just came back from The King and the Clown, am totally bedazzled. the movie just blew me away, i've never walked out of a cinema feeling like this since... lotr3? even so, it's different. the whole story's so bittersweet and tragic, because at the end it's really just a series of misfortune that snowballed and not anyone's fault.
for the hopelessly uninformed, it's a korean movie that grossed the third highest ever in box offices in its home country. the story's set in the 1500s when korea was still under dynastic rule. two street performers, Gong-gil (pretty uke) and Jang-seng (fearless seme), who were together in a troupe that performed to please aristocrats, but were non-conformers. when the show's messed up the manager pimps out Gong-gil to appease their employers and Jang-seng eventually runs away with him to the capital.
they met up with another troupe and started performing satires that mocked the emporer and his favourite concubine, and of course, got caught. they were being beaten up when Jang-seng asked to perform in front of the king, since he's the one they're mocking. if the king liked it, they were scot free, but if he didn't, then they would be executed.
the king had 20 screws loose in his head, was very amused by their crude humour, and kept them in the palace, scandalising many court ministers. was also very taken by Gong-gil and started abandoning concubine. every night Gong-gil got called to serve the king (mind out of _gutters_) putting on puppet shows. eventually the king's childhood trauma of the conspiracy that killed his mum was revealed and you see 20 more screws fall out of him.
the ending was beautiful. the best thing i've seen in years. the plot uses a cliche but also a setting that is so original. i mean, male clown concubine of ancient korean king? gee. the characters suffer much stereotyping, but in a way that works. Gong-gil was the typical uke who cannot protect himself but has rare moment of inspirations where he hacks people with parangs. rather wimpy, actually. throughout the whole show i was waiting for him to step up and bodily protect Jang-seng, but he didn't really... i guess that's because he been sheltered by Jang-seng since he was a kid, it's just a state of things and i find very easy to accept. he's just uke but strong in his own ways. Jang-seng reminds me a little of Heero in the Shinigami's Lover fic in that he'll sacrifice anything for Gong-gil. getting beaten up when he was a kid for Gong-gil who stole a ring, then getting beaten up when he refuses to pimp his sweetheart out, then getting beaten up being scapegoat for Gong-gil suspected of treachery.
the ending scene where Jang-seng was on the rope talking about him being blind, blinded by the first time he performed with his partner, blinded by the money when he came to seoul, blinded when he didn't see his partner's heart stolen in the palace, god. was one of the most powerful and emotionally charged exchange ever. and especially when Gong-gil joined him on the rope and asked what would you be in your next life, and Jang-seng said 'clown', but it's just so subtle, when he means 'together'. then Gong-gil cried and smiled and god it's so beautiful.
it's so many subtle connotations, subtext, gestures and how everything links together and the smallest things are so significant. it's the characters and their depth and dynamics, small things like how Gong-gil smiled when he successfully did his couple-flips with Jang-seng, how the evil concubine regally accepted her death when the usurpers charged in, how Jang-seng wanted to end his and Gong-gil's friendship by destroying their performance's rope, and how they ran towards each other on the rope at the end, like the two blind people they mimed but this time they found each other.
of course i'm not making sense and you just skipped the words and looked at the pictures. but go watch it, it's worth every single cent. totally took my breath away.
