A Frozen Flower (Ssang-hwa-jeom)

A Frozen Flower (Ssang-hwa-jeom)

Director: 

Ha Yu 

Writer: 

Ha Yu

Starring:

Jin-mo Ju
Ji-hyo Song
In-seong Jo
In-beom Ko
Tae-won Kwon
Ju-hwan Lim
Ji-hyeon Min
Ji-ho Shim
Wook-hwan Yeo

A “Budding” problem Blossoms into huge BATTLES.

Rating:  8.5 of 10 stars. 

Showing 10-11 @ 2:15 PM  & 10-13 @ 8:30 PM

Korean films used to be an “after-thought” in world cinema.  But, developments in recent years have let to increased respect & recognition for the increasingly-wide variety, quality & output from there (as shown by the 2009 Jury Prize win at Cannes for the movie “Thirst”).

When we think of widely-expansive epic films from Asia, we normally tend to recall various Chinese & some Japanese films. I think you can now add Korea as deserving to be on that list. This film has sweeping scope, epic battles, great scenery & settings, beautiful costumes & a truly effective & affecting “pot-boiler” that will “stick” with you:

The setting is the Goryeo kingdom in the 13th century (& partly based on a reported true story). A young king (JOO JIN-MO) --  the 31st in his line -- has been forced to marry a woman from the powerful Yang kingdom to cement relationships, but the couple has not been able to conceive the needed male successor. Part of that is due to the fact that the king has more of a romantic interest in a young man named Hong (ZO IN-SUNG) who he’s named to be Chief of his Guards. The talented Hong is deeply devoted to the king, returns his romantic feelings, & the whole situation is a badly-kept non-secret in many quarters (especially those of the Royal Guards).

Many nobles are emboldened to try to oust the king for their own ends, & this leads to many finely-done, impressively-choreographed BATTLE scenes with swords, arrows, etc.  While the king & Hong are both accomplished warriors & musicians, it’s apparent that an “heir-line” must be formed to secure the Kingdom.  Thus, the king comes up with a plan to utilize the only man he trusts – Hong – to “hook-up” with the queen & try to provide a male heir that can be claimed as the King’s.  This turns out to be a very BAD idea, due to massively unexpected consequences of the reactions by the Queen (SONG JI-HYO) & Hong.

The other King’s Guards are unsure who to follow as a proper leader, there are more PLOTS against the King involving groups from other Kingdoms (including a relative of the Queen), & you thus have a “dim-(rising)-sum” of increasing problems & after-effects.  The unusual thing is, the strange-sounding story really “WORKS”--  it’s believable, you grow to have CONCERN about the participants, & the outcome becomes Opera-like in its stunning conclusion.  It’s a beautiful, action-filled movie, wonderfully filmed & a real surprise.

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