Tag Archive | movie

A Letter To Michael Berg, From An Ignorant Blabbermouth

Then what am I supposed to do with your story, Michael Berg?

You don’t blame Hanna for loving you. You do not blame yourself for loving Hanna. What, then, am I to make of your sad love story? Okay, so it wasn’t wrong for her to love you, 21 years her junior. But of course only a very few will agree with you. Look at that survivor who described her as having been brutal to you. But you said so yourself that the only love we are not responsible for is the one we have for our parents. I’m glad that it came from your own mouth.

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I hurt for you as I listen to you talk to me in your telling of your story. A fifty-year-old professional coming to grips with an emotion he first experienced for a woman 35 years ago sure speaks something for the love a man has for a woman. Dreaming of her, associating her with the feeling of coming home, describes an attachment stronger than a mere adolescent crush, or even passion.

Michael, for all your words, I really would have loved to hear something from Hanna Schmitz. I wish you were older when you met her then perhaps you would have seen more, have understood more. I feel like if only you didn’t keep your age a secret from her then she would have driven you off, out of her life for good, even if you’ve already been lovers for a week. But even then many people would still want to say that a full grown woman seducing a seventeen-year-old is just as immoral.

Again, what do I really know of Hanna to even suggest that she was immoral in her relationship with you? In what way did she benefit if indeed it’s true that she used you? For all you know the fact that you have become happy lovers has brought her an equal amount of sadness, too.

However, what does her relationship with you have to do with her being on that court trial, and you meddling with her life afterwards? You were not supposed to know anything about her in the first place. Michael, she would have continued on with her silent life had she not heard from you again. Why the hell did you have to send her those tapes? And then not even telling her of how happy you were to receive a note from her when it was obvious that you, of all people, were the one whom she wanted most to be happy with and for her? Would you be excused when it would be said that you had no idea anymore whatsoever if she still loved you in the way you knew she did? But my goodness, Michael Berg, you were microscopic in deciphering the amount of effort she put into that note she sent to you. Didn’t that give an indication of her reaching out to you?

Numbness. Numbness. You always give numbness as the excuse. If a Corrie ten Boom is possible then why couldn’t it work out with you for the sake of the great love you had for her?

Ach, but it’s all over now. I’m ranting needlessly. Like the prison governor I can only feel anger towards the both of you — to you for being a hypocrite about your love for her, to her for not having the strength to deny you, not then, not while she was in prison, and not even when she was about to have a new life. That woman who spoke so callously about Hanna did not realize that you, Michael Berg, have also been brutal to Hanna.

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You say that the generation before you failed in confronting evil. You are the same as them. You just kept on protecting yourself. Even when you discovered what made Hanna the way she is, still you didn’t clear it up with her. Compare your level of literacy with hers. Compare her access to “enlightened” discussions with yours. Why couldn’t you have found the way to come up to her and inform her of her accountability for leaving you brokenhearted? I’m sure you’ve heard of something like with-greater-knowledge-comes-greater-responsibility from somewhere.

Just like the way she asked the judge, what else could she have done when she already knew that the boy she fell in love with was growing up without her, and fast? She knew she didn’t belong to your world. Why would she hamper your growth? That, then, would have been brutal. She actually did you a great service, by disappearing from your life.

Haven’t you heard from somewhere, too, that once you start something you have to take responsibility for it? You led Hanna on by giving her false hope. You made it seem like you have forgiven her for leaving you. You made it seem like you understood her for having ended up in that court. In your having reached adulthood didn’t it occur to you that it was your innocence that attracted her to you? That with you she found a picture of what she would have liked to be had fate been different for her? We do not even have an idea why she became like that in the first place, or why she didn’t take the effort to remedy it for all the earth time she was in existence before she met you.

If you said that coming to visit her was like coming home, then couldn’t you visit her again? Cutting your ties with her is denying your existence, too. If you don’t blame anyone for all that’s happened then perhaps a celebration of your love for each other could awaken from your frozen heart.

Viktor Frankl, too, came from Auschwitz. He saw among his companions the same phenomenon that happened to Hanna, i.e., that the feeling that nobody out there is eager for one’s well-being hastens one’s non-existence.

The Reader _read all I do not know what to say of your story, Michael Berg. Since Hanna did not talk to you, since she didn’t compose narratives, and since she doesn’t even have a collection of songs you’d have an idea she likes then how can we speak of a person’s choices to whom a world of letters cannot speak to? Did you even wonder what made it an imperative for her to guard over her dignity? Can you even begin to imagine the depravities she had to survive and rise from just so that one day she’d be able to make little dance steps in front of the man she loves? You know what, Michael, with your renewed readings to her you pried open her armor and then you left her exposed to the elements.

Maybe we can just say that it’s the price she had to pay for not knowing what to do then. But what can one do when one doesn’t even know that one is supposed to know? How can one guard oneself from the ignorance of ignorance? When you pried open her armor she was beginning to forgive herself. She was learning to face the condemnations. She was having her spring.

What saddens me, Michael, is that it’s possible for X to stand in judgment over Y whom X knows loves X, while all the while denying that a judgment had been passed.

I rest my case, or whatever it’s called.
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This narrative is a reaction to Bernhard Schlink’s 1997 novel The Reader.
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Chungking Express, pineapples, the lotus

Mar21

30 tins of pineapple. Why pineapples? I don’t know. I did not try to understand. I just watched. The lighting is too dim for my liking. Too much movement. Blurs. Too crowded for my liking. Smell of people. Smell of street garbage. Filthy walls. At least it doesn’t snow in Hong Kong. Tattered washrag hung on window grills is a familiar sight to me. When clear water has been wrung from it then I can trust on its cleanliness, its readiness for the next use.

The blonde really really looked out of place even from the start. Her hair looked all wrong, an oversized prop. She reminded me of my favorite Saint’s gesticulating disguise.

What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be doing your homework.

Sorry, I can’t stop watching just yet. Kaneshiro Takeshi looks really really neat. And he’s ready to fall in love again. I can’t imagine him and the blonde together. Ah. Maybe that’s why she asks for his age. Arrrgh, Cop # 223 is just 24? 25? I heard from somewhere that Hong Kong cops are very capable. They have to be, with trouble always threatening to happen all over the place. (Sorry, but this is the impression I got from James Clavell.) I’m not sure if it still is the case (i.e., excellent police force commensurating for constant threats) because I don’t hear of them nowadays as much as I do of the other countries’. What do I know about Hong Kong, anyway? I haven’t looked it up since the time that I paid attention to Dirk Struan and his rival Brock, and then to Ian Dunross immediately right after that, he who was given the face of Remington Steele. But at least by then I came to know that Hong Kong’s waterways are not fit for swimming in. Or is it just that one where they had to jump to save themselves from burning on board? That was a romantic moment for, uh, I forgot who… But boy was it dirty. One gulp of the water would, uh, dirty their, uh, stomach? intestines? What about the eyes and the ears?

… I’m supposed to be doing my homework so I have to do this fast…

I thought of comparing Chungking Express with Brillante Mendoza’s Serbis but somehow I don’t think I can, or should. They’re both unforgettable films, yes, of dreamlike quality. But the first is of upbeat daylight while the latter is of fading twilight. Both do not cover up the filth of the city, yes, telling things as they are. Both employ shadows much, yes. I wouldn’t really choose to watch a film with lots of shadows and which reminds me of the real smell of a really crowded city but I like both films. Although Serbis left me wistful, ashamed that I live in comfort and still fret while many have to work hard at keeping their world from falling apart, it told me to be careful that I don’t talk about things just for the sake of saying something. There are reasons behind reasons behind reasons behind reasons of things. Chungking Express, on the other hand, left me giddy. Like the way The Longest Night in Shanghai did. I need to first become a student of filmmaking before I could get over my dislike of the use of so much shadow and dark lighting. If it has lots of shadows then I don’t want to be dragged into the kind of deep thoughts that will never get to see the light of the sun. But whereas The Longest Night in Shanghai was obviously a romantic comedy right from the start, with Chungking Express I didn’t know what to make of it until Cop # 223 insisted that the storekeeper consider the pineapple cans’ feelings.

Chungking Express is just another face of (a) love story. As the story unfolds, as you continue to stare at the screen despite the (for me) depressive backdrop, as you continue to stick with Cop # 223 first and then Cop # 663 next, you will feel your heart finally taking a rest, then you will remember how happy you were when you were just falling in love but couldn’t talk about it with anyone just yet.

30 tins of pineapple. How could he eat all that in one go? Did I misunderstand the scene? What a kid he still is, 25 and already a cop. Calling up elementary school girl friends, his uncle, aunt, cousin. A cry baby, complaining to his dog that he doesn’t eat the pineapples with him, not the usual cool hero image. But so handsome, and so neat, so a non-cop, so un-bismirched, so not belonging to the filth of his city and of his job. And Tony Leung, so boy-next-door. So kawaii, even. And Faye Wong, an elfin who has to deafen her mind against her own thoughts.

Cop 223, Kaneshiro Takeshi, is dumped by his girlfriend May on April 1. He waits out for her until his birthday on May 1, buying a tin of pineapple marked May 1 as the expiration date every day. The blonde hires people to smuggle drugs but is duped, jeopardizing her safety. She had to act first before running for her life. They meet and become each other’s savior. He eats lots of Cesar’s Salad and other foodstuff as he waits for dawn. They part. He was already out by 6 AM running away his sadness, the exact time he turns 25. Cop 663, Tony Leung, is dumped by his flight attendant girlfriend. He hopes she comes back. The elfin, Faye Wong, works for her cousin’s street side food store. They first talk to each other when he buys Cesar’s Salad. She grows a crush on him. He’s a regular customer, a friend of her cousin, and the latter suggests to him that he tries fish and chips also. His girlfriend comes back and looks for him at his usual street corner but it was his day off. She leaves a letter. Everyone reads it: flight cancelled, it says. There’re house keys in the envelope. When he stops going to the food store the elfin finds funny ways to stay in contact with him. Then Tony Leung smiles and you’ll conclude that he’s a very handsome guy. That’s the story. I had to say it to dampen the hype. Why the film earns a full post from me requires researching before I can say something on it. So I have to forget the why part for now. There are scenes that support Hong Kong’s reputation, that anything is possible there. There are scenes that say something on immigrants, or aliens, or contract workers. There are scenes that brought me back to my home city’s open air meal spots and produce markets. Pork with rice is also a favorite among us, and vegetables in a big basket carried over the shoulders is also a normal sight.

I don’t know exactly what “Chungking Express” is. Is it a train? Is Chungking a place? Does it have a cultural significance? Does the film’s name even mean anything at all? Is it saying anything about the constant rush in an Asian metropolis? The store is called “Midnight Express”. It opens until late at night. There was a train at the first half of the story, but the blonde who escaped by it has no scene by the Midnight Express. Is the film somehow a statement of how people stay disconnected though packed together within just 0.01 cm of reaching-out distance from one another? Is it a statement similar to the message of the lotus flower, that it blooms triumphant and pristine over the muck beneath it?

Hong Kong, 香港, Xiānggǎng, Hsiangkang, means “fragrant harbor”, after all.

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Turn Left, Turn Right

added 28March2014. Other Kaneshiro Takeshi films that have inspired me similarly: Lost and Found, Sweet Rain, Turn Left Turn Right, K-20 Legend of the Mask, and the ‘drama’ series Golden Bowl. Each one deserves its own post. I have yet to discover the others similar to these. His historical/war movies are fine but preferably for me the less blood spilt the better; though I do appreciate them all the same as venues for his range of artistry 😉 ciao for now . . .

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Unexpectedly Meeting Kiyoha & Seiji, in Sakuran

Feb21

Updated April 3, 2014 🙂 All these captures from the film enlarge when clicked on ❤

PART ONE.

Sakuran (2006) is the most riotously color-full film I have ever seen. The kaleidoscopic backdrops are enough for me to like this movie. Its soundtracks are as engaging (Ringo Shiina’s album Heisei Fuuzoku = Japanese Manners). Most of them sound celebratory, some are as defiant as courageous splashes of adolescent rebelliousness, and at the correct times so mournful that they transport me back to reality all the way to the tears.

It is based on a manga, one which I have not read and so I have no points of reference other than the little that I know of Japan like its woodwork, clothing, paper walls, woodblock prints, communal bath, ground drenched by rain-pour, a field of cherry trees in bloom, a stiff sense of honor and shame. It was a very enlightening tour into a past life yet also instructive of norms that prevail. Sakuran will not pale against any comics-rendition of the life of an independent-willed girl sold and reared in a pleasure district of feudal Japan, in a courtesan house.

This is not a film for those who see all women entertainers, past and present, who dress up and perform roles like that of the geishas of today as nothing but just dispensable prostitutes. If it is approached with this mindset then the film will be reduced into just another commercial project, having profit as the worshiped purpose. The foundational but covered-up elements of soul-captivity and abandonment of alternative life choices will get trampled under the power of the intent to titillate. The heroine in this film represents those who constantly rage against their caged fate — it is her refusal to be dampened that always gets her in trouble with the others and it is around this characteristic of hers that the story revolves.

6. Seiji is behind Kiyoha _parade of Higurashi the Oiran

The Oiran Parade, which is still done until today.

For a fact, there are distinctions between Japanese women entertainers of the past and geishas of today, and other classifications I am not familiar with. This can most likely be easily surfed in the net (see the added note * below). There are those that were termed as courtesans, which connote sexual involvement, whereas geishas are professional entertainers, very expensive, very strictly trained in the well-defined structure of the traditional Japanese arts. Entertainers such as the geisha are living icons of entrenched Japanese ideals, expressions of a unique worldview set in studied harmony. They are breathing windows into a world where many would like to be but couldn’t. They are 3-D picture frames, animated paintings, enfleshed music. Though this film may not lead us down into the depths of a courtesan’s introspections it does form a bridge with which we are allowed to see a glimpse of the richness of souls inhabiting a so-called “floating world”. (added 1March14: There’s the film Yoshiwara Enjo, which is also called Tokyo Bordello, set in the 20th century that treats issues related to the floating world with more depth than Sakuran does. There’s also a legend going by the term Oiran Abyss or Oiran Edge that tells of several courtesans’ tragic fate, but I still haven’t looked this up.)

