Film Festival film #1: King and the Clown

[bcholmes]

I really enjoyed this film. It was visually splendid, with rich colour and amazing costumes. The ending was a bit drawn out, but in general, it moved at a good pace.

The story involves two minstrels/clowns. Jang-seng is the head-strong rebel and Gong-gil is the androgyne who regularly plays female roles in their performances. The film never establishes whether they are lovers or just extremely close, but it's clear that Jang-seng fights to protect Gong-gil, who is often prostituted out by their theatre troupe's leader. So the two minstrels run away. They hook up with some other performers in Seoul, and become quite popular performing a vulgar show that lampoons the King who is not known for his forgiving nature.

Naturally, the troupe is arrested and Jang-seng convinces the King's Prime Minister to allow them to perform their show before the King. "If the King laughs," Jang-seng says, "then we must be innocent." Otherwise, it's death for them.

And, miraculously, they succeed in making the King laugh, and he decides to hire them for ongoing entertainment. It's at this point that two things happen. First, the Prime Minister realizes that these minstrels can satirize the King's court, and such satire can change the balance of power. The King hasn't been able to fully assert his dominance over his court of ministers, all of whom worked for his father, the previous King (who was, it seems, much better liked by nobles). Also, this King is a bit damaged by the death of his mother who was forced to commit suicide when the King was still a boy.

Secondly, the King becomes extremely interested in Gong-gil. At first, he seems to just enjoy engaging in child-like games with the minstrel, but over time, Gong-gil becomes the King's lover. Jang-seng grows increasingly unhappy about Gong-gil's frequent visits with the King, and wants to pack out the troupe and leave the palace.

And so, very subtly guided by the Prime Minister, the troupe performs a show that suggests that one of the ministers is corrupt, and has been taking bribes. This strikes a bit too close to home for one of the ministers, and his nervousness reaction reveals his corruption to the King, who deals with the minister especially brutally.

This is a major turning point for the King, who becomes more and more dictatorial with his ministers, while at the same time, he reveals more and more of himself to Gong-gil. Later, the Prime Minister instructs the troupe to perform a more standard tragedy -- a thinly-veiled story revealing how his (still surviving) grandmother and two of his father's consorts conspired to have the King's mother killed. The grandmother and consorts were in attendance at the performance, and Gong-gil played the role of his mother. The King, caught up in the performance, flies into a murderous rage and kills the two consorts while his grandmother, panic-stricken, dies of fright.

Of course, it can't end well. Jang-seng resents the King's relationship with Gong-gil. The King's ministers and his own consort conspire to have Gong-gil done away with. And even the Prime Minister realizes that things have gotten out of control.

The film is apparently the highest-grossing film of all time in South Korea. The film's producer told us that he really isn't sure why. Period pieces, apparently, don't generally do well in South Korea. But audiences seemed to really respond to the film. And I can see why, because it's really quite beautiful. And tragic.