighting in a natural environment.
As far as the acting goes, the weak spots were the king’s woman, who acted in much the same style as a typical antagonist woman in a typical Korean TV drama, and the king, who although slightly less exaggerated and stiff, still seemed to be awkward in some parts and overacting others.
A surprising disappointment, perhaps a victim of being over-hyped, was Lee Jun Ki’s performance of Kong Kil.
After hearing men and women extol his acting virtures, his beatiful, womanly looks, etc., and as he was supposed to be the main character of the movie, I may have been expecting too much. While his acting certainly was not bad, I found it lacking in any real depth or emotion. He could not have carried out his part in the movie with the support of all of the other characters, particular the character Jang Saeng. I don’t quite know what it was, but there was something about him that I didn’t like. Also, I found myself being distracted by his odd-shaped ears.
Jang Saeng, played by Gam Woo Sung, was a powerful and well acted character.
The movie would still have been good without the character of Kong Kil, but the movie would have been nowhere near as good without Jang Saeng. Gam Woo Sung gave a wonderful performance as the head of the street performing troupe and as protector of Kong Kil. He was a full, multi-dimensional charcter that the audience could believe in.
The other street performers arguably stole the show. In fact, I would be inclined to argue that they were the high point of the film. From beginning to end, they were perfectly acted, believable, and hilariously funny.
The other performers were very complex in their simplicity. The energy and depth of these low class characters was surprising. They absolutely dominated the first third of the movie, kept the movie going during the slow middle act, and came through powerfully in the end. Despite the movies dramatic themes, the street performers made this movie the funniest Korean movie I have seen.
Although Chunhyang is still my favorite Korean movie, and one of my overall favorite movies, The King’s Clown is not far behind. I definitely recommend seeing it on the big screen.