If there is one fault in the film it is that the main character has too pretty a face, a potential distraction from the seriousness of the running themes. But when seen against the fact that this is a real-life rendering of a manga heroine, Kiyoha, then the choice is perfect. Anna Tsuchiya does give Kiyoha a distinctive persona, one that is a bit different from the rest. Moreover, she does not hesitate to move the appropriate facial muscles, and admirably too, to generate the range of emotions felt by either Kiyoha the tigress, or Kiyoha the kitten and several more.

In this film is where I first saw Masanobu Ando, as Seiji, who is among my favorite heroes. Seiji is not a man of expressive passions. His role is that of a dedicated and upright businessman and overseer of the establishment. He has to have eyes at the back of his head for Kiyoha though, because he has learned early on that she is not the meek conformist. Nevertheless Kiyoha has a higher regard for him than for the house’s owners, who in turn trust him in his ability to peacefully handle her. Kiyoha’s personal little girl apprentice addresses him in honorifics, as Seiji-dono (whereas its equivalent would be Seiji-sama nowadays).

7. Sakuran_2007 the Yoshiwara main street at dawn

Unlit Yoshiwara main street at dawn. This aquarium, in the foreground, is hoisted on top of the entrance gate.

For the fans of Oguri Shun, I assure you that you’ll see his face here within a span of 10 seconds only, but it’s a face that will surprise and delight you. He made the most of the 10 seconds to make a very unforgettable appearance.

Kiyoha’s last glimpse of her hometown was with the cherry blossoms, sakura, lining the road as a madam hurries her to her new house. She enters the gates of the red district at night, when all the lanterns along the main street are lit and she, the little girl, is just as appreciative of the sights as she was with the sakura. But not for long she gets fed up with the all-women company within the enclosure and she develops the perpetual urge to run away, which she does attempt sometimes. Women can be bitches to girls who have complexes — usually girls, or any human, will not run away from where there is warmth. Plus, she misses the sakura. Seiji, who was already a young adult by then, catches up with her at a little shrine in the district during one of these flight urges. In this shrine stands a forlorn cherry tree that has never bloomed even once. He placates her and promises to take her out of the enclosure once this tree shows a flower. In fact, no sakura has ever bloomed within this entire pleasure district.

Kiyoha grows up retaining her independent spirit. She scratches and growls whenever she is wronged. She does not guard her speech or her actions as rigidly as the other girls do. She has become a streamlined rebel, conforming yet apart. Then her heart gets broken by a puppy of a man. Seiji supports her as she adds more rigidity to her back. She goes on with living, generously giving affection to whomever she likes — to little trainee entertainers, to elderly or penniless clients — she does not discriminate, and being nasty to those who violate the common codes of courtesy.

She gets pregnant by an anonymous father, then loses the baby. Seiji nurses her like a mother throughout her pain, staying up beside her bed. As she mourns for her baby Seiji’s surrender to their separate fates is palpable. Seiji was born of a “whore”, of an unknown father, and his conversation with her was analogous to a declaration of a non-obsessive love. When she woke up in the middle of the night, still physically weak, she covers the now sleeping Seiji with her blanket and then goes out to seek peace at the shrine. There only the bright moon could see and hear her, in her midnight blue kimono with a print like that of distant galaxies. Seiji tracks her down. He feels her pain and he stays put like the nearby cherry tree as he catches her sobbed surrender to a loss so great she felt like her breath was being drawn from out of her. Seiji comforts her like a father or a brother or a sister would.

They have a strong but well-guarded bond. Kiyoha is the head courtesan, Higurashi the Oiran, the main reason why their business flourishes. Seiji is the house’s chosen heir and is soon to be married to the owners’ niece. In his heart he would rather have Kiyoha, but, shikataganai, he cannot. It cannot be helped. Convention, duty, and gratitude to the couple who reared him and supported his mother prevent this. A samurai falls in love with Higurashi, puts a forest of blooming cherry trees all over the district, formally and publicly announces his intention to marry her, being rich enough to give the house the amount to offset their loss of her to him. But in her heart she’d rather have Seiji. Similarly, shikataganai, it cannot be helped. She is but a bought woman bound to the rules of the house, and a powerful samurai must not be embarrassed.

Kiyoha and Seiji, on the last of the evenings she’ll be at the house, speak their goodbyes and well wishes to each other by subdued glances and short words. No drama. No fanfare. No lingering exchanges. Their faces, softly lit in this late night, spoke loudly enough in the stillness and in the helplessness of it all.

The following morning while the fog has not yet lifted Kiyoha arrives almost breathless at the little shrine. Her face lifts a smile. There Seiji stands, staring up at the tree. A desperate storm is raging in their separate lives but they greet each other as if each day in the world will always turn out bathed in golden sunrise. Then surprise. A gift.

Domo arigato gozaimashita, Sakuran. An adolescent who is attentive of life will easily understand the plot. But most likely it will take one who has truly lived and loved to sense the delicate layers of this fairytale-like story. A non-Japanese will, of course, perceive many of the themes differently, like possibly being confused that the oiran (an artist as well as a courtesan) is more highly regarded than the geisha (strictly an artist only)*.

In the end one of its general messages could be that it takes a tremendous amount of courage to get hold of a happiness that is outside the bounds of convention. And faith, too. As Kiyoha’s first lover told her before he died, “There can’t be a cherry tree that doesn’t flower.” However, there are different sorts of conventions to be basing happiness on. Seiji’s & Kiyoha’s family in the house think they have chosen the foolish way but for me, one from the audience, I concur with them. Seiji has forever been witnessing Kiyoha raging against the world that is full of suffering, as she herself described it in one of their dialogues.

“World” meaning where she finds herself now and from which there seems to be no escape. Seiji, too, may have silently raged against the way his entire life has been, and will henceforth be, tied to the house where his mother once worked. They are like the two goldfishes living in just a few handfuls of water. Happily for them they dared that there is life outside the gilded cage (though none for the poor fishes outside the bowl). Sometimes, too, happiness is just a matter of timing, or that only those who look out for it will catch it as it passes by.

*added 1March14: Thanks to the page http://www.kawaiistudyjapan.com/?p=197 I now know that sakuran means confusion. Indeed, almost each frame is a riot to the eyes. It’s right on the film’s theme: Kiyoha’s life is surrounded by a confusion of flamboyance and artifices; she herself constantly fights to stave off confusion in her thoughts and feelings; there’s an aquarium stuck on top of the Yoshiwara’s gate defying/mocking the fishes’ inability to be suspended in air, although its primary message would have to be “captivity”.

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PART TWO. …half of the story retold in pictures…

Kiyoha leaves home.

It was night time and there was a feast when she first entered the Yoshiwara gate.

3 a. Kiyoha, fascinated at first sight of Yoshiwara at night

The sight was fascinating to her.

She keeps attempting to run away.

Seiji catches up with her at the Inari Shrine.

3a. Seiji tells Kiyoha to stop trying to run away

He tells her to stop trying to run away.

3b. Seiji shows Kiyoha the cherry tree and says he'll take her out of Yoshiwara once it flowers.

He shows her the cherry tree, and says he’ll take her out of the Yoshiwara once it blooms.

3 c. Kiyoha is punished for attempting to run away

She is punished for her misbehavior.

Kiyoha is betrayed by her lover, Soujiro.

She is punished for her misbehavior.

6. Seiji knows Kiyoha's going out to look for Soujiro

Seiji asks her if she’s ready to face anything as she stealthily goes out to search for Soujiro.

Seiji tells her not to waste her tears on Soujiro.

Seiji rushes in at the commotion.

He holds Kiyoha back.

10. Seiji drags Kiyoha away from the fight

He drags her away from the fight.

He tells her three things… Cry and you lose.

… Love and you lose.

… Win and you lose.

14. Oiran Parade of Higurashi from Tamagikuya, Yoshiwara _Sakuran 2006

Kiyoha succumbs and becomes the Tamagikuya Oiran, Higurashi. This is her parade.

It is Seiji who is behind her…

16. Kiyoha surrenders and becomes Higurashi Oiran

The Oiran, the highest ranking courtesan of the floating world, is a highly regarded person.

17. Seiji & Kiyoha, performing their roles bravely

Higurashi and Seiji, at the center of the frame, dutifully perform their roles in life.

18. goldfish hoisted atop Yoshiwara's gate

Night view of the goldfish atop Yoshiwara’s gate.

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My Appreciation for Some Film/Drama Artists and Their Work

Jan25

Yisan

This post is complementary to the post Dear Actor/Actress, I Respect You. This is a collection of my personal expressions of appreciation for some of the characters/artists and movies/‘dramas’ (here for now mostly South Korean) in the past year or so that I’ve started to turn to them for my vicarious learning-of-the-wider-world, and for entertainment, too. The fonts in pink are links to other posts in this blog. ❤

There has already been numerous “stories” I’ve wanted to speak about in this blog, to share my pleasure in them — also Japanese, Chinese/Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Filipino — but there isn’t time enough. In the mean time I decided to little by little pool some my thoughts related to them and post them here in order to reaffirm and say more of my appreciation for the hard work put in by writers, directors, staff, artists, and everyone who has put their sincerity in producing such quality work.

This little post of mine is a way of saying a BIG THANK YOU to the artists/musicians and visionaries working with the film industry who have contributed to the going-round-of-the-world, in the positive way, wherever they are and however they are doing in life now.

Every time I see a “film” I cannot help but be emotionally affected anew by the money-side of the business, just barely able to imagine for myself the financial difficulties that many of the workers/artists involved are experiencing. One “big” example that has made me very sad is the event involving the director of Taewangsasingi ( = The Legend, or The Story of the First King’s Four Gods). With that event this drama has become more valuable to me. Many a time has Taewansasingi lifted my spirits, what with the fantastic soundtracks by the superb Mr. Joe Hisaishi.

(Dae Jang-Geum = Jewel in the Palace) Jang-geum and her Dukgu ahjussi (“uncle”)

I feel bad that “stories” and story-making is dealt with around the world like just any other mass-produced commodity. People keep imbibing these products, films and dramas, because the stories of our lives and the stories we see/hear about talk to each other. These stories are us, our lives (Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes has THE BOOK on this: Women Who Run With the Wolves). The way that greed takes advantage of our need for stories is one ugly reality. My wish for us all story-lovers is to be of help in propagating the pro-biotics, the good germs, the life-supporting elements that we pick up from these stories and anything associated in their making, and to identify those that kill the heart and so be able to deny their power in our lives.

[I hope to add more thoughts here, and pictures also, when I can have the time. Some pictures here enlarge when clicked on. Thank you to the original owners, the makers of these films. ❤ ]

Tree_With_Deep_Roots (2-3).mp4_snapshot_17.00_[2013.10.16_23.39.51]

a young King Lee Do solves a giant sudoku

for: Tree With Deep Roots

I’ve seen enough sageuk and I say this is among the top.

young King Lee Do (Song Joong-ki)

It fills the sensibilities much more than it pulls at the heartstrings. I am grateful to those who were involved in making such a valuable treasure — I don’t care if it’s just mostly fiction. What matters is that it talks about humanity and is a champion of compassion, openness, and hope. The cinematography + music is refreshing, too. Congratulations to all who have worked hard on it, and it’s not only the actors/actresses but are also all those myriads of people not seen on screen. Banzai! Ganbei! Salud! Prost! Mabuhay! Long live 뿌리깊은 나무 ! Hooray!

the adult King Lee Do

⇐for: Han Suk-kyu

Sir, I fell in love with your King Lee Do / Sejong in Deep Rooted Tree ( = Tree with Deep Roots). I’m so inspired by the character you projected. Though he had much sorrow he was also surrounded by superb people, his friends. I said to myself, wow, a king who makes an impossible dream come true together with friends who in turn love him not as a king but as a person, not the least his son the prince. It’s out of this world yet I find it all realistic. I look forward to seeing more of you on screen, sir. I wish you the best, and much happiness.

Jang Hyuk as Dae-Gil in Chuno

for: Jang Hyuk⇒

At first I thought you were just some show-off actor when I first saw you in Chuno. But seeing you in Tree with Deep Roots raised my respect for you into unprecedented heights. 🙂 Thank you for putting your heart into your work, Mr. Jang Hyuk. May the many people you inspire by the characters you play be blessings to you as well. I wish you the best.

Muhyul decides for Lee Do

for: Cho Jin-Woong

I already admired Mr. Cho Jin Woong when I saw him in Chuno, with the role of an upright soldier ordered by his direct superior to betray the same. When I saw him again in Deep Rooted Tree in a yet another heroic role I decided that I’d like to watch more of his movies/dramas. Though all the actors/actresses in Deep Rooted Tree are superb, and I really fell in love with the king, !and I’m awed by the storyline, but I think Moohyul is among the most regal sageuk personas I have come across. Every time Moohyul appears on screen I would think ‘handsome’, ‘elegant’, ‘proper’, and he’s the best dressed in the drama, too. However, it’s his tiny facial expressions that qualify him as human enough to be the king’s buddy == their teamwork/friendship is impressive … (Sir, I wish you happiness in your work. Salud!)

for: Kim Sung-hyun

… awesome character in Tree With Deep Roots (as legendary mercenary Kareupaeyi) … wish you all the best!

for: Painter of the Wind

Dan Won teaches Hye Won how to do a mural

DanWon-HyeWon = the best love story. It’s comparable to the best of love stories there is out there. I believe it’s due largely to the very authentic acting. Their body language speak volumes and the music (Song of the Wind), especially in Episode 4 when they were doing that mural, is smack on the mood. I found myself wishing for a Sonsaengnim like Kim Hong Do 🙂 There’s so much to see and hear (wow lots of music) in here. 20 episodes is too short for me 🙂 I’d have loved to see Dan Won and Hye Won work together for a loooong time, make beautiful art together, make up for lost time, enjoy their special relationship with the king. They still have so much to learn from each other. I love it that their personalities match, and that’s why they always have fun when they’re together, and they understand each other without too much words. So much symbolism and parallelisms.. and I also love the art school guys’ support for Yun Bok and Sonsaengnim. I must mention Hyung/Orabeoni Young Bok as an ideal bff, and even lover…he’s the sweetest… Congratulations to the author, writer, artists/musicians, and directors for a story that will live on. I’m so happy for all the staff/workers and actors/actresses that were involved in this production — you’ve accomplished something very valuable and relevant…I’ve been so touched by its gravity and respect for the audience…thank you very much…I wish you all the best…blessings.

