A Frozen Flower (2008)

A pool of emotions one can dive into

I watched this on a whim. I didn't plan on it at all and despite the 32747 other shows on my plan-to-watch list, the synopsis of this caught my eye so much that it skipped the list.

To begin with, I was shooketh just 20 minutes into the movie because I totally did not expect it to be as explicit as it turned out to be. And to make that explicitness into something so artistic and pleasing with emotions so raw is not an easy feat that this movie could accomplish. Enough that I could not bear to skip the stuff I usually do.

The movie did end up leaving me frustrated, but for me, it is worth the turmoil it put me through for two hours. One should be in the right frame of mind to watch this, and I totally was. It is filled with angst, raw passion, and fear of loss, and it was such a beautiful depiction of the above-mentioned emotions. The political intrigue was just enough to support the main plot while not being too confusing. In my opinion, this movie was a perfect balance between romance, angst, pain, politics, and betrayal.

Definitely worth giving a try. (Make sure you are comfortable with bloodshed and nudity before you decide to give this a shot)

Leggi di Più

Disappointing and senseless

This movie wasn't worth watching. I don't understand all the good reviews, I don't get what people say that I didn't

I'm not putting a synopsis because I watched it and it should be known, instead I decided to write a review to hopefully erase this movie as a whole from my mind.

What makes this so bad?

Well, none of the relationships between the characters are healthy at all, and the only character just a bit redeemable is the king. The king is heartbroken and it makes sense, he has a motive to do what he does because he feels betrayed and invested a lot into the chief. The chief is an idiot, he is given chances and continues to deceive the king so in the end, I was ok with him dying. Honestly, I was ok with any of the characters dying, I didn't feel any attachments.

I thought to myself that maybe the chief was only lusting over the queen because he never had that experience. Instead, the movie decided that he LOVED her? I don't care if it was him only saying that, I don't want to use my brain to read into this movie more than I should. The queen and the chief didn't love each other, as much as the movie wants to convince us that they do. And how do they convince us? The queen and chief just have s*x about 1/3 of the movie, honestly, it might be more. I thought this was going to be more epic, that the budget would be utilized for stunts and action and anything worth watching. Instead, it was just about the closest thing to being p*rn as it could. It was explicit, it was beyond explicit, they made love more than they needed to and the only argument for them doing so is that it was to show how their loved progressed.

This movie.. I would say it's ok, but I can't find anything to like except the king's acting, he did a really good job. On the other hand, the characters were.. they weren't characters. It was blank and lacking and none of them had a backstory. Especially the queen, it was infuriating to see her seduce the chief knowing what could happen, and eventually when the king found out they still decided to do the deed? Why? Did they love each other? How was I supposed to know they love each other if they didn't even talk about ANYTHING? What did they want to do if they fled? It seemed the only reason they wanted to leave was to have s*x in peace. The acting for the queen was stale, her whole character wasn't a character, she was just the queen that didn't get laid only until the chief did and then she liked it so they did it as many times as they could. The chief and queen were both selfish and not worth me rooting for so I didn't.

I don't understand. It was wasted potential, but then again I don't even know what the goal of the movie was here. What was the purpose of this? The chief in the end didn't love the king and I can't say that he loved the queen because that wasn't deserved either. It left with the chief and king dying as if I was supposed to not expect that or feel bad.. it had so much love making scenes that didn't need to be there. There was NO reason that the queen and chief loved each other, they didn't talk to each other or bond over anything except making love. That's all this was, it was frustrating and felt dirty to watch undeserved love making scenes. It wasn't fun at all, it was something I wish I could erase from my mind. That's the end of my rant, I warned anyone coming into this thinking it's some sort of epic movie that's exciting and heartbreaking. This movie isn't, this movie is a waste.

Leggi di Più

I did not need to see that much skin...

This is definitely not a movie to watch with your parents in the room. It is graphic. It has sex scenes, fighting swords, bloodshed and more. It is definitely not for the faint of heart.

The relationship triangle that is happening in this film makes your heart break. Watching your main character's all suffer from the internal struggle of who they love versus what is right given the social norms of their time is very interesting. It's not a genre I ever thought I'd see LGBT representation in but I am very glad this film exists.

Watch it if you want to see love and death, all in the space of 90-ish minutes

Leggi di Più

OH MY GOOOD!!!!!!!!!!

This was so unexpected!!! I did not expect this from an Asian drama, much less a K-drama.
The first thing that grabbed my attention were the sex scenes. I mean... I saw tongue in kissing scenes... breasts... naked bodies. I was shocked into silence.
Other than that though, the plot for the most part was good. The only thing I hated was the ending. It was disappointing and an almost waste to a good movie.
The king has groomed this man since childhood into being a homosexual. Now that he (the king's lover) has experienced an intimate relationship with a woman (instigated by the king) and starts catching feelings and questioning his sexuality, the king becomes jealous and practically goes into a frenzy. How can you expect to instigate a sexual relationship between two people and not expect their emotions to become involved??? Because of the king's greed and possessiveness a whole lot of people died.

