[3.8]
Enjoyable, if a bit familiar, story of a Chosun Dynasty king who takes in a troupe of street jesters for his personal amusement, but later finds his court crumbling and his own desires turning to the beautiful female impersonator in the troupe. Okay, by “familiar” I don’t mean the exact plot per se, but the ideas and execution are obvious echoes of FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE and the film humorously acknowledges as much when the troupe performs that very same opera (albeit with a terrible twist) for the king. So, if I hadn’t seen Chen Kaige’s masterpiece, I probably would have loved this tale of a love triangle between the decadent king, Gong-gil (the female impersonator), and Gong-gil’s performing partner (and the one that plays the King on stage) Jang-sang. There certainly are enough differences to make this stand on its own, especially as the focus here tends to be on the relationship between the king and his jester, rather than between the two performers, and perhaps this is why I wasn’t so emotionally involved with the story. All of the characters are only loosely constructed, and while I understood their motivations, I never quite believed them. Jang-sang is the most unlikeable of the three main characters; he is the temperamental artist, the scorned lover, the gruff showman and leader. He never became real for me; everything was an act. When he fought his troupe in order to keep Gong-gil from having to, ahem, “whore” himself out to patrons, it seemed like a theatrical temper-tantrum. Jang-sang doesn’t reveal his affection for Gong-gil as much as he shows off his consternation that other people shower him with affection. Even when Jang-sang makes the great sacrifice for Gong-gil by falsely confessing to the crime that the king’s mistress tried to frame Gong-gil with, it just doesn’t have the emotional power that such amorous martyrdom should.
Next, lets look at Gong-gil. He is a fascinating character, a blank-slate trapped by his beauty. He is at times childlike in his gentleness, but he submits to his role as object of desire with knowing resignation. He understands his place in the lustful hearts of men and he seems to have closed off his emotional spectrum in order to cope with this. He cares for Jang-sang, for the king, for the lowly members of his troupe. Really, Gong-gil does not wrong. But in trying to be a good person and please everyone, Gong-gil realizes the disaster he has wrought (Jang-sang’s jealousy, the king’s wrath at the plot against his mother that Gong-gil helped expose), and in the end, he doesn’t even have the strength of being to actually commit suicide. The fragile-faced Jun-ki Lee fills out the role nicely, but his Gong-gil is as intriguing as he is hollow.
In many ways, the king should have been the primary focus of this tale. The opening passages tell us of his historical decadence and corrupt rule, but the movie seeks to rectify this position by showing the kinder, understanding side of the king and pointing most of the blame onto the court ministers and evil machinations of the royal family that murdered his mother. Jin-yeong Jeong is fine as the tough leader with manic-depressive mood swings, making us fear him both when he is stone-faced and when he is cackling with innocent glee. And yet, something was missing, either from his performance or from the lack of intimate scenes we get with the king. I wanted to believe that he was a good person trapped in a corrupt court (as implied by his fiery dismissal of the minister who confessed to taking bribes), but the film seemed like it couldn’t make up its mind on how to portray the king.
In the end, its an interesting film with high production value, an easy-to-follow narrative, and enjoyable performances, but it just doesn’t have the staying power of the more artful and emotional FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE.
burning retina 