Portrait_of_a_Beauty _fireflies Yunbok & Kangmu

fireflies Yunbok & Kangmu, in Portrait of a Beauty

for: Portrait of a Beauty (added 20Feb2014. This film was based on the same novel as Painter of the Wind, above, was. The story is, of course, treated differently here, but is just as haunting.)

Is the movie good? Yes. Is it worth discussing? Yes. Would adolescents understand it? No (they will flounder among the themes; the story’s sense will simply pass over their heads). Was it made just to make money? No. Is it credible? Yes. Where do the depths lie? 1) In Kim Hong-do’s confession of how he failed his student. 2) In Yun-bok’s integrity, in expressing into paper the contents of his/her mind and heart with full honesty. 3) In the film’s reliance on visuals rather than on verbal elaborations. 4) In showcasing the contents of a human’s heart: jealousy, greed, violence, generosity, openness, frailty, trust, courage, lasciviousness… How does the entire film strike you? It’s a fusion of a novel-storytelling (I feel like I’m watching in front of my eyes the words that I read that sound in my head) and a painting (I will never forget the golden sheen of the lovers’ skins, and the general lighting with which they were encased inside that building as they laughed/glowed in each others’ company) and an anthropological study (of a society where females have very limited range of freedom plus that they exist to cater to the needs of the males, where the males were like demi-gods, where royalty is as distant as the moon, where societal class was the measure of a person’s worth). What is the over-all mood? It has a cadence with which one won’t be disillusioned into expecting a happily-ever-after ending. One sits in front of the screen with gravity. For me, I was constantly feeling watchful, because of the constant threat of Yun-bok being uncovered. Then I felt protective of the love between Yun-bok and Kang-mu, where Kang-mu (by actor Kim Nam-gil) was freed from his class thereby becoming just another man reveling in his love for a woman, and Yun-bok’s true form was uncovered and she became a female just like any other human female. Then I felt disgust over the whole cannot-be-helped situation, in the weakness of the respected teacher, in the arrogance of traditions. If the darkness of the night is the context/environment within which Yun-bok’s art/”beauty” exists, then the fireflies are 1) Yun-bok being able to draw out from within herself and transfer onto paper her perception of life; 2) Yun-bok and Kang-mu’s love, where Kang-mu the mirror-maker is himself the mirror with which Yun-bok saw her real self.

Lee Bang-ji, warrior (musa), Ddolbok’s teacher (sabunim)

for: Woo Hyeon

drinking buddies, Sujini & ahjussi (Lee Ji-ah & Woo Hyeon)

Dear Mr. Woo Hyeon, I immediately became your fan the first time I saw you in Taewangsasingi. Now I’ve just seen you in Deep Rooted Tree and your character Lee Bang Ji is among my favorites ever. I’m looking forward to your character in The King and the Clown which I plan to watch next. Please stay healthy and thank you very much. Mabuhay po sila!

for: Kim Sun-Kyung

Ma’am, I saw you first in Taewangsasingi interpreting a very strong character, though regrettably the storyline had to kill Ho Gae’s mom early in the drama. Crime Squad was where I saw you next and I really appreciated the way you incorporated being funny, scary, and cool into the character of a cop who is always ready for action. Crime Squad is among my favorite drama series. I look forward to watching your other roles. I wish you the best in life!

Park Jung-hak & Kim Mi-Kyung, as Gen. Go & Bason, in Taewangsasingi

for: Park Jung-hak

Sir, I really really love your role in The Restless 🙂 It was a superb projection — even as a woman myself I don’t think I could outshine your elegance and finesse in there — and it made me see that you’re among the best actors! I wish you the best, always!

for: Kim Mi-Kyung

Ma’am, my hats-off to your Ba-Son character (Taewangsasingi), such a far contrast to your Dae Jang Geum (Fugitive of Joseon) … my respect …

for: Crime Squad (Detectives in Trouble)

hungry after the fall, Sae-hyuk & Min-joo

I rated this drama 100%. I like the personalities/roles of Song Il Guk and Song Ji Hyo here (plus the others in the main cast also). Despite that she calls him ‘Ahjussi’ still Park Se Hyuk and Jo Min Joo are right for each other, they’re funny together, not sticky sweet to each other, each passionate of their respective jobs, supportive of each other, accepted as a close-buddy-pair by everyone around them, and so their ‘romance’ wasn’t a source of ‘stress’ for me. Their bond, and the scenes where they are together, was a ‘comfort zone’ to me all throughout the drama, since the scenes have crimes for base stories. The crime-storylines cannot be underestimated also, especially the last case, on which I really gave my full attention to. I am relieved that Se Hyuk and his team are shown to be competent cops who sincerely care for people, and so for me this itself is the drama’s statement, that evil intentions does not pay. Wow, the actors/actresses here are among the best, including those who played small parts. I salute Mr. Jang Hang-Seon (as Retired Team Leader Kwon) and Mr. Kim Kyu-Cheol (as Jo Sung Tae) for roles that are unforgettable to me. This is among the dramas I am never tired of watching repeatedly, the music is good, there’s always something to laugh about, there are many very important life lessons to be picked up, though I do speed thru some gory scenes (!!ironically I learned a nice Korean phrase from one of them: “jal-hae-sseo-yo”, meaning “Well done!”) The bonding within Se Hyuk’s work team and the hilarity in Min Joo’s workplace also endear this drama to me (thank you Shocking.com!) !Park Se Hyuk and Jo Min Joo! Aja! You’re my favorite pair! Thank you ‘Crime Squad’!

for: Chuno (The Slave Hunters)

Chuno_23_1. yangban-in-disguise converse with slave-rebel 12

Eop-bok

Seolhwa

I’d still say NO NO NO to violence but in this series, notwithstanding, I see balance restored, demons vanquished, hope nurtured. My topmost favorite is the slave Eop Bok. He’s as subdued as the foundation of a huge edifice, having learned to keep to himself that he used to hunt tigers. Of the females my favorites are the slave Cho Bok-yi (she projects an aura of hopefulness despite her dismal status and she neither looks down on slaves nor envy the nobles — she has an inner joy that shines through her ragged appearance, especially that she’s in love) & the silly entertainer/prostitute Seolhwa (her beauty lies in her “simpleness” and I’m happy that she falls in love with Dae Gil). The fast action-music is super! I’m infatuated with it as much as I am with the hot male leads. On a serious note, this series has been enlightening for me, on the way “slaves” and “nobles” see themselves and the world around them, on the distance of the “gap” between them so much so that it’s difficult for somebody of one class to connect with or to get across to the other. The friendship of the 3 buddies Daegil, Choi & Wangson is really admirable. I’m very glad I decided to watch this one not so much because I was entertained but because I learned much about human beings. My many thanks to all who worked hard in this drama. If you’re a fan of Mr. Jang Hyuk then I heartily recommend Tree with Deep Roots.

for: Lee Han-Wi

Mr. Lee Han Wi is definitely one of my favorites. I’m always glad when I see his face on screen, like having that feeling of coming home. I first saw him in Damo, then in Chuno, then in Freeze, then in War of the Arrows — there’s always something ‘hard’ yet ‘soft’ about his character portrayals. I wish Mr. Lee Han Wi the best, and good health!

for: Damo (The Legendary Policewoman)

Ah, Damo, you broke my heart, then you restored it, then broke it again, then offered to mend it. Millions love you already because of that, so what else can I say? 🙂 You’re one of the best romantic sageuks out there. I wish blessings to all who have been blessed in the struggle to get hold of what your story had to say. The struggles and the triumphs of the 4 main characters (for me they were Yoon, Ohk, Sung Baek, and Soo Myung) was awesome. The supporting cast did not lag behind in prominence, too. I greatly appreciate the presence of Mr. Lim Hyeon Shik in it even for the short time that it was. Ah, Damo, I’m still looking forward to analyzing the movement of your storyline. 🙂 As of now I’d say the Yoon-Ohk, Ohk-Sungbaek, and Sungbaek-Soomyung tandems, as well as the camaraderie in the Left Police Bureau, are worthy of envy. May the good influence of Damo live long!

for: Kwon Oh-Jung

Sir, you’re definitely definitely hot in Damo 🙂 I wish you happiness, salud! [added 19March2014: At last, by Empress Ki episode 36 I got to see the whole of your face and it felt so right. I hope the hairstylists don’t pull your hair down over your face again…]

for: The Restless

I watched this movie because of Jung Woo Sung — his eyes mesmerize me. I got a very nice surprise when I saw Mr. Heo Jun Ho in here also — I’ve become a big fan of his since Jumong and so I always think of him as ‘Haemosu’ 🙂 I treasure this movie The Restless because of ‘Haemosu’ PLUS Mr. Park Jung Hak’s portrayal of his role — which is another very nice surprise. What impressed me most here is Ban-Chu’s regality, especially the effect of his hair. However, it’s Yi Gwak’s hair that I fell in love with 🙂 its ‘softness’ complements his eyes. I had a big laugh when somebody asked him of what he ate that made him so tall 🙂 ! The panoramic views, the lush grass, the petals, and the firefly-like lights are delightful…they echo the plot’s insistence that it’s love that changes the world.

for: Ji Jin-Hee

It’s been almost a decade since I first saw you, Mr. Ji Jin Hee, and after so many dramas/sageuks that I’ve been through you remain a big favorite. I watched the movie Paradise because of you and afterwards I found myself so inspired by it. Thank you very much, to you and to everyone involved in its making. Your parents must be very happy to have you, indeed. Please continue to be in projects that will encourage the ordinary everyday person. May God bless you.

for: Lim Hyeon-Shik

Sir, thank you for your portrayals in Dae Jang Geum (as Jang-geum’s Dukgu ahjussi, seen sitting with her at the second topmost picture in this post) and Yisan (the eccentric painter who teaches Songyeon). You’re one of the best! I wish you happiness and health 🙂

for: Seo Beom-Sik

Just want to say a WARM HELLO to one of my favorite actors ever! Ever since I saw you in Jumong I’ve always looked for you whenever I’m into another sageuk/drama and always am happy whenever your face appears on screen regardless of your role. I wish you all the best, and blessings! [added 19March2014: I knew it! Since you are cast as antagonist to Goryo’s King Wangyu ( in Empress Ki) then most likely the character you play will be killed in battle. I was not wrong. Phew! Well at least I got to see that you’re doing as great as ever…]

for: A Frozen Flower

I’m glad I watched this film. I looked at the struggles of the three main characters. I find it awesome, how they handled it. The three actors did very well, always a tug of war between suppressing or expressing emotions. The king is frightening, the queen is courageous, Hong Lim is true to himself, wonderful set design and costume, and music. I think the ‘flower’ also refers to the CAPABILITY of the queen and of Hong Lim TO LOVE AS PERSONS, as an individual, that would have remained ‘frozen’ had there been only the king as the object of that love (Hong Lim as lover and the queen as wife). Had it remained so then Hong Lim would not have known passion of the like that he had with the queen. And the queen would not have gotten pregnant (you know what I mean). Unfortunately for the king an un-freezing/thawing/warming happened between the two persons closest to him and, well, he just had to do something to re-freeze it, so to say. I agree with xxxxx, that “the interpretation of the ending will depend on the person.” For me I choose to see it as a happy ending for both the queen and Hong Lim because somehow, given the context vis-a-vis the capability/power of the king, both Hong Lim and the queen evolved into his/her “own person”, they became ‘persons’ and not just ‘bodyguard/subject’ and ‘queen’, and they also came to know how it is to truly/selflessly love another “person”.

and also:

… yeah I’ve been wondering too about the flower that’s been “frozen” ..

sword dance, A Frozen Flower

It does make sense that the queen’s facial expressions have to be “frozen” and yet have to express emotions at the same time, and I think she has done it very well… she has to project coldness and distance because this is what’s expected of her in that setting…
Hong Lim was VERY COURAGEOUS when he sent the honeysuckle tea to her, and again when he gave her the necklace—a mere “servant” does not do that to his queen, because in this setting doing that is like shouting out your love, nevertheless the queen answered when she wore the necklace in public—it was a very safe way of shouting out her love, in which Hong Lim would only be the one to understand the message…

Hong Lim’s sexuality has also become “unfrozen” when he fell in love with the queen… instinctively he just kept mum about it when the king asked him how it was to become a “man” at last— he gave the king an evasive answer to protect all three of them, knowing that the king would be jealous of the queen and he didn’t want her to be a target of such ill-feelings, knowing that the king would be hurt and he didn’t want to betray the king even in that way, and for himself guarding that his newly found wonderful “freedom” isn’t “crushed” at its bud…

A Frozen Flower main cast _Jo In Sung _ Song Ji Hyo _ Joo Jin Mo

Jo In-sung, Song Ji-hyo, & Joo Jin-mo: the main cast having fun promoting their movie

What makes this story unforgettable for me is the portrayal of choices of victims of circumstance. I love it that Hong Lim and the queen did come to the point of being willing to die for each other’s sake—both had nothing at first, but eventually a self-sacrificing love blossomed, became unfrozen. Also, that Hong Lim might have felt betrayed by the king when he was ordered to father the queen’s child—I mean, he might have looked at sex as an expression of deep affection—and in a sense it would have bothered him that the king himself, the object of his affections then, would order him to a “betrayal” (one can’t simply switch affection on and off) …the saving grace is when he sees that the queen is alive, who with his growing baby inside her is the redemption of his castrated state, and so was willing to forgive the dead king, and be reconciled with him at his last breath for old time’s sake…

for: Seong Woong

🙂 if the doctor had not been there I really wished you for Da-in 🙂 but too bad the social stratification didn’t allow you to pursue her affections for you, because I saw that Da-in had a strong attachment to you also 🙂 — in The Fugitive of Joseon (Mandate of Heaven)… anyway, your Do Mun character is unforgettable to me … I wish you the best!