Leggi di Più

Shocking on an unimaginable level

First of all I would like to say that of all the historical drama or movies this one left me speechless. On the first few minutes I was already shocked at an unimaginable way. I didn't see what's coming. As I stride along the story, it slowly shows the absurdity of life -- homosexuality, treason, love triangle and secret affairs. I got some confusions with the emotions maybe because I'm not able to relate so much with the homosexuality theme but still it's a really good one, maybe with less explicit scene. I think it would be better if the characters like the Chief and the Queen was able to express more of the love in a different way other than doing 'it.'

The casts are really plausible. They've done their best to give life to the characters that they portrayed. It was too convincing that I even thought they're not just acting. Blank Jihyo really shocked the hell out of me. I was watching her on Running Man and I didn't expect that her acting skill is this superb. I really commend her for that. Specially the King and the Chief, they took a very challenging role and was able to conquer it.

I really love the sound of traditional instruments on historical dramas. It gives off peace and uniqueness. It intensifies as well the theme of the story.

This might be part of my medium priority in re-watch.

Leggi di Più

This was one of my first Korean movies. I almost never read the genres of a certain drama or movie so I was very surprised at the mature content and all the sex scenes. I was always a fan of Song Ji Hyo. She was always and still is one of my favorite Korean actresses, especially since I've been watching Running man. Although I very much liked her in this movie, since it was not a typical role she plays, I was a bit disappointed at how unused her character was. I'd love for her character to have more dialogue. I never was a fan of Joo Jin Mo but this was one of his best roles. I hated his character, it was selfish and arrogant, but Jin Mo played it soo well. Jo In Sung was also spectacular in this role. All in all the cast was awesome, especially with the addition of Hong Jong Hyun and Song Joong-ki. The story was great also. Will I rewatch this? Maybe I don't know, but there most certainly is a big chance. I do recommend to watch it BUT beware of the sexual content if you have a bad heart or asthma.

Saruman approved.

Leggi di Più

Discovered this 17 years later. beautiful tragic love story.

Things you need to know about me: I am a total and complete prude, I don't watch sexually explicit shows, I hate tragedies, and I hate gore. This is all of those. And it was exquisite. (I did close my eyes during the gore -- and there's a lot.) I've watched in four times since then.

This is an intense, emotionally intense sexually explicit/sensual love story. It is highly erotic, and those scenes are beautiful. (and smoking hot too.) But even their glances at each other are sensual. It's not just the sex.

It does not have a happy ending, and yet I was satisfied with the ending. More on that later.

For the homosexual relationship, the king considers the ML as his lover and clearly loves him. But it is a relationship with complete imbalance of power. You can see that the ML had no choice from the beginning, has lived with the king for years since he was a little child, is under his complete control, and is effectively the sex slave of the king. Subtle glimpses of this throughout -- his humiliation that he has to wear the delicate feminine clothes that the king gifts him in front of the soldiers he leads, and the mocking he endures by the other soldiers, who all know he is the "chosen one" of the king.

He is forced by the king to have sex with the FL, but you know that he is intrigued with and interested in her beforehand -- his glimpses of her before this event, and his gentleness in their first forced encounters reveals that. By the middle he is torn between knowing he is owned by the king, and his own love for the FL. He has guilt and despair knowing he is hurting the king. You see ML's experience of Stockholm syndrome throughout the film. In contrast, the two heterosexual main FL and ML experience a sexual explosion that leads them to experience a deep love for the first time in their lives. You see his utter bliss of finally feeling loved and sexually fulfilled after being with the FL in different situations, not just sex. By the middle of the film, you see the ML pursuing his own desires and wishes, and not just being used. He pursued the FL (not just sexually) as opposed to his relationship with the king, where he is the pursued, and, now knowing what love truly is, he has to bear it. For the FL, who is also being used, she also discovers that the ML loves her, and is blissful and fulfilled for the first time.

The three main actors are unbelievable in their parts. The ML actor is INCREDIBLE. His every subtle expression -- you have to see the film more than once to see how brilliant he is.

Why I was satisfied with the ending: despite knowing that their life-changing love will end in tragedy -- the ending is beautiful -- because both the ML and FL realize that the other loves them (no one ever has before) they both stand up to the king and speak their truth, despite knowing the consequences. Their love for each other has given him courage and power to break off his shackles and stand up to the king, no matter the cost.

