A Frozen Flower (Ssang-hwa-jeom) (2008) directed by Ha Yu

[reviews_and_ramblings]

A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard.

Director: Ha Yu

Writer: Ha Yu (screenplay)

Release Date: 30 December 2008 (South Korea)
11 October 2009 (Chicago International Film Festival, USA)

Genres: Drama, History, Romance

Storyline: The king of Goryeo Dynasty Korea attempts to shake off the dominance of Yuan Dynasty China and establish an autonomous state. He forms a palace guard composed of thirty six young soldiers, led by military commander Hong-rim. But the king faces betrayal when Hong-rim falls in love with both him and his rival, the Yuan Dynasty queen.

The Goryeo King is under pressure from his Yuan rulers to either produce an heir, or name his cousin the Crown Prince, which he resolutely refuses to do. Although married, the King's true love is not his wife, the Queen, but his chief bodyguard, Hong Lim. During his marriage he has never so much as touched the Queen. One day the King asks Hong Lim to sleep with his wife, assuming that would solve the issue of his succession as long as a royal son is produced. Instead it begins a vicious love triangle filled with forbidden lust, betrayal, and uncontrolled revenge.

Awards: 2009 Won Baek Sang Film Art Award as Best Actor to Jin-mo Ju
2010 Orient Express Section Special Jury Award to Ha Yu, Fantasporto

@IMDb
@Amazon: A Frozen Flower (2008)
@Netflix

 





















 

Cast (in credits order)
Jin-mo Ju ... King
Ji-hyo Song ... Queen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
In-seong Jo ... Hong-rim
Hong Jong-Hyeon
Hyeon-woo Kim
In-beom Ko ... Yeon Ki-mok
Tae-won Kwon ... Jo Il-moon
Ju-hwan Lim ... Han-baek
Ji-hyeon Min ... Concubine
Min-wu Noh ... Min-wu
Ji-ho Shim ... Seung-gi
Jung-ki Song ... King's men - No-tak
Wook-hwan Yeo ... Im-bo

     
The Chief and the King

Comments

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I have this movie for more than a year and I have never seen it before since I had the feeling it was probably magnificent but also very sad. And if you don't want to be spoiled stop to read here.

The Eastern movies are always like that, I'm not an expert but probably there is even a word to define this trend, but they are always epic (even when they are contemporary) and tragic. The setting is usually rich and splendid, the passion is on an high level, but the spectator knows that the tragedy is just behind.

A Frozen Flower is maybe not exactly a gay themed movie. The King is for sure homosexual, he has no desire at all for women, he has 1 Queen and 4 concubines, but he is not able to perform with any of them. He is impotent, but only with women; he is indead very much in love with his Chief Captain, a boy he has raised with other 36 boys to become his personal guard. Chief has never seen anything else if not his King, and when he is picked to be not only his personal guard, but also his lover, he doesn't question. I think Chief is in love with King, but he is also bisexual, and when the King asks him to impregnate his Queen, he has the first chanche to "taste" something different. Chief thinks to be in love with the Queen, he is convinced, but I think he has simply never seen anything else. When faced with what he has done, his loyalty is with the King. For this reason I didn't like the character of the Queen, I think that most of the tragedy is a consequence of her actions.

There is one homoerotic sex scenes, but then most of the sex is between Chief and the Queen, and sometime it was even too much: it was really aesthetic, but then the director indulged too much and it became unnecessary.

In any case, I think the fans of historical movies will like this one, above all if they are also lovers of Eastern culture. By the way the sword fights (when they happen between the two) are wonderful, almost a dance.