Park Sae Hyuk_Jo Min Joo .Crime Squad. ep12 (6)

Jo Sang-tae under investigation

for: Kim Kyu-Cheol

Sir, thank you for your Jo Sang-Tae role in Crime Squad … that has touched me, plus that he brought together all the main characters in the drama, at the finale … I’ll always remember your poignant scene with Jo Min-joo in front of her house 🙂 I wish you good health and the best!

for: Jang Hang-Seon

Sir, I’ve seen you only twice — Taewangsasingi and Crime Squad — but you’re already one of my favorites 🙂 Please stay healthy for a long long time … !Ganbei!

for: Strongest Chil Woo (Chilwu, the Mighty) Chil Woo ending

?who cares about the criteria of a “good” drama? For me this one’s so lovable with or without Eric and I’m counting it as among my favorites 🙂 The cast is super, many of my favorite actors/actresses are here. Even though for several their parts are small, still I will treasure this drama because of them. Personally I feel like for the 20 episodes I’m seeing the personality of Eric in drama form: serious depth and bursts of silliness 🙂

for: A Werewolf Boy

This film is so human. I’d score it more than 100% if I could. It doesn’t matter that I had to depend on the translation. It’s not the fantasy or the scientific possibility part that attached me to this film but it’s the way the folks involved handled the situation. The mother, the neighbors, and the children are simply lovely people. Even a non-Korean like me can clearly appreciate that. This question plays in my head about it: what-if-it’s-true? If it’s indeed true then the story is simply beautiful, as beautiful as the lush garden that Chul-soo keeps in his home.

for: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

!ahahaha umuulan ng kagwapuhan! ( = a raining of handsomeness) 🙂 this drama is so student-life, albeit set in sexist Joseon era, but that’s just how it was 🙂 I’ve had lots of laughs in here, it’s so entertaining as long as one can overlook the usual dragging dialogues. I’m in Lesson 7 now and I’m not gonna breathe until I finish this one, and then I’m gonna watch it again over vacation for in-depth analysis !students rock! 🙂

for: Tajomaru

It’s a fairytale — sort of, where the protagonists and antagonists keep switching. Beautiful scenic shots. Lovely lovely costumes. There’s tragedy all throughout but I like the ending, because it makes sense and it sets Naomitsu free from a horrible life under the shogun. I’m currently infatuated with Oguri Shun so any film that has him I’d definitely “like”. 🙂

for: The Woodsman and the Rain

I have to write it in capitals: THIS IS A VERY GOOD MOVIE. This is my most memorable Oguri Shun character because this is where I first saw him and immediately I warmed up to him. Of course, Mr. Yakusho Koji is in his usual best. This movie is warm-hearted, funny, quirky, uncluttered, cozy to the heart. It reminds me of woodblock prints, seemingly monotonous but is actually rich and detailed if only one looks close enough. I’ve seen many other Oguri Shun characters after this but I love him most in here — and with his natural unruly hair! This is about family, friendships, authentic rural neighborliness, and film-making, too. If you love people, and if you also like anything Japanese, then this film is a treasure.

———————————————

A Sleeping Forest

… that’s it for now … … I’d love to talk next of Kaneshiro Takeshi (Golden Bowl, & more), Kimura Takuya (A Sleeping Forest, & more), Eita (Toad’s Oil), Secretly Greatly, Ahjussi, Jun Matsumoto (Smile), The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail, Seven Samurai, Zatoichi (2003 film, especially on the geisha siblings and The Stripes tap dance at the end), Sakuran, Petal Dance, … … currently re-enjoying the soundtracks of Return of the Condor Heroes 2006 … currently trying to watch Gu Am Heo Joon and Su Baek Hyang (theme song here is lovely) whenever I can … had just sped through the jewel Water Bloom and I highly recommend this old drama to anyone who loves the simple things in life or anything Korean or has Song Il Guk in it … set to watch old Keanu Reeves films plus his two newest, Man of Taichi and 47 Ronin …

Sakuran

… really want to find the time to make a nice post featuring Park Sae-hyuk, Jo Min-joo, Jumong, and Ye Soya ♥

♥

♥ —————————————-

added 9January2014:

for: Kisaragi

As usual, I wasn’t surprised at how this film ran, after watching several Japanese films already. It’s simplicity in complexity and complexity in simplicity, a constant harmonious motion from one point to the next, so artful, so tasteful, so subdued and successful in highlighting where it should — and great acting! I’d say the story borders on the absurd, but that’s storytelling for you. I was glued to the screen without meaning to, because I was skeptical at first and thought that I’d fast-forward. But then it just happened that didn’t realize I was mesmerized until the film’s almost over. If you’re an Oguri Shun fan it’s a must-watch. The heart of the story, though, is very realistic and should be taken with respect and gravity. It’s a statement on the personal lives of the faces in the entertainment industry.

added 16Feb2014:

for: King’s Daughter, Su Baek-hyang

… (by Episode 89 –> ) … waaa! Kuchon dies! I don’t like this! waaa!

Kuchon says farewell to step-daughter Solnan

I really can’t comprehend how Solhi turns out like that when her parents were like angels. Solnan-Kuchon is the best step-father-daughter relationship I’ve ever encountered on screen. However, it’s the king and Jinmu that I worry most about, and on what effect it will be on Myongnong when he finds out that it’s for his and his father’s sakes that the king did all of these…I laughed loudly when I read somewhere that her blood boils whenever she sees Solhi on screen. Mine simmers. It’s unbelievable how twistedly selfish this character is. I really have no sympathy for her. Unlike many other sageuk antagonists, this spoiled brat has no excuse at all for her behavior. She’s just fortunate that Kuchon has not abandoned her, ever since then, despite seeing through her lies. In the real world there are indeed kids who end up that way despite being born in a nice and caring family. So, she better not have her cake and eat it, too, because I’m rooting for the happy endings for the nice people around her, including Jinmu. Would it be too much to hope that Solhi finds the right path somehow? Poor, poor, girl. She missed the opportunity of being good friends with one of the nicest queens I’ve seen on sageuk-land! As for Solnan and the nice prince, I really really wish for your happinesses 🙂 Please, let them end up together. [added 19March2014: !ek! the smileys are now pudgy little faces 🙂 so kawaii! ah, I just finished the 108th episode, the final. well, what can I say of the ending?:everything was put into their places. it felt like I have just done reading a legend that will give me sweet dreams. I had thought that the way Solhi was resolved is rather the easiest way out. But then again I remember that in our class discussion in school me and my classmates rather saw that us humans actually have no free choices. It’s because there are factors affecting our behaviors of which we are not aware of, of which we have no control over. Still, I’d say Solhi had it really easy, lucky girl. But then if love is at work no power can go against it. subaekhyang. centennial fragrance. lovely story ❤ ❤ ❤ <– see I was right heheh the hearts are now available! ❤ nice WordPress, thanks 🙂

a very scared heir to the Yuan empire

Anna taste-tests Bongi & Dong-hae’s recipe

for: Ji Chang-wook

hah… “Bakit ngayon ka lang dumating sa buhay ko?” ( = “Why is it that you’ve come into my life only just now?”, and it’s a nice song, too) ahh… Ji Chang-wook-ssi, I like you now despite of your very pretty face 🙂 Baek Dong-soo didn’t convince me then; it’s this scared-ly Yuan emperor that did it, this adorably pale awkward spoilt rich kid, enough to make me go through Dong-hae’s life (Smile, Dong-hae) while waiting for the rest of the episodes (of Empress Ki), enough to make it fine for me that Sungnyang does not end up with the gorgeous Goryo king …

Dong-hae, Anna, & Bongi’s family

Mr. Ji Chang-wook, I wish you the strength to choose film-roles that will provide positive inspiration for the everyday person on the street, especially the youth 🙂 may you prosper in your choices and plans whatever they may be in the future … banzai! [Please see also about My Too Perfect Sons, below, after a bit of scrolling… thanks ❤ ]

Secretly & Greatly co-stars

added 25Feb2014:

for: Park Ki Woong

Hello Mr. Park, your character in Chuno Park Ki Woong _in Chuno made me think “Just another wannabe actor taking advantage of his good looks” because appearing as a villain like that shouldn’t be such a difficult job, and I especially detested how that character betrayed my favorite Eop Bok. But then I saw you as among the good guys in Secretly Greatly, in a subtle-multiple-layer character that you did very easily despite your pretty face, and so I thought I judged your face rather harshly. I am very sorry, Mr. Park. 🙂 Peace. I’m looking forward to appreciating your work again in Gaksital Park Ki Woong _sweet and I’m now preparing my heart and my mind before watching it, knowing that I will get involved in the story and I will not escape its effects on me 🙂 Mr. Park, please remain the sweet guy that I have found out you to be. Secretly and Greatly Kamsahamnida 🙂

… I will find time to write about Secretly and Greatly … I need to find a way to salvage it from the glaring violence that occupies much of its time … [added 23June2014]

added 2March2014:

for: Wu Xia (Dragon)

… this 2011 movie, Wu Xia (or Dragon), says it is neither the past nor appearances nor parentage nor affiliation that makes a man … it has the stars Kaneshiro Takeshi, Tang Wei, and Donnie Yen set against the backdrop of an obscure Chinese village where life is simple and sweet … it features two kinds of family life: one is full of love and peace, the other is as gruesome as hell … if you plan to watch this movie then it’s best to find time for it because it deserves an undivided attention … it’s like a dish that has been richly flavored by subtle additions of an array of condiments and spices … what one can take out from it depends on how much of life one has already come across … it is neither shallow nor simply entertaining, because it remains as something to be pondered about long after you’ve seen it … this poster featuring Kaneshiro Takeshi’s face says the truth about it …

added 4March2014:

for: Emergency Couple

Baby Gooki

(as of episode 11 15) !ahahaha I totally understand why this drama is so beloved, coz it’s also making me grin with glee from ear to ear just witnessing the developments 🙂 I wonder how the story will end. Whether Jin-hee ends up with the awesome & handsome chief [ ❤ he is the actor Lee Pil-mo, more about him below, in → for: My Too Perfect Sons] or gets back with cutiepie Chang-min I hope the other guy can end up happy, too (is that possible? !haha) I’m happy for Song Ji-hyo because she’s doing great here but I do hope she gets more rest … I’m a bit worried that she looks like she’s not getting enough sleep … I really admire this actress 🙂 I can spot several events here that are similar to Crime Squad & I’m just delighted at the coincidences (having a meal together with Chief Gook/Park Saehyuk & where he secretly gets amused at her; she shops for a gift for Chief Gook/Saehyuk at a clothes store; she’s comfortable & nimble in footwear without heels; she has non-flamboyant but trendy/cool wardrobe; she’s struggling to prove her worth in her job) … I wish the best for whole team that’s making this series refreshing, intelligent, & fun to watch! ~~And please don’t pressure Baby Gooki to work! 🙂~~ !NO NO NO NO! I just saw baby Gooki cry! Don’t put him in a situation where he’ll possibly cry! ~~Or else remove him totally from the series! You can’t use a baby this way! Arrrgh!!!~~ <– I’m sorry. I think that was very strong language there. I still feel strongly against babies crying for no reason, but at the same time I understand the situation. [added 22March2014: By episode 16 baby Gooki is fine. I have a post on it, here, where I also share a few captures of him — has been updated and includes those until episode 21.]

for: My Too Perfect Sons (added 14March2014)

This is a 54-episode family type drama. I’m in episode 13 now and its magic for me has not waned. This series has been cracking me up since the beginning. I still don’t know how it ends but as of now I am convinced that I have found another jewel. I had no idea before I started watching it that it’s this good. I have already cried a load along the story but please don’t be put off by this. It’s a drama after all. I appreciate these tear-inducing parts because they help in making the characters more real-like. Also, many of these for-cry episodes act as removers of sting from the nasty characters. Thus I am not stressed out by any one character here, making me appreciate more the unfolding of the story. So it’s not all silly laughs, and it’s not even an all-sweet-flow because there’s lots of nagging from all sides that personally I would be exasperated many times a day had I been living among them.

this thumbnail zooms in greatly when clicked on

The story revolves around a family that has 4 adult single sons, of which the eldest 3 are professionals and are being nagged by their mother into marriage. I have put here photos of the main cast because I don’t have the time now for writing much about any and each. If you’ve been around quality K-dramas for a while you’d recognize that most of these faces are among the ablest in the industry. Names on the upper rows are the artists’ names, while those on the lower rows are their character names in this drama. I ended up here in my search for other Ji Chang-wook (the emperor in the current Empress Ki) and Lee Pil-mo (the ER chief resident in the current Emergency Couple) characters. If you like these two then My Too Perfect Sons is a must for you (incidentally, it’s Ji Chang-wook’s first drama). I already have lots of love for each of the main characters (except Choi Soo-hee, who has appeared only once so far hence the audience still has to get to know her). If, like me, you’d want to know more about ordinary folks’ lives in present-day South Korea then you’ll be charmed by this series. Don’t expect, though, that what you see here is an accurate description. It is a tailored presentation, after all. But I have warmed up to it this much because it’s near to the normal family situation where farts, burps, dog poops, and blowing of noses are part and parcel of living with loved ones within close proximity. There are lots of bond-drinking, too, but thankfully none has thrown up on another yet. I hope there’s none of this here, hahaha. However, there was already something similar to this in one of the episodes. That one also cracked me up. The menfolk here are as crazy and as whacky as the womenfolk. This is among the rare K-dramas where I am not irritated by a bitch-type or a meek-type character. Yes, both types are here but somehow they manage to come across as bitch/meek with a substance.