It's utterly beautiful. I highly recommend it.
Sincerely, the utter prude with delicate sensibilities.

Leggi di Più

Love can really make you lose everything

Boy oh boy ,love is blind.
I feel so sad for the king.
What I learn here is never ever trust anyone when it comes to love regardless of how much you love them always give a benefit of doubt because it can come back to hurt you at the end .


Don't give your all ,even a sister , brother or friend can take that someone you only love .

Only the king had sent someone .this so sad

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........ The end I can't say no more am hurt

Leggi di Più

This Korean bold and intense sageuk was an extremely profound yet nerve-wracking experience for me. I wasn't even breathing in some parts of the movie. The king of Goryeo, more or less very cruel, because that's how it had to be in history to stay in power, from the Koryo dynasty (after which Korea got its name) is homosexual, has a princess from the neighboring kingdom of Yu-an (Yuan) as his wife, and has fallen in love to Hong, the young commander of the Kunryongwe Royal Guard. The Guard is blindly devoted to the King for life and death, and so even Hong completely submits and submits sexually to his King. But the heir to the throne, the descendant, the heir, is still not on the way, because the queen is without conjugal sex, which her husband and wife are not capable of. That's why the King orders his faithful lover and friend (even if he doesn't want to) to impregnate the Queen at night. This is where the whole story actually begins.
I think the film will not be for everyone, after all the style of East Asia is quite different. The film is about love in various forms (true, extremely obsessed, devoted, about friendship) and is very raw, cruel, erotic (but deliberately for the sake of expressing lust, not aimlessly, the whole work is a hundred times deeper than just sex). Excellent design, traditional Korean music, beautiful, which helped to understand individual scenes and characters' feelings, processing. The actors had to undergo demanding training in fencing, fighting, riding horses or playing the traditional Korean musical instrument geomungo. The story and the hardships of the main characters ate deep not only into my soul, but to the core of my bones. I thought I couldn't come across anything that strong for me here at GT. And lo and behold, a film that was unforgettable for me, sad and, in the end, scary, and on other world servers with a high rating, it hit me so hard. I'll get back to him soon ... (well it already happened, I lasted one day)
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Tento korejský odvážný a intenzivní sageuk, byl pro mě nesmírně hlubokým, ale také nervy drásajícím zážitkem. V některých částech filmu jsem ani nedýchal. Král Goryeo, víceméně velmi krutý, protože tak to v historii muselo být, aby se udržel u moci, z dynastie Koryo (po ní získala Korea své pojmenování) je homosexuál, za manželku má princeznu ze sousední říše Jü-an (Yuan) a zamiloval se do Honga, mladého velitele královské stráže Kunryongwe. Stráž je králi na život a na smrt slepě oddána, a tak i Hong se sexuálně naprosto podrobuje a podvoluje svému Králi. Jenže následník trůnu, potomek, dědic, stále není na cestě, neboť královna je bez manželského sexu, kterého její choť se ženou není schopen. Proto Král nařizuje svému věrnému milenci a příteli (i když ten nechce), aby chodil královnu v noci oplodňovat. Tím celé klubko příběhu vlastně začíná.
Film si myslím, že nebude pro každého, přeci jenom styl východní Asie je dost odlišný. Snímek je o lásce různých podob (pravé, extrémně posedlé, oddané, o přátelství) a je velmi syrový, krutý, erotický (ale schválně kvůli vyjádření chtíče, ne bezcílně, celé dílo je stonásobně hlubší, než jen sex). Vynikající výprava, hudba tradiční korejská, krásná, která pomohla pochopit jednotlivé scény a pocity postav, zpracování. Herci museli podstoupit náročný výcvik šermu, bojů, jízdy na koních či hraní na tradiční korejský hudební nástroj geomungo. Příběh a útrapy hlavních hrdinů se mi zažraly hluboko nejen do duše, ale až do morku kostí. Myslel jsem, že tady na GT už nemohu narazit pro mě na něco tak silného. A ejhle, film pro mě nezapomenutelný, smutný a v závěru až děsivý a na ostatních světových serverech s vysokým ohodnocením mě tak zasáhl. Brzy se k němu vrátím ... (no už se stalo, vydržel jsem to jeden den)

Leggi di Più

The most overrated piece of garbage.

I mean none of the characters are anything to link or relatable and the acting is literally just the worst.

I'm sure these actors must have gotten better now but this is just like the worst thing acting wise which is why whatever skin ship there was and I feel like people are liking it merely because it's Korean and with gay characters. I mean some people have acted in it who are popular now so people think this is good I guess I don't know.

Personally, just watch the Lee Joon gi movie, The King and the Clown, that one is just perfect!!! Ten star rating perfect.

Leggi di Più