Thursday, July 20, 2006
Finally watched King and the Clown today. After wanting to for about a gazillion years, yes.
For those who don't know, it's the highest grossing korean movie EVER. Lots of people say it's about gays and what not, but after watching it, I think it is so much more than that. See, it doesn't really matter whether or not there was something going on between the two minstrels and/or the king, what really struck me was, firstly their dedication to their art, and boy, that was really something.
Most of the time, what they were doing required a lot of excellent use of body language. It was farcical, and it exaggerated many stereotypes, which was fun to watch.
The movie was also wonderful in it's continuity and it's multiple parallelism, be it between the beginning and ending scene, or the scenes where they acted as blind men, there is a general flow in this movie that is both coincidental yet not. Overall though, it gives the movie a full closure, a sense that things have come full circle, and that the curtains could then close.
The part towards the ending was excrutiatingly tragic though. I suppose it was because there was a sense of balance -- While one was overwhelmed with sadness, the other one was full of strength and optimism.
Gong-gil was so irritating though. He was like sailormoon or something. Like: "Oh don't goooo ;_;", and ohhh I'm so sad I'm gonna kill myself. Blah. Right, ok, I get the fact that you're the girly one in the movie, but seriously, it was your selfish desires that got everyone else screwed up anyway. Still it's hard not to like him. He's a wuss but he's a sweet wuss. He's generous with his sympathy, and his gentleness is calming and hard to ignore.
It's hard to hate the tyrant king too. He's living proof that there are always two sides to a story; that in life there are just too many grey areas. He's a lustful bastard, and yet he's a pathetic soul.
One of my favourite characters though, was the king's official...the one who brought the troupe into the palace. I think he's the most overlooked character, but at the mere mention of him, people will immediately go "Oh yeah...", and start going on about what a good man he is. And really, he is justice personified. He is an observer, and a very wise man. While there may be times when one may think that situations were not controlled by him, it turns out to be the exact opposite. Could he have ordered the troupe to be caught and flogged on purpose? Certainly he spent enough time observing the characters of the different troupe players. He is a man who dearly loved his country, and one cannot help but respect him for that.
However, Jang-Saeng is the most endearing character by far. The things he had to go through for Gong-gil...I don't even want to talk about it. But mostly, what I love about it is his sheer willpower. He grits his teeth through every hardship, he laughs at his own sad fate (though to him it may not be), he never gives up and he never give in...He's a character to be respected. I especially loved the ending scene when he walked the tightrope while talking about 'blindness'. The play on words was incredible. Every bit of him was a true performer, every bit of him was the anti-hero. Ain't it people like him who inspire us to be more than who we already are?
One reviewer metioned that "The King and the Clown overpowers viewers with its irrepressible power and charm. Indeed, a general impression of force is the one thing audiences are likely to take home with them before they can make sense of any details". I think that is a great way to sum up the movie, it's powerful, and not one second passes without you being gripped by it.
Watch it, that's all I have to say.
9:02 PM