No one’s paying me to say things here. I’m just sharing my joy with you 🙂 I’m going back to watching episode 13 now. Have a super day! (Thanks to asianwiki for the My Too Perfect Sons main cast photos.)

>added 19 March 2014. Superb. I have just finished the watching the drama. I relished every episode of it. I’m smiling like the Cheshire Cat right now as I’m writing this update. My Too Perfect Sons did not disappoint me until the end. I now confirm that this is among my favorites. The story of the Song family, of their 4 handsome sons and of the people involved in their lives, was carefully crafted to showcase family related events so as to encourage the viewer with the message that no matter what the situation is living shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It’s because in life no matter what the situation is unexpected events could always turn up and they could lead us to paths we never thought we’d take. Ahh, I’m so sleepy now I can’t think much anymore. I’ll just describe the entire drama this way: it’s like a cuddly teddy bear, big, soft, cushy, and warm. If I have to choose a most favorite character then it would be Song Gwangho (by the great actor Mr. Baek Il-seob), the father of the 4 sons. Anyone who has a father like him can’t be anything but a happy child, and anyone who has a child like him can’t be anything but a happy parent. But the rest of the main characters are also lovable in their own unique ways, including Miran the boys’ cousin ~~who’s not in the photos above~~.

I now count this as among my treasure of ‘comfort’ dramas, stress relievers without fail, the others being:

❤ Golden Bowl (Japanese) [background theme: bowling],

❤ Hana Kimi – Taiwan [background theme: a girl in a boys’ school],

❤ Gokusen-1 [Japan, whacky boys’ class + whackier teacher]⇒⇒,

❤ Crime Squad [police work & a journalist],

❤ The Legend (The Story of the First King’s Four Gods or Taewangsasingi) fantasy-myth,

❤ The God of Study [down-to-earth teenage kids and their awesome school teachers]⇒⇒,

❤ Take Care of Us, Captain [aviation & admirable characters of the 4 leads],

❤ Return of the Condor Heroes 2006 [wuxia-fantasy],

❤ and, hopefully Emergency Couple [medical] based on episode 15 so far.

Kaja! (let’s go!)

♥

Johnny Mnemonic Revisited

Jan17

Keanu Reeves as Just-Johnny = Johnny Smith

When the 2021-setting sci-fi Johnny Mnemonic film came out in 1995 320-gigabytes seemed to have been an enormous amount of data, akin to one’s impression of how much the Library of Congress holds. Of course it holds much much more than that, and 320 GB is paltry nowadays when terabyte external drives are stacked on shelves much like choices of fruits or potato chips in a grocery store. But Johnny Mnemonic will always be something big for me.

I saw it during my getting-to-know-Keanu-Reeves-days many years ago, when I didn’t even notice that the Just-Johnny role doesn’t need much acting skills. Which didn’t make me conclude that Keanu Reeves couldn’t act, thank goodness. Whatever could be said about him what remains is that this actor projects respectable charisma and he’s among my enduring favorites.

Johnny Mnemonic was disturbing to me then, and even now after I rewatched it, for the fact that I felt that it used the most extreme avenue for information transfer: the human brain. It was disturbing to see that it could become possible that the brain encasement be legitimately violently invaded for electronic purposes.

brain functions by studyblue.com

Yet while I was rewatching it I realized that the idea of using the brain for induced memory storage is fantastic (even) without foreign-object implants, like that chip that Just-Johnny had.

The induced-memory/ies would just be existing in the neurons themselves. The human brain has more than enough “space” to hold such extra memories — this with the assumption that we use only about 10% of its capacity. But please excuse errors in my statements here. I’m not a brain expert; just a thought dabbler. What’s sure is that the brain is a little understood organ of our body.

In another way Johnny Mnemonic can be seen as an exploration into the wonder of the human brain, brought into popular media. However, the violence in that film seemed to have downplayed this feature. That’s another thing that imprinted that movie into my psyche — it was violent. Stabbings. Bazooka hits. Big city filth. Monster companies and disenfranchised population. A courier job that traded childhood memories for a brain implant. A strong antagonist is dressed as a preacher, and it’s only now after I discovered that he’s Dolph Lundgren that his scary effect on me has lessened.

Recently I noticed that when I download a video I’d get only images and no sound. Sure enough I found that other people are having the same problem as I do and the discussions on the solutions is replete with jargon that had me jacking up my logic fast or else I wouldn’t be able to catch any of the drift.

TRON 1982 protagonists

Thankfully I understood enough to realize that there’s nothing wrong with my codecs and I need not uninstall anything. That in fact it’s not my doing. Incidentally I had figured out earlier that the safest choice, for me at least, is the webm file. I used to choose either flv or mp4 but they’ve become more of miss than hit for me. So far so good and I hope there’ll be no more seemingly-malicious hitches anymore, and forgive me if they aren’t malicious at all but most people out there seem to think so. This takes me back to Johnny Mnemonic.

What’s malicious in Johnny Mnemonic’s story is that the big-time company/ies block vital and can-be-easily-had information from getting out into the people. But here’s the third reason why it remained big time for me: a dolphin’s brain is a main conduit for information capture and release. If a dolphin could do that then how much more a human, though there’s the mention of the sonic waves that we can’t detect to consider, which gets me a bit puzzled now because they’re not electromagnetic waves. I could have heard it wrong. Oh, well, at least I took to the dolphin faster than Just-Johnny did.

TRON 1982 poster

Now my thoughts are threatening to go whichever way, because suddenly while I was writing the paragraph above I thought of TRON and his fight against the Master Computer. But I can’t accommodate TRON here now or I’ll get off my track.

I should be talking about my wonder of the human brain here, which basically is what Johnny Mnemonic has tampered with. Way back during my paperback-novel-reading days I got introduced into the wonder of the travelling bard of the ancient Celtic societies. He’s trained to memorize his people’s knowledge through songs and stories and it is through him that subsequent generations learn of their past. He’s responsible for training one who will follow after him and in this way precious knowledge is not lost. In that story that I read an antagonist hit a bard, causing his skull to be broken (sorry about that, but I had to retell it like that).

The author lamented the tragic loss of all those lengthy sagas and lore, all stored within that helpless brain of a now lifeless mystic. I did cry when I read that and it’s among those paperback-scenes that I will never forget. It’s like experiencing a world where all information within books and libraries have been burned down (which thankfully got saved in Aeon Flux in glass-like panels, but I can’t talk of Aeon now…)

a druid, bard, or poet

Going back three paragraphs past, I was about to say that an okay-functioning notebook doesn’t get examined by me until I notice that accessing files and webpages are getting frustratingly slow or something’s not like the way it used to be. By looking for causes and wanting to overcome my frustration I get thrown into a world of fanciful jargon, like my newest vocabulary: splitter. If you’re not into computers then don’t worry if you don’t know what this is, yet. Without anybody to help me with computer troubles I have already figured out that I could survive just by learning from the web community itself. I’ve discovered that it’s not only me who’s having this or that problem and that there are lots of people out there willing to help out. Beautiful beautiful world.

Now, what I was about to say again is this: that as much as a single personal computer is like a brain [!break! I’m listening now to Joe Hisaishi’s First Love and I’m going berserk because I didn’t know it’s his and it’s among my favorite sound tracks, this one in The Legend/Taewangsasingi 🙂 ]… as much as the computer is like the brain the cyberspace is also like a bigger brain. But then I’m a member of the cult of the human brain and I do believe that it’s more wonderful than the web, as much as I believe that human cloning will never be successful.

a druid, bard, or poet

If, just as in TRON, it’s possible to have all the body’s particles be digitized — and that means a one-to-one coding has been achieved — then that means memory locations can also be specified. But my argument is this: the neurons are not fixed entities but are rather, like all the human cells, dynamic. If it becomes possible to be accurate on the permutations of the totality of neural functions then memory functions can also be tracked. I doubt if this is possible, much as I doubt if it’s possible for a successful human cloning. A cloning of the physical parts, maybe yes, but the human is not only cells and tissues. Cells and tissues by themselves will not work unless there’s a “something” else that is added (e.g., in a specifically comatose patient), and then it’s a fully functioning person. I did ask my organic chemist classmate about this and he said, yes, modern technology can now successfully produce a human clone. I did ask my teacher where the soul would come from, and he said, well, God can work in indirect ways. But I didn’t press anymore because I didn’t want to compromise anyone with my fanciful speculations. At least what’s clear is that the manifestation of a genetic trait is the function of groups of genes plus the environment, a topic yet little understood nowadays.

The jargon that computer experts use just throws back at me the fact that information handling is a very specific arena. An mp4 is a world away from an mp3: one engages both my vision and hearing while the other has no visuals at all. This specificity is what our brains deal with all the time, a coordination of visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive, nociceptive, thermoceptive and chronoceptive information handling, and simultaneous reactions, and more. Don’t be stressed about the 6th to 10th terms; they’re also new to me 🙂 . It’s all extended to the nerve system, hence throughout the body, at micro-world speeds. There’s storage and garbaging, filtering and enhancing, recycling, dissolution and recalling — all the complicated stuff happening in just seconds within 1 person, 1 baby, 1 elderly, even 1 dolphin!

Dolphin in Johnny Mnemonic

Haah! Now I’m irrevocably lost and can’t return to Johnny. But as this post gets disseminated to individual brains out there via cyberspace then small chunks of sense here and there among the paragraphs above will be perceived by one person or another. Bastante. I’m satisfied with that. As much as I wanted a coherent composition I didn’t exert enough will to muster the will power to do so. Nevertheless, the mind isn’t confined to just logic, the kind that has a neat row of arguments. Intuition and random functions are also important features, and they sometimes manifest in one wanting to stop crazy studying for a moment and go configure into words a collection of recollections, like this one here.

It’s now Yiruma playing with his lovely lovely A River Flows In You. I wish for a river to flow within you. I wish everyone a peaceful day/evening and may you be the blessing that you wish to be.♥

♥ Muchisimas gracias to the owners of the illustrations above.

♥

On True Friendship

Dec31

Chuck & Wilson in Castaway

“True friendship holds the other accountable and treats the other with consideration.” – Lohr.

This means that consequently gestures have to be reciprocal, or it’s no friendship at all.

Gordie, Chris, Teddy & Vern in Stand By Me

However, there’s no general rule because situations are all different from each other. The giving and the giving-up between two friends could be of dissimilar criteria, and it’s only the persons involved who know and see and feel if there has been ‘accountabilities’ and ‘considerations’ going on in the relationship.

Dirkie & Fifi(?) in Lost In the Desert

That’s why ‘true friendship’ is labelled as a ‘treasure’ by many — because it’s not a-dime-a-dozen thing, it’s something rarely come across, and when one finds it one must recognize its value. Moreover, true friendships are tested by time, and circumstances. If it’s only a one-sided accountability-and-consideration then one must look at one’s heart for the truth of the matter, and pray for guidance on what to do.

the guys at Ying Kai _ Hana Kimi _Taiwan

The lovable guys at Ying Kai in Hana Kimi -Taiwan

Just like what Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Ursula, Janet, Andrea in Ladies in Lavender

If a person has found even just 1 true friend then it deserves rejoicing. It means two hearts have recognized that invisible thing, and two persons have come to treasure each other.

♥

♥ Salamat to the films from where I got the shots from.

♥

To the ones who are celebrating it, Happy New Year to you! 🙂 ♥

♦

Sithandra & Aeon, in Aeonflux.

Violet & Garth, in Ultraviolet.

♦

Cha Tae-sik and Somi, in Ahjussi (The Man From Nowhere)

♥

♦

Cheol-su, the werewolf brother

Dec14

A Werewolf Boy - 2012 South Korean movie

Song Joong-Ki in A Werewolf Boy, a 2012 South Korean movie

There’s something wrong about this movie.

A stinking-to-heaven animal-like human is taken as part of the family in the shortest time imaginable.

The family consists of a middle-aged, pretty, smart, bubbly, kind, warm, loving, simple, responsible, very busy widow, a pretty teen-aged daughter, and just as pretty elementary-school younger daughter.

The animal-like human transforms, after a thorough wash, into a tall and handsome young man about the age of the older daughter. He fell asleep sitting as the mother was scrubbing his back, suds and all, in the spacious bathroom. They have become mother and son after just hours of being acquainted.

He later is named Cheol-su by mom, something she liked doing since she had regretted that she had not borne a son to her husband, who wanted one so much.

Cheol-su wolfs down, literally, food at the dinner table. He lived with wolves, presumably, after all. Despite so, he is always expected to eat with everyone, as family should. And, as is expected, other members of the family adjust to him. They calmly guard over their bowls and plates against him, thereby everyone gets to eat, too.

Cheol-su is very smart. He cannot produce the word-sounds but he understands whatever is told him. This way he is just like a deaf-mute member of the family, very sensitive to facial expressions and body language. Thus, 98% of the time we have a werewolf boy who is docile, clean, sweet, nice to be around, goes along and plays with the kids, listens and looks at everything, absorbing, learning.

We have, what is, a very handsome and smart asexual young man. After learning from Suni, the older daughter, not to wolf down food, we have a virile man with whom no threat stemming from any passion whatsoever can be associated with — he will not rape, nor assault, nor even verbally abuse any-one around him, not his family, not his neighbors, not the kids, not the animals, not even the plants.

This is not a movie about a werewolf. This is a movie about how love can be so comfy and warm and giving between people who have just come to know each other. Among strangers. Among neighbors. In the family. In a small remote village with wide open spaces. This movie just bubbles over with natural warmth and generous welcoming. True loving. Only one nasty presence is here, and he is so misplaced that he’s almost like a caricature. He, however, represents what to many of us the real world is. Violent. Unreasonable. Selfish. Egoistic. Arrogant.

This movie to me is so painful and so painfully beautiful that I feel I shouldn’t talk much about it lest I do it a disservice. Besides, I don’t quite know where to start talking about it. The science involved here is hazy, but with genetic engineering it could be possible. This aspect of the story did not receive much attention anyway. What’s concrete is that Cheol-su is there, breathing, living, loving. He just loves and loves like an ever-flowing stream, clear and calm, and that’s all that matters.

I hate the way time, and everyone, forgot Cheol-su. I hate the way he was deprived of so many things that we all have: circle of friends, company, a family relationship that’s always beside you. What’s even more poignant for me is that Cheol-su has no perception of having been deprived. He is like a plant, a full-grown tree, stationed in a tiny spot on earth and content with the rain and the sunshine that come his way. He thrives all by himself. He keeps his love and learns of things associated with this love: he teaches himself to read, write, and speak. Just that. He has no ambitions beyond that.

I hate the way a story caged a Cheol-su inside a story. But I really have no idea, as of now, what I could do for Cheol-su. If there’s something I can do for him at all then I would really do it. Right now. I really hate it that he’s there stuck playing with no-one but not seeing his loneliness. I hate it that I can see him like that, but he himself doesn’t have any idea of what it’s like to be able to see him like that, to know about him, knowing that he doesn’t perceive the pain of having been left alone.

I really wish that Cheol-su has not existed at all. However, if he did not, I wouldn’t have known that love can be like this.

I will never ever forget this movie. There are only about two other like it for me: Lost in the Desert (1969/1970), and The Fall (2006).

♥

Bourne, Tarzan, et al as Chemical Compounds

Nov8

Recently I watched the 2013 South Korean movie Berlin File because my favorite Han Suk Kyu is in it. I was very impressed with his Great King Sejong portrayal in Tree with Deep Roots and I wanted to see how he’d look like in a modern setting.

The Berlin File is about two North Korean agents who are a husband and wife stationed in Berlin and were set up for treason by a powerful father and son team taking advantage of the transition of governmental power in their country in order to protect their private agenda. So they worked on changing the personnel at their embassy in Berlin. The plot starts with an international deal involving the Mossad, Arabs, the CIA, and South Korea. There are bits of English, German, and Arabic in the dialogues, and the musical score as well as the action shots reminded me of the Bourne movies. But the flavor of the movie is over all akin to the South Korean films and dramas I have watched. I sort of felt at home with it, so to speak.

To compare-&-contrast and for old time’s sake I looked up on the Bourne films, initially just thinking of re-watching them at some time maybe, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith did a Bourne Identity in 1988, with a tiny part shot in Regensburg. I will take the time to watch that in full and check out how faithful it was to the Ludlum novel, as some accounts claim.

The Bourne Legacy was the only sequel that I wasn’t able to watch (’til this week) despite having learned that part of it was shot in Manila, so I decided to watch it right away. I felt good when it got to the Manila part, which was nearing the end, because it was done true to the everyday street scenery. I heard Filipino distinctively being spoken, the laughter in the streets, the automobiles willy-nilly. One of my favorite actors, Lou Veloso, is there with just a tiny part and projecting a familiar Filipino aura without over-acting. It was as though what I felt while watching the Manila scenes is similar to Katsuhiko’s pleasure at seeing his face on the screen, in that very charming Japanese movie The Woodsman and the Rain. The Manila scenes reminded me of Bourne in Tangiers. So in order to compare them, especially that now it’s Cross and not Bourne in there, I decided to rewatch all the three prequels, stat. Legacy is in fact not a sequel but, in the timeline, it is at about the end of Ultimatum. There’s a short part in here shot in Seoul.

Ah, so desu ka. There’s always an exciting street chase in each film. Paris, Moscow, Goa, Tangiers, Manila, I forgot the rest. There’s always a pretty and competent female character, and Bourne/Cross consistently provides a way out for them, out of his personal business. Good for Bourne, and Cross, too. I have nothing to complain about them especially that their ruthlessness as assassins are not played up in the plots, and they never display aggression towards the non-enemy.

Yesterday Orabeoni Jung (older brother Jung) finished with his doctoral studies (that is, successfully did his Disputation, defended his dissertation) and in the course of the conversation, during the lively lunch celebration given by our Doktorvater, orabeoni’s Regensburger friend Mr. W. said he really likes action films. I had to keep quiet at that point because I didn’t want the attention to be directed to me. Slightly earlier I caught my thumb at the car door, immediately treated it with ice, and everyone had already given me sympathetic words and feelings.

Near the end of the drive home to the dormitories with Orabeoni and Mr. W. (in his car), Orabeoni was heartily thanking him for having been his “driver” the whole day to which Mr. W. jokingly responded as having been his “transporter”. Otoke? (what-to-do?) Whenever I can I have been babbling to my Korean friends about the Korean dramas and movies I’ve seen so far and so without thinking twice I blurted right away, “Orabeoni, Transporter is good, you must watch it.” (Earlier I had been recommending Berlin File to him at the lunch table since we were seated next to each other and it was easy for me to do so.) Mr. W. then added to my remark, “Yeah, and I have seen all of it.” But I couldn’t talk anymore because we were already getting out of the car. Belatedly I realized that he may also have meant the recent Transporter series on television, and not just the three films. I haven’t seen any of the ones on television because I had cut my television addiction about a year ago, and so I wouldn’t have anything to say about it after all.

Since I couldn’t do much with my sore thumb, when I got to my room I simply decided to re-watch the remaining Bourne film I haven’t gotten around to do, and then continued on to the Transporter ones.

I’d say the current action films are not much different from those since of the 70’s… they’re on the masculine prowess, attraction to the feminine, human capacity spectrum physically and mentally… Berlin File, Transporter, Bourne stories, The Saint, Hitman, and a hundred others feature the male physique glorified in ancient Greece and Rome, and the female form glorified since the advent of the popularity of corsets and eventually of the runway-hanger body shape. They’re about the alpha male unbelievably overcoming aggression that are stationed at a perimeter of decreasing radius enclosing him. Precise movements, always. Like the way Dae Gil (Jang Hyuk of Chuno) could gracefully orchestrate his disciplined mucles. Frank Martin (of Transporter) reminded me of Lee Bang Ji, Ddol Bok’s Sonsaengnim (Teacher) in Tree with Deep Roots. Aaron Cross’ (of Bourne Legacy) instant improvisations reminded me of McGyver. Simon Templar/Vincent Ferrer (Val Kilmer in The Saint, 1997) is a mathematician and a painter. Tarzan is like all of them: handsome, smart, quick, strong, sleek, and wealthy. The alpha males of the jungles of trees and of concrete, and the Janes who are at the same time weak and strong though preferably ‘complicated’ like in the way the French Inspector Tarconi (of Transporter) would want them to be.

Wahnsinn. Not Everyman can have the resilience of David Webb (a.k.a. Jason Bourne) and the accomplishments of sweet Dr. Emma Russell (physicist in The Saint, 1997). Not Everyman would stay sane after the behavior modifications experienced by Bourne and Cross. Not only that Bourne undergoes psychiatric crises, a memory yo-yo from brainwashing to amnesia to recovery, but Cross moreover undergoes a viral-induced evolution jump not dissimilar to what happened to the X-Men.

Although I could now chide myself at having loved all of these action films I could not help recalling that, in the academic discussions I’ve come across, this proliferation of adulation for the Tarzan-like prowess is integrated in the way the human psyche copes with the changing times. It’s an offshoot of the way the heads of families, especially in the West, perceived as emasculation, along with the rise of female independence, during the economic upheaval at about the advent of the industrial era. There’s got to be an image that the psyche can hold on to against the encroaching panic at the helplessness over the rise of the huge conglomerates and the societal havoc that result. Thus the popularity of Wild West heroes at first and then of the strong men in popular media. The way Frank Martin can leap and grab at things while falling remind me of Superman sans cape, not that it’s the cape that makes him fly.

I like these films because, well, for one, they transport me back home to where my father’s copies of Robert Ludlum et cetera paperbacks are stacked together on the shelf, with the Encyclopedia Americana and the Reader’s Digest Comprehensive Dictionary that were our school-homework staples. Wilbur Smith. Frederick Forsyth. Peter Maas. Robert Ruark. I can’t remember the others and of course I didn’t get to read all of them because I had difficulty in sustaining my interest over plots that I couldn’t visualize, the works that make up the bulk of these novels like high-profile espionage and sophisticated weaponry plus tactical language. Even so then, I did finish the first novel that my father handed over to me to spend away time with while I was not feeling well. It was William D. Wittliff’s Raggedy Man and I was only ten years old so I didn’t understand all of it (it’s about a disfigured ex-soldier coming back to secretly look over his family, so there was lot of emotional undercurrents). But I will always remember that book.

The familiarity of reading such paperbacks eventually led me to James Clavell, hence Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi, to one of Kobo Abe’s, one of Masuji Ibuse’s, and to several more of differing genre that included those of Edward Rutherford, Tolkien (who led me to take a peak at Irish folklore), C.S. Lewis, R. Tagore, K. Gibran, and Pearl S. Buck. Then maybe a couple each of Stephen King’s, Alice Walker’s and Maeve Binchy’s, one from Chaim Potok. Others I can’t recall anymore. Roots. On the U. S. Marines. About a tribe in prehistory Alaska, My Sister the Moon. Earlier than these there were Nancy Drew and Sweet Dreams, which led me to Agatha Christie and Mills & Boon — light ones that could be finished in a day. (I did plow through Jane Eyre, Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and attempted The Scarlet Letter. Wahnsinn. Of course I couldn’t understand them the way they should be understood because I had no idea of the pomp of Russian nobility, of the coldness of the prevalent weather there until Siberia, and of the sensibilities of the English gentry. I couldn’t appreciate their literary peculiarities. They were of worldviews at the other side of the globe.) Anyway, simply Wahnsinn. So many words eaten, not properly digested, I simply cannot remember the majority of them. They happened in another lifetime and I was a different person then. However they did teach me the love for the dictionary and hence erased my apprehension for the English language.

With which, all of them, led me to conclude later on that any other paperback fiction on action, fantasy, or love story out there will just be similar to what I’ve already come across. That cured me of fiction addiction and I wasn’t tempted to go back even after more wonderful authors came out. Of which, furthermore, I was not surprised in my conclusion that Bourne, Cross, Martin, Templar, and Tarzan are almost just the same guy. These kinds of films are made of the same stuff. I could say that there’s nothing really new in them. Seen one, seen all.

But still why do I like these films? Okay, so, I guess the sound tracks are very good. The Saint and Bourne led me to Moby, of which reading up on him made me better understand his song Extreme Ways (Bourne theme song). It’s one of my favorites and once while listening to it I got really serious. It came to my mind to ask who in the world could afford to say “I’ve seen so much in so many places… So many heartaches, so many faces… So many dirty things… You couldn’t even believe” — where are these people, what are they going through, and could I ever have a very good idea of what they’re talking about… like Jason Bourne who actually retraced his path and owned up to the killing of a girl’s parents, in Moscow, thereby freeing her of the sorrow of living with the thought that her mother shot her father and afterwards commits suicide.

There it is. It’s because these films sit on the boundary between what’s possible, and the dream zone. What’s possible is the caring for children and women, at which Simon, Aaron and Jason do a better job than Frank. Templar, Cross and Bourne can argue reasonably with women without grabbing at their wrists and dragging them forcibly. Except that in the 1988 Bourne film he and Marie (R. Chamberlain & J. Smith) behave the way Frank Martin and his girls do to each other, similar to Tarzan and Jane of the first book Tarzan of the Apes. Seemingly Tarzan’s attraction to Jane overpowers him, but actually it comes out that it’s always Tarzan who has the upper hand. The dream zone is right there: power over someone and something and everything that comes along. That’s the fantasy there: that the odds don’t count. That if one just acts decisively enough, fast, then whatever it is, it is possible. However, in real life reckoning the odds do count.

More importantly on the other hand, it’s not just the odds against safely landing a car on top of a speeding train, but the odds against surviving a severe drug dependency, like Aaron Cross. Like getting free from mind manipulation and struggling at forgiveness, like David Webb. Like leading a hopeful life after so much tragedy, like Simon Templar. Like producing almost costless energy source, like Emma Russell. For Frank Martin, well, although he just cares about the money, several times he’s shown to choose ethics that value the person…

…nah, they’re not really nasty guys… they do have soft spots… But how would all these ingredients wrap up in real life? Do such persons really exist, and how many are they? It would be nicer for the world if it were so, and it doesn’t hurt to hope that it were so. That’s the dream part of it. Though, not to be blinded by the nice part, consideration must also be given to the “backgrounds” of the fellows who are “bad” in these movies, the antagonists. If the movie was about that “bad” character then that person could be very well ethically defensible, too… right? … ah, but this is already a quagmire I wouldn’t know how to navigate over… I haven’t read Fletcher’s Situation Ethics. Ajik.

… however, for the simplicity of the plots, to be palatable to the viewer who must not be scared away from watching films in the future, who the good and the bad are among the guys must be simply put across so that there’s no ambivalence at the end of the show. Schluß. Weiter. The same formula with Wonder Woman and Star Trek. Things have to be neatly wrapped up in the end so that viewers will keep coming back for that good feeling they get after every show. If I continue with this ramble it will continue onto economics, and I’m not yet ready to explore that. Ajik.

There’s nothing really new about films of the masculine-prowess genre. Remington Steele. A-Team. Knight Rider. Stingray. Misssion Impossible. McGyver. Airwolf. James Bond, of course. T J Hooker. Even of the procedural genre, like my favorite CSI: Miami reminds me of Hawaii Five-O in my childhood, and Grey’s Anatomy of Doogie Howser, M. D. But I see, though, that their charms can be found in the tiny human issues incorporated within the plots, in the decision-making parts, in the outcomes of such decisions, in the coping of crises, and in the perception of the individual viewer. This is the facet that has endeared Star Trek: The Next Generation to me. There’s always freshness found in these parts. I’ve actually learned so much from Capt. Jean Luc Picard’s team.

I’d like to think of it as similar to the atoms, at least all the naturally occurring ones, basically known to science, and they’re all just the same everywhere whether be in stars or in the bloodstream, but these few atoms neatly named in the Periodic Table of Elements are able to form the countless number of compounds existing, making up the countless variety of objects around us, in solid, liquid, and gas forms. They’re all the same intrinsically — the same protons, electrons, neutrons, and binding forces — but they do come out differently depending on the combinations and permutations of such parts.

Or, viewing it from another direction also applies: the human dramas, or affairs/concerns, have basically been of the same stuff ever since — fear, doubt, redemption, revenge, bliss, rage, tranquility, want, need, naivety, security, passion, understanding, empathy, camaraderie, love, obsession … — and these basic ingredients are packaged in different ways and come out as the stories that are continually churned out. The action films, fiction paperbacks, and television series will never run out of customers.

Seriously, though, I don’t have a film genre that I would label as favorite. I don’t go gaga over action films as much as I don’t go gaga anymore over the Disney and Marvel ones. I treat them on the same level now. If a film can talk sensibly about the real human situation then it’s fine by me, and it could be fantasy even, either of the fairy kind or of the scientific kind, both of which I also like. However, they shouldn’t be made as lamp posts for morality and ethics because they are heavily influenced by the love for money.

Stories in the mass media could serve as societal mirrors. But I’m not coming back to my paperback fiction and television addictions anymore. I’ll be content in re-watching, in case I miss them, the American-made movies I’ve already seen. Aeon Flux. Blade. The lot. Only when there’s really lots of extra time will I then indulge in the newer ones, at several years from now. Hopefully, and more importantly, I’ll have the chance to explore those that are popular in the countries immediately surrounding mine — Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the rest nearby. Definitely I’ll go back to R. Tagore and K. Gibran, then take the time to get to know Thomas Merton side by side with the Mahatma Gandhi…

But what I’ll do now, right now, is listen to Moby while I enjoy this marinated duck that Orabeoni gave me, a Korean recipe ready for the pan. I’ve learned from Dae Jang Geum that ducks are good for the health. Ducks are also a delicacy in the Philippines…

This post was especially written as a gift to Orabeoni, who’s going home soon and I’m not sure if I’ll ever see again. It’s a sort of a memory marker for his last day as Herr Student, which is the reason for some events of the day being mentioned here 🙂 Congratulations, Dr. Jung! I pray for God’s blessings to your plans. Stay healthy and live well! Ganbei! Banzai!

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(Thanks to the owners of the posters.)♥♥

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Dear Actor/Actress, I Respect You

Nov3

Dear South Korean Actress/Actor,

A very warm hello from an admirer. Please stay a while and read what I have to say from my heart.

I have been watching your projects, dramas mostly, for quite a while now and you have never failed to solicit my admiration. I have always found you amazingly competent in your portrayals of the many faces of humanity. You have provided windows for me from where I could see glimpses of that part of living that I may have a blind spot on, or that I am barred from seeing by reason of points of perception.

Yes, I have not been drawn to your projects for the purpose of entertainment alone. You might say you don’t understand my point since, after all, entertainment is your business. But please understand that audiences do vary greatly. Not all of us are up for the sole purpose of being “entertained”. Besides, there are many other media for ‘entertainment’. Well, okay, your colorful clothes and your music accompaniments have entertained me, and many a time the funny portrayals, too, but they’re not really the meat of what I’m after. I’m really after the story of humanity.

Please take my present post with a bright perspective — the reason why I had the urgency to write this NOW is that I have just Googled “dark side of Korean film industry” and the first three entries that came up confirmed my suspicion. Of course these things do not happen in your country alone. I suspect that it’s worse with another actor/actress in another country. However, it’s you that appears on my screen most of the time nowadays that I feel compelled to do something about it.

You see, for quite a while now I have marveled at the quantity and quality of dramas produced in your country. They are very good and there simply are so many of them. Then I noticed that you, dear actress/actor, appear in so many projects so that if your role was evil in a ‘previous’ project I had to re-program my perception of your face (not you as a person) as someone who is very likable in this ‘newer’ project that you are in. I am forced to adjust to your new persona fast, and it’s not really nice for my psyche. I have this feeling, therefore, that the projects you appear in are devalued as works of art —- instead of being rendered the proper respect as expressions of human creativity, like paintings and classical music/theater, your dramas/movies are being treated like mass-produced commodity, cheapened.

Actually it’s the historical stories that I’m more fond of. I do appreciate how difficult it is to make these. The costumes are heavy, or sometimes too thin for winter. In some there has to be rough horse action. In the fights you have to risk your bones and skin. Even the speech is not familiar to you. And even if you’re just a face in the background, without a speaking part, I really could see that you give a very convincing performance. Although I would forget your name I would still be able to remember you because I see you again and again as I watch another and yet another drama. And when I see you in a modern-day setting I will suddenly give a yelp of delight because your face will look different now that you don’t have a gat or a hanbok or a slave’s clothes on.

Honestly I value the stories that you appear in, that you act on, and I do spend time in digesting them. I analyze them. I think about the events. I reflect on them. I do so because they make me think about my life, about the life of my friends and acquaintances, about the lives of those who live similarly to the situations in the story that you appeared in, on screen. Your stories make me reflect on the human situation. As I said earlier, I do not value them for entertainment’s sake. I value them for what they can teach me about life.

So, okay, what do I really want to say to you, dear actress/actor? I want to say to you that I really wish for you to take care of your well-being. I don’t want you to be pressured into ‘entertaining’ me so much so that you don’t get enough sleep anymore. It could happen that I would really start crying for you, as a person, even before your face is shown on screen on your next project because my suspicions were confirmed that you are being constrained by the business side of entertainment. Please, if it happens that you already have enough money to live a healthy lifestyle then don’t push yourself to overwork for my sake. I will not be happy if you do so. Just seeing that you are working hard to be a good performer is already inspiring for me. I would already appreciate it that you are someone who is serious about your job and your responsibilities. I respect you as you are, even if I saw you in one project only, and my respect and admiration for you will not lessen just because you did not have a good project this year, or because other fans did not like the way you looked in your last appearance.

Please understand that however your face is structured you are handsome/beautiful to me. Your original face is beautiful. I’m your fan, and I know that you are also a human being like me. I am your fan because I admire the way you could get into a character’s shoes after just reading about him/her merely days or hours before filming. I bet many of the roles you were able to excellently portray you did them without consulting encyclopedias or psychiatry journals or historical accounts.

Please take care of yourself. Next time I see the eye bags heavy under your eyes I would know that it was not because you stayed out late drinking with friends, but it was because most likely you pushed yourself to work too hard, for me. Sometimes your paleness is obvious despite the make-up and lighting. I would really hate it if you got sick because you overworked for my sake. Instead of making me happy to see your face again, it would make me sad, even if your role is funny.

Thank you very much for all your hard work. You have already given me so much. You have shown to me how beautiful Korea and its people is. Your drama stories have encouraged me. The goodness of heart that I could see in the characters you play have inspired me, in my living. I owe you so much, so I thought it’s my turn to extend my support for you. I wish for you to find real happiness in life. I wish for you to love yourself, too, much more than I love the characters that you bring to life on screen.

It’s gotten into a long message now, and it’s already midnight so I have to say goodnight. 🙂 Goodnight, dear beautiful person. Have a lovely new day tomorrow. May God bless you.

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added on 9March2014:

I felt that I needed to say more about this matter.

There are video clips readily available online about almost anything in the known universe. Among these I came across one that gave me a glimpse of a world that I did not suspect existed. It’s an in-house training establishment for entertainer wannabe’s. This particular one I found was of Eric Mun’s, which made me feel awed at the intensity of dedication he gives to these training periods. That’s the first time I became aware that behind Kpop’s glamour is also a world of sweat and tears.

Joongki, Jihyo, Kwangsoo _ep21

Lately, which makes me quite late into the game, I discovered that aside from Song Ji Hyo there’s also Lee Kwang Soo (and Song Joong Ki in the past) in the South Korean variety show Running Man. I never bothered with variety shows because they always made me feel like I waste my enthusiasms in paying attention to them. But since it’s these three, whom I belatedly discovered to be close friends, and who are favorites to me individually, that are in this show then I watched one episode. That was Episode 2. That was memorable because I had not been able to laugh that loud and long about anything for many years now. For a Filipino this phenomenon is unusual — not having laughed hard for a long time — since we always have opportunities to laugh our guts out with family and friends.

In watching a bit more of that show I gradually found it irksome that the true personalities of the members are suppressed during the show. For instance I hate it that Lee Kwang Soo is being projected as inept and stupid, because he clearly isn’t. I hate it that Song Ji Hyo is being made the “female” to the “male” of whoever that will guarantee continuous high ratings to the show. I somehow feel that it’s a disrespect to Song Ji Hyo as a person because if she were not a female then she wouldn’t be paired off like this, just an object, to one guy or another. I am frustrated that she and the guys are not free to express themselves during the show. Somehow I feel cheated by the fact that though I’m anticipating to witness true camaraderie among personalities that, I’d like to believe, by now have become real friends in the real sense, (yet) what I see are faked interactions.

A show has to be scripted, obviously. But the question of to script or not to script, or how to script, is not what I’m touching on here.

I’ve become this affected (!hahaha) because I have come to like each of the members of Running Man. I do not see Kim Jong Kook as frightening. I can sense his finesse and gentleness. I do not see Haha as inept. He has a solid sense of responsibility and self confidence. Song Joong Ki comes across as an intellectual to me, a sort of an academician, someone who loves learning but just happens to have a beautiful face. Though Kang Gary is constantly teased of his looks he actually oozes of sexuality, and he is totally far from being ugly. Same with Lee Kwang Soo.

Jihyo & Kwangsoo

This guy is smart but he suppresses it. I saw him only once, in Dongyi, and I thought of how he amazingly could pull off that character. He’s just good at making silly faces but actually he’s handsome. (Whew… I am a bit disappointed with myself in having to use the handsome-ugly categorization here because I feel strongly against this mass media gauge that is used in the distortion of humanity’s sense of beauty, and hence all values that are related to this sense, like self-acceptance.)

But the fact is that the entertainment industry is a reflection of humanity’s greed for sensual gratification. That is, involving the senses. The term is already mentioned: for entertainment. Since the market potential is huge then the greed for unprecedented profits is also boundless. That’s what humanity is like.

The reason why I felt the urgency to add to this post is because I found additional information relevant to the topic. If you’re interested at what is going on, at the real situation, the one that is hidden from those who are not willing to dig deep, then I would like to share these three links with you:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13760064

http://xypherfarrell.hubpages.com/hub/KPop-JPop-Why-are-People-Hating-it

http://xypherfarrell.hubpages.com/hub/REAL-Bad-Boys-of-Korean-Entertainment

(I’ve bookmarked the bad-boys page because I’m now ready to get acquainted with them, to see for myself these ones who are admirable for their courage. Also, Kang Gary is there.)

I’m sorry that it’s only these that I can share with you for now. I know that it’s as bad in other countries (e.g., USA, India), but I don’t have time yet to look for the specifics. I don’t exactly know how it goes in the Philippines but it’s safe to assume that it’s also messy and bloody. It’s a lucrative livelihood, after all. Where greed is great, corruption in corresponding levels is also present. Myself being a Filipino, I could easily imagine how it is plus allowing that fact could be stranger than fiction here.

Though I will remain enthusiastic for film productions I will not stay blind on the struggles of the small people who are involved in it. They are the ones whose faces are peddled on screen. They are the ones who touch my life, even bring me needed courage at times. I will not be like a pimp for them, raving about their work and selling it to the world by my praises, without being aware that I as a fan am also responsible for the pressure that constantly hounds them. Only a few of them are lucky enough to be born or be granted with the privilege of choice, like Kaneshiro Takeshi and Lee Seo Jin. Most of them are just struggling artists. Most of them are just bread winners who are stuck in a job that is actually a prison to them.

I’ve decided to just choose first the Running Man episodes where only the core members are interacting amongst themselves. I now see them as close friends. — The Filipino equivalent is the barkada. One’s barkada are the people that one hangs out with, each one being an important part of the others’ lives, to share laughs and other emotions with, a venue for self-expression, to grow up with, to explore reality with, a quasi-family. — Of course, I will watch all episodes that has Song Joong Ki in it and I will especially cherish those where he, Song Ji Hyo, and Lee Kwang Soo are on the same team.When I’m done with all those episodes I’d choose again from the episodes where artists that I admire have come as guests, like Jackie Chan, Cha In Pyo, Eric Mun, and Ji Jin Hee.

Each time I watch them I will especially be alert for spontaneous interactions, the ones that bring out their unguarded emotions. In this way I’d feel like I’m having fun with them, too. Because this is how it is among barkada — just being with each other’s company is a guarantee for an opportunity to celebrate life, a partaking of well-being.

Thus, I will not watch Running Man merely for my entertainment and doses of laughter. I will watch it because I want to celebrate life through friendship, though vicariously for now.

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many thanks to the sites that made these pictures here available for everyone; all enlarge, some much, some a bit, when clicked on ♥

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[added April 3, 2014] Kwangsoo enthusiastically greets Jihyo upon seeing her as she joins the gang late in the games in episode 189, tired as she is after more than 10 hours’ travel to Melbourne. Much younger Kim Woobin, Kwangsoo’s teammate, respectfully looks on and laughs at his elders as they end up squabbling.

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A Frozen Flower: a look at a story of how an honest love triangle turns into a struggle on personhood

May21

1. Frozen Flower 2008 _Han Baek gets caught

Han Baek, who was eloping with a palace maid, gets caught by his brother guards.

Hello everyone 🙂 Today is Mach 1, 2014 and I am set to put captures for this post. I don’t have spare time actually, meaning I’m stealing this opportunity hahaha, but I’ve noticed that many people drop by to look over this post. I therefore felt compelled to fix things up a bit here primarily for my peace of mind. I’ve never intended to leave this post bare of illustrations and so now that Ms. Song Ji Hyo is in a new drama, Emergency Couple, I thought it’s as good a time as any to put an effort here once and for all. This update also marks the time that I squealed of delight after finding out that these favorites of mine are connected by close friendship: Jo In Sung, Song Joong Ki, Lee Kwang Soo, and Song Ji Hyo. Also, Joo Jin Mo is currently doing Empress Ki (which I’ll have to tackle in a separate post another time, by the major reasons that it has the cast of Damo plus another favorite of mine, Ji Chang Wook 🙂 This post is just a little expression of support for professionals from whom I have benefited much by way of insight acquisition. The fonts in pink are links to my other two posts that have more to say on this.

2. Frozen Flower 2008 _finding a way to save Han Baek

Hong Lim was very carefully trying to find a way to save Han Baek from being punished with death.

Many have commented a dislike over the sexual element in this film. I do not have any comment against them, and they are perfectly qualified to hold such opinions. For myself I would not want a minor younger than, say, 21 years old to view this film. That’s just a general gauge of how old an individual could be before s/he can handle well themes that s/he may have not experienced personally, such as homosexual relations and betrayal of close bonds. I believe that age is not a good marker for so-called maturity because there are youngsters who are able to process such “adult” issues with admirable capability, and there are adults who cannot see the forest because they’re focused on the individual trees.

My liking for this film does not reflect the entirety or the summary of my personal convictions, the major part of which I have not even put tabs on.

3. Frozen Flower 2008 _Hong Lim's view of the queen singing Gashiri

How the queen looks to Hong Lim as she sings Gashiri.

That is, because although I am not familiar with so-called lesbians, indeed I am very much familiar with the male counterpart, the so-called gays. But, well, these are just labels so just so there are terms that can be used for discussions and conversations. I’m sure the issues involved go way much much deeper and wider than what is promoted in popular media. What I know is that, as a Filipino who grew up in a rural setting, I have not been so much isolated by norms and religion as to condemn per se that homosexuals will go to hell. I have a handsome cousin who leans towards the feminine of traits and although I had a catastrophic fight with him decades ago over that issue I have become a big fan of his right now, even after decades of separation and even not having seen him even once since then. I also had high school classmates, dearly beloved, whom we all respect sincerely despite their deviation from the accepted norms of manliness.

3a. Frozen Flower 2008 _royal guards behind the thrones

The king and queen of Goryo seated on their thrones, the chief guard behind the queen, the sub-chief guard behind the king.

Now, for the issue on physical sexual relations with the same genders, that is a field that I personally withhold abstract speculations from because I hold the conviction that God is not trapped within conventions and norms. My gay friends love God as much as I do, and my case rests there for now.

Finally, I wanted to pretty up this post as an expression of appreciation to the three actors who made the film a success: Song Ji Hyo, Joo Jin Mo, and Jo In Sung. This is not to add pressure to their already stressful lives. I just want to say that, if ever I were a friend of any of them, to take good care of their personal health especially the emotional aspect, and that this film established my respect for them as persons. They are beautiful people and I wish them the happiness that they can identify as their own, one which is not dependent on wealth, fame, or reputation. This wish also goes for everyone in the world. I wish happiness for all of us. Kampei! 🙂 Thanks a million for dropping by and for allowing me to share some of my thoughts with you. The screen captures enlarge when clicked on. Peace ❤

… below now was the original post …

4. Frozen Flower 2008 _a fever ignites the trio's frozen state

The queen acquires a fever after the procreation ceremony. The king tends to her.

This king in our story, in ancient Goryeo, is like a god. He can do what he wants. His servants are his property. He has a retinue of eunuchs at his beck and call, all of them at a bent position in his presence. They never stand straight in his company.

This king bows down to only one person, to the emperor of Yuan whom we don’t see in the story. We see only a princess of Yuan, she who had been sent to the palace to be the king’s bride about a decade ago.

Though this king does not have a complete autonomy, still his word is law in his kingdom. This is what we understand when a violator was spared of beheading as per the king’s order.

4a. Frozen Flower 2008 _first inkling of betrayal & jealousy

The first time that Hong Lim hides something from the king.

The king in his youth gathered 36 children to himself and reared them in the palace next to him to be his trusted companions. Their body, mind, and will were trained for only one purpose: to protect him and to always be available only for him.

At one session the king asks the seated children who the best warrior in the kingdom is. Of all the answers given to him his eyes particularly shone at one boy’s answer, that it is one who willingly gives up his life for the king. Thus the love affair between this king and this bodyguard began. The king cares for all the children but his affection begins to be centered to only one, on Hong Lim.

Hong Lim becomes the respected chief of the 36 bodyguards (though one, the sub-chief, does not show proper respect by remaining seated while the others stand up and bow as Hong Lim enters their quarters).

5. Frozen Flower 2008 _there is now the problem of how Hong Lim & the queen can reach each other

Hong Lim and the queen are starting to realize that they want the communication line between them kept open.

In their close ties he is also “hyungnim”, big brother. When one of them, Han Baek, falls in love and tries to run away with one of the queen’s maids Hong Lim takes advantage of his closeness with the king to beg for Han Baek’s life. The crime entails beheading. It is a desertion of the king, a betrayal, treason (i.e., the guards are forbidden private lives). However, the king relents. Han Baek is returned to his comrades, who are greatly relieved. They hug him. They thank their chief. There is genuine affection amongst them. They are merely the king’s objects but as persons they are family. When the sub-chief sneers at Hong Lim’s accomplishment Hong Lim gives this justification: that Han Baek is one of them and hence could not possibly be left in the lurch for just a one-time offense, though this is not to be a precedence for further violations. Hong Lim subjugates the resentful sub-chief, defending the king’s honor from such snide remarks. Hong Lim is loyal to his brothers as well as to his king.

6. Frozen Flower 2008 _resignation on her face

The queen here could be trying to find her way through the helpless situation, as she slightly tilts her head back to where Hong Lim could be situated by now.

The first hint of disaster manifests when Hong Lim glances at the queen on the king’s comment on her perfume-locket, during that beautiful spring day as the royal couple was relaxing outside the palace grounds. Hong Lim’s existence is supposedly solely for the king, for the king’s wishes and wants, to protect, please, and lay one’s life to at any time. This had been his mindset ever since he first came to the palace. This is what he has been programmed to live according to. The king’s pleasure and contentment is supposedly his pleasure and contentment as well, and nothing else. Would there have been in him an element of jealousy at the king’s interest in the queen? Or perhaps just an interest at what the king is interested in?

The day before the picnic, after the Han Baek incident, we see Hong Lim gently combing the king’s hair. The king asks Hong Lim if he would do that, too, run away and leave the palace in case something similar happens to him. Hong Lim replies that he doesn’t think he could, because the king is in the palace. This, then, is the king’s fear: that Hong Lim will desert him.

7. Frozen Flower 2008 _resignation on his face

Hong Lim deliberates on whether to persist on reaching out to her. Does he or does he not give her the locket?

During the picnic the king smilingly insists to the queen on “that song of Goryeo that you usually sing”, saying that he’d like to hear her sing to them. He even solicits Hong Lim’s support in this request. (Here is an incident where the three of them are in harmony.) The surprised and flattered queen shyly obliges. We see a king who is not icy towards his queen. We could say that they are good friends, that they are comfortable with each other.

8. Frozen Flower 2008 _the second daring act _he gives her a gift

The gamble. He gives her his second gift. She receives it.

Hong Lim, whether because of the beautiful voice or of the lovely song, glances at the queen again. From his view behind the king he can see her left profile. He has now glanced at the queen long enough to be established in the plot that he is able to later recall what the potpourri-locket looks like. However, was he already drawn a long time ago to the queen’s beauty? He and his brothers would have been blind if they did not appreciate their queen’s looks at all. But the queen sings beautifully. Perhaps it is only this that he appreciates at that point. However, her song’s theme alludes to the incident with Han Baek’s attempt to run away. We see the king covering his emotions by a sip of drink. (He insisted on her singing and he got a reminder of his fear. What a day.)

9. Frozen Flower 2008 _a small gift but a big decision

She wonders at the developments, of how she has come to look at him with favor, of what to do with the gift.

Naturally, the king being outside of the palace’s protection, assassins take an attempt on him. The issue involved has something to do with the political struggle between the king and his court with the influence of Yuan on one side and the absence of an heir on the other. Yuan describes this as a “political instability”. Several members of the court, including the queen’s visiting older brother, became implicated at the attempt of the few in this assassination. At the first whiz of arrows the king lunges to his right and covers the queen with his body. (Hong Lim quickly flips the table, for shield.) Next the king asks Hong Lim if he is okay, then orders that the queen be taken away to safety. To the queen’s fright he demands for his sword and stays with his bodyguards in the fight. We see a king who has a superior skill in fencing.

Now the emperor of Yuan makes a move in the face that the king so far has not produced a progeny. The emperor now intends to crown somebody as next in line. This place belongs to the king’s son.

10. Frozen Flower 2008 _confined in an impossibility

There, he has done it finally. Whatever happens to him at his rashness he is ready to face it. He has given her something that he was not willing to share with the king. He may die because of it but he had deliberated long over it. He wanted to give it to the queen and that’s all that matters for now.

But despite having had the queen and the concubines in the palace for many years now no royal children have been produced to the kingdom. As the emperor’s representative reads this edict up on the dais we see all the courtiers bowed down beneath, on the floor, with the king at their head. The queen, on the other hand, is seated up on the dais, on her throne, next to Yuan’s representative, and next to the king’s temporarily vacated one.

The king next gathers his court. Seated now next to the queen up on their dais, bodyguards behind, members of the court express that it would be wise to conform to the emperor’s wish. The king looks and sounds resigned as he asks the court for more opinions. The queen, barely controlling her anger, decides to speak out. She lashes at the surprised court for accepting Yuan’s edict, implying that they are looking forward to the day that the present king has no power anymore over the country. The king’s nostrils slightly flares at his queen’s defense of his honor, at her publicly owning up of the fault of their being childless, saying that it is not the “still young” king who is incapacitated. Hong Lim, of course, empathizes with the queen and is moved by her show of fierce loyalty to the king. In this incident the three characters are once more in harmony with each other.

A court celebration as a way of imploring for a royal progeny. Shown is a drum dance.

By now it is clear that the king is protective of the queen, as a husband should be. That evening alone with her he tells her to go back to her native country now that his humiliation is inevitable. He does not want her to be humiliated as well. They now talk openly of the problem: he can’t “do it” with a woman. Even if she sleeps in his chambers tonight and at any other time they would still not be able to produce an heir. She in turn chooses to cling to him, to refuse to leave him and her adoptive country. She declares that this where she belongs now. The king then, perhaps encouraged by her clear support, tells her of an alternative. To beget a son for him through Hong Lim.

12. Frozen Flower 2008 _Goryeo king & queen

The king and queen in full regalia.

Indeed, as the king and Hong Lim make love we see the passion in the king’s eyes as he holds Hong Lim’s face and looks at him. It’s a sort of a helplessly fiery openly honest passion. We see that Hong Lim is at ease with this relationship he has with the king. He accepts his place as being the object of his king’s passion and willingly responds to the king’s satisfaction. We do not see any problem between them in there. Albeit, I cannot see fire in Hong Lim’s eyes as he looks at the king. This fierce passion between them will be re-enacted the morning after Hong Lim spends a night with the queen. The king had then demanded of Hong Lim’s “heart”, that it should be given to him. It will be enacted again at the last tableau, with their final swordfight. In there, however, it will be a passion to subjugate and to eliminate each other.

13. Frozen Flower 2008 _Hong Lim steals a look

Hong Lim directs a quick look at their majesties. Was he looking for something?

Disturbance is first seen in Hong Lim’s eyes when the king tells him what he wants to be done. Hong Lim bolts up in bed, passionately declaring to the king’s turned back that he can’t possibly do it. Perhaps to him it sounded like being commanded to desecrate the queen, or like being commanded to betray the king. The queen, alone in her chambers, has tearful eyes of emotions. She has long resented Hong Lim for taking away from her the rightful place as the king’s favored nurturing partner. She, a virgin, must consummate the marriage act with a person she sees as worse than a stranger. She who has wholeheartedly given her loyalty to her husband has been commanded by him to exert a very intimate effort at conceiving with a “servant”. She, a princess of the mighty Yuan, will be made equal to a mere “property” of a vassal country.

14. Frozen Flower 2008 _the queen wears Hong Lim's gift

There, he sees it. She is wearing his gift to her.

To defy the king’s wish is to humiliate him, and she is not in the position nor does she have the will to do this. She is too good a country’s subject, wife, and woman. She is foremost the king’s property, the country’s subject next, and being her own self the least–if ever she indeed has that notion at all. Hong Lim, she knows, will surely not defy the king as well. She realizes that she is helpless.

The king, having totally believed that he can always get what he wants (except in the case of Yuan), did not anticipate that these “properties” that he manipulates could get out of his control. He does not see himself as deficient (except for being heirless). He can even beat the best of his bodyguards in a swordfight at any time of the day. What best for him to do other than have his most trustworthy confidant impregnate his very loyal wife? He must have felt he had the safety nets on all sides. At that point there was no reason to suspect that either of them is capable of betraying his trust.

The royal guards perform a sword dance.

On the first consummation night the king gently lays his agitated queen in bed and silently reassures her with a very tender kiss on her lips. He lets Hong Lim in after encouraging him with a brotherly pat on the shoulder. The queen quakes as Hong Lim approaches. He sees her anguished eyes full of tears. He gives up.

The morning after, the king, taking the failure in hand with an almost imperceptible smile, encourages him again. The next night the queen has mustered more courage–she volunteers to disrobe herself. Now, as the rhythm of Hong Lim’s breathing increases, he looks at the king’s shadow against the thin dividing wall as if asking for permission to leave the king and venture into a world without the latter.

The queen eventually accepts Hong Lim. A new knowledge can be read from her face. Hong Lim, finally, rests his head beside the queen’s. They have stepped onto a threshold of no return. Ahh, so, Hong Lim can