Two clowns living in the Chosun Dynasty get arrested for staging a play that satirizes the king. They are dragged to the palace and threatened with execution, but are given a chance to save their lives if they can make the king laugh. -IMDb

CHARACTERS-
Okay so... Lee Jun Ki's portrayal of Gonggil basically made this movie for me. It was SO good. I think as a dude it's kinda hard to act that hard at being a really FEMALE boy. Dude. This freaking character makes me seem like a man-ape. He grovels, he cries and he begs but it's in that really elegant sort of damsel in distress way. And even though he acts crudely for the purpose of the show, his mannerisms otherwise are rather elegant as well. He's shy, and he's somewhat quiet. He seems so defenseless, and it just MADE SENSE that someone like Jangsaeng would be there to protect him from everything. All in all, his performance, just amazing.


[Warning: EVERYTHING AFTER THIS MAY BE SPOILER PRONE]



That's the summary from IMDb and that's all I'm gonna provide plotwise before the spoiler warning tag in hopes that you watch this movie. This movie is so much more than that, that part of it takes up about 20 minutes of the movie. The early part isn't that great, it's just set up for the goodness of the movie. This movie is really a weird mix of a bunch of things. It's a bit of historical, with all the characters and the typical court drama and corruption mix. It's a tad of romance, it kind of walks the line of being BROMANCE as compared to just friendship. (Spoiler: Until the king attempts to kiss Junki of course) but up till then the king and Gonggil's relationship seems to just be friendship (well, the freaky kind that if you do something wrong you're so screwed and probably gonna end up dead), but friendship nonetheless. Jangsaeng, I can't quite tell what his relationship with Gonggil is supposed to be either. But none the less the movie really picks up when Gonggil first begins being summoned by the king and the king does nothing to him except treat him well. Jangsaeng wrongly assumes that again, Gonggil is forced into being a whore. And then as Gonggil gains the king's favor, the king one night after a tough run-in with his court tells him the story of his mother. And then at this point, the troupe and Jangsaeng are attempting to leave the palace. But Gonggil wants to stay and finish the last play of the story of his mother for the king, so after the play the king flies out in a rage upon learning the secrets behind his mother's death and the corruption in his court, so he kills the two concubines that framed his mother, and his grandmother who ordered his father to kill his mother dies of shock. Gonggil is again called to the king's quarters. At this point the mean bitch of the movie (who by the way has constantly been a semi mean bitch, but I've just neglected to mention her cause... well she's a bitch), Noksu, attempts to strip Gonggil out of jealousy and saying that he's probably not even a man (which would probably be worse for her...). She gets dragged out by the king, and Gonggil continues begging to leave the palace. No avail dear sir. He doesn't leave for a while, and the ministers end up attempting to kill Gonggil and instead get killed by the king. Blahblahblah a bunch of random shit happens. Noksu attempts to frame Gonggil saying that he said blasphemous things of the king, but instead Jangsaeng takes the blame and gets his eyes seared with iron. (all the while Junki's only job is to cry and grovel ]: Sad times.) Gonggil overhears Jangsaeng telling the prison guard the story of how the two met, and he stands, listening with silent tears. He goes to the king's quarters and again, creates a puppet story for the king, recreating the situation of how the two met, with the exact words he heard from Jangsaeng. He also, cuts himself on the wrist deeply, and bleeds out, so he faints. The king here, having favor on Gonggil has Jangsaeng walk the tightrope again, blind (instead of him being dead...?). Here, Jangsaeng says things like being blind is fantastic or whatever. And then Gonggil gets on the rope and begins walking as well, here they exchange some sad farewell-like words. With  both of them asking each other what they would wish to be in the next life, and they both respond to each other with wanting to be a jester in the next life. Then the citizens begin an uprising against the king, storming the palace, and the last scene seen is just Jangsaeng and Gonggil jumping from the tightrope and then there's a continuation if you keep going past that scene. It's Jangsaeng (no longer blind) and Gonggil as well as the rest of the troupe (including the one dude that died) walking along a grassy field doing their theater antics again. (So I guess it's safe to assume they all died.)

One of my favorite scenes from the movie.

Another great scene. Love the expression. SUPER good depth in Junki's character.

Elegant, whilst even riding a horse. MAGICAL.

One of the most HEARTWRENCHING scenes from the movie. Omg. So sad. I started crying as soon as the puppet scene started. And when he cut himself I was just like ;w;... QQ

All in all. I LOVED this movie. It was great. I don't really like historical/sad movies. But I LOVED this movie. Sure, I'm biased cause I love Lee Jun Ki but trust me. This movie is amazing.

Quality and enjoyablility-wise I'd give it a...

10/10
Soooo amazing.

Labels: Movie, Review, The King and the Clown