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Books, ideas and travel from a rational, gay perspective |
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this page written / last updated August 2009 All Rights Reserved Text: World Copyright Martin Foreman Copyright of pictures acknowledged where possible Having problems viewing this page? It performs best in Mozilla Firefox. 
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A Frozen Flower scroll down for The King and the Clown and No Regret
Final verdict? Worth catching if it's on at your local arts cinema or in your dvd store, but it won't make world's hundred best films. As for the title: a traditional Korean reference to heterosexuality, apparently; well, it's more poetic than the British equivalents of bonk and shag... For a longer review, see Han Cinema.   
marks out of 10: social interest: 6 gay interest: 7 film quality: 7 IMDb entry November 2008 scroll down for No Regret
This is partly because film's vision encompasses not only a gay relationship, but a panoramic view of mediæval Korea, the tensions of palace intrigues and the lives of traditional players. These players, always male, were a feature of rural life as late as the second half of the twentieth century. Poor and transient, they were more likely to find be partners with each other than with women, forming strong emotional and sometimes sexual relationships, one partner usually traditionally male, the other, biri, long-haired, delicate and effeminate. Thus the relationship between Jang Saeng and Gong Gil that forms the heart of the film remains understated. We see the emotion that binds them, we see them sleep together but we never see them kiss or make love - and if we are wise, we do not want to do so. This is not a film about sex, but a film about love, and at the end of the day love always takes precedence. The King and the Clown is a moving, many-layered film, sumptously photographed and with compelling performances not just from the leading actors, but from every member of the cast. It flows with ease from comedy to drama, from the personal to the political, from the mundane to the mighty. See it in a cinema or in a darkened room with your phone switched off, your computer screen dark and tissues to hand - you might need them.
marks out of 10: social interest: 6 gay interest: 7 film quality: 8 IMDb entry Korean movie database April 2008
One of the characters - young, heterosexual and male - seems unfazed by the fact that his roommate is gay, but all the rest, gay and straight, either express or imply that a man who falls in love with another man is destined for misery. Sure, horny men can meet in a private karaoke lounge - in this case with the unsubtle moniker of Xlarge - where they can sing and drink and the paid companion can dance around in his ultra-white underwear, but that seems to be the full extent of the commercial gay scene from this film's perspective. Comments on the web suggest that this film is a step forward for RoK gays in that makes them visible to the society in which they live. Every nation comes to this point at some time in its life - compare The Boys in the Band, one of the first plays and films to show gay men to a broad American audience with its collection of self-hating failures. No Regret may get low marks for optimism and political correctness, but that's beside the point. Many other features redeem the film, quite apart from the fact that the main characters are played by handsome actors who often remove their shirts and trousers... The plot is simple - young men meet and fall in love - but the sensitive script, direction and acting all combine to draw the audience in to this story. We start with Su-Min's perspective; we sympathise with his poverty and his solitude and while a more extravert sex worker might leap at the chance to be the lover of a young captain of industry, we understand his reserve and reluctance to get involved with someone who apparently wants to control him with money. In time, however, Su-Min is won over and our attention is drawn towards Jae-Min, whose will is crushed by his family - an almost irrelevant phenomenon in the West but still an awesome power in much of the East. We both despise Jae-Min and feel for him, and that emotion turns to fear when Su-Min's anger turns against him. By the end of the film, however, we feel for both characters and forgive them both their flaws. And we feel their love. In the Occident, where we are all out and proud, where gay bars and businesses flourish, where most of us can marry with the approval of family, friends and neighbours, where gay sex is everywhere, love appears cheap and easily replaced. For Su-Min and Jae-Min, however, it appears that this is their only chance of happiness. If it fails, the future holds only the relentless pawing of drunken clients for Su-Min and the cold dead hand of marriage for Jae-Min. This love is not given; it is earned. It is precious and frighteningly fragile. As screenwriter and director Lee Song-Hee-Il creates a sombre film, following a dreamlike opening sequence portraying perhaps the only moment in Su-Min's life when he was truly happy. The soundtrack is bare - the characters live in a busy city, but all you hear are their conversations and occasionally the mood is enhanced by a notes on piano or guitar. Occasionally a scene in a factory or on the street shows strangers who have no part in the film, but mostly we see only Su-Min and Jae-Min, Ga-Ran and the others who work in the windowless karaoke. The mood is consistent, except for a jarring ten minutes near the end, when the director borrows a gruesome scene from some generic horror film. Fortunately the final scene returns us to the poetry that has preceded it.
marks out of 10: social interest: 6 gay interest: 8 film quality: 7 IMDb entry Korean movie database East Asian gay and transgender films 
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