I saw this amazing Korean movie today, and I thought it’d be a nice idea to have my first blog post be about a movie. Right?
This movie takes place in 15th-century Joseon Dynasty, and is about two street clowns who escape to Seoul after Gonggil—the effeminate of the two—is made to be a prostitute for wealthy customers. In Seoul they find another rookie troupe, and all of them eventually become court jesters for the king, Yeonsan. As time goes on, the king—much to the dismay of his main concubine Noksu—starts to fall in love with the gorgeous Gonggil. And other interesting stuff happens.
I’ve seen a lot of Korean movies, and this movie is probably now one of my favorites. It made me laugh and cry with its strong themes of vulgar humor and forbidden romance. It has one of those typical peculiar endings of Korean movies, but if you pay attention to the last few actions the characters make, you can figure out what happens. This movie is considered a gay movie, though I wouldn’t necessarily call it that. It definitely had homosexual elements to it, but I wouldn’t call that the main heart of the movie. Yes, it played a large role, but so did the troupe just being at the palace, which is the main source of conflict.
What made me decide to watch this? After seeing that my favorite actor Lee Jun Ki was in it (who plays the role of Gonggil), I decided to give it a shot. Not to mention the plot sounded interesting. I want to buy this movie, since I definitely would watch it again.
