The King and the Clown

The King and the Clown (aka: The Royal Jester) turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me. I was looking for any kind of slashable live action films on youtube.com and stumbled across this Korean one. Not knowing anything about the storyline, actors, etc., I decided to watch it anyway. And it exceeded my expectations!

Now, if you are looking for hardcore male-on-male action, this is not the movie for you. There is not much in the way of physical sexuality in it at all (except for one short kiss near the end), but the emotional feelings that the men have towards one another are heart-achingly beautiful.

The director, Joon Ik Lee, honestly created a masterpiece with this one. The actors were very well-cast, with great chemistry. And I have read that the movie was a box-office hit in South Korea--grossing the equivalent of $600 million U.S. dollars!

As for the plot, it is based off of a true story, during the reign of a Korean king in 1504. During this time, two comedic street performers (known as "clowns") are struggling to live off of their show earnings. Through a series of events, these two close men (is their relationship brotherly love or something more?) end up entertaining the king with their skits, who is very pleased, and somewhat taken with one of the clowns in particular. I am not going to give away anything else, since I hate spoilers myself, but I will say that this movie is packed with jealousy, sacrifice, love, hate, anger, angst, and more! I recommend this movie to any shounen-ai fangirl, or anyone else, for that matter. It is a terrific movie that deserves more attention in the U.S. than it has received. The main character, Lee Jun Ki, is especially HOT! He plays the very feminine street performer who must choose between the attention of either the king, or of his best friend. Watch it!