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Ssang-hwa-jeom (2008)
The song of Love
I didn't dare to add this film to the list of "To Watch", for a long time I walked around the bush, as the genre of the film was a little embarrassing. After watching, I was in a kind of stupor.
Genre: melodrama, tragedy, gay theme, bisexual relationships, historical, erotica, romance, drama. A rather controversial film, which takes place in the middle of the XIV century during the reign of Wang Kongmin, 31 rulers of the Korean state, the era of Goryeo, the last Korean reformer who wants to restore the territory of Korea and a liberator from the Mongol yoke.
The film was released in 2008 and at the time was the most expensive film to be shot by South Korea. On the day of the premiere, more than 3.5 million tickets were sold, and the total box office grossed more than 19 million. In Korea, it received a 20+ rating for its abundance of erotic scenes and scenes of violence. The main theme is the struggle between passion and duty.
The title of the movie "Ice Flower" is the title of one of the famous Korean song of the Goryeo era - Ssangwajom - a love song.
A little about the plot. Historical facts.
Against the background of the struggle for power, political games and confrontation with the powerful Yuan Empire (the Mongol invasion of Korea. For a long time the Goryeo dynasty was a tributary of the Mongol Yuan dynasty), a love triangle unfolds between Wang Kongming, his wife Noguk and his lover Kongmin, a guard his personal guard - Hon Rim.
Hon Rim. Wang's personal guard. This character has come a long way from boundless loyalty, falling in love to understanding that it was all false. What could the little boy, whom the future king selected to his personal guard, could understand, saying the words "I will die for you, my king" - did he know and did he then understand at least something about life? Or was all this devotion or love just the suggestion of an influential patron? And was it not the king himself who pushed him down the path of insight, disappointment and hatred?
Kongming-wang was a homosexual who did not want to share a bed with his queen, but due to political squabbles with the Yuan dynasty, he had to give birth to an heir. What he asked his lover about. It was from this point A that Hon Rim moved forward, overcoming his experiences and fears, and ended up at point B. Which brought changes in his life and the lives of the rest of the characters.
The screen characters of the film are a bit different from their historical prototypes. Here the scriptwriters probably decided to fantasize a little.
Queen Noguk was a loyal and loving spouse who did not even think about treason. She strongly supported her husband. And the king did not mind and did not neglect the conjugal duty. They lived together for 16 long years. They had no children and she died while was giving a birth to a child. The king observed mourning, but he also did not miss the opportunity to visit his 4 wives and 2 concubines, as well as have love relationships with young men from his personal guard. Among them was the same Hon Rim, who dared to have an affair with the king's wife named Lik from the Khan clan. Upon learning of the betrayal of his wife and lover, Konmin-wang ordered his guards to kill Hon Rim, but everything happened exactly the opposite. The guards revolted and killed the king.
About the film.
Emotionally heavy film. It is difficult to say whether I liked him or not, but he definitely kept me in suspense. For such a plot, it seemed that the timing was too small, the plot twists dashingly replace each other. Little attention has been paid to the feelings of the queen and the guard. There was not enough consistency, smoothness, tenderness in the development of their relationship. It feels like you are reading a very fascinating novel, where interesting events unfold, you read one page, the second, and you realize that several chapters between them are missing, as if someone tore them out, lost. Therefore, there is a feeling of a certain crumpledness, as if I missed something. Although it was still interesting to watch how feelings arose from a simple horizontal plane and turned into something deeper. Not even that. It all started from the very beginning with fear, duty, excitement, and on both sides. And until the moment of falling in love and passion. It was precisely this transitional moment that was not obvious, I did not see the evolution of feelings in the protagonist, perhaps the actor did not succeed very well, or maybe it's time for me to buy glasses.
The passion of a man for a woman, who until then indulged in attraction to a man. And this woman won in this story, and this victory caused a terrible, wild jealousy, which led to tragedy and bloodshed. The result of the film is that love can be cruel, especially in such harsh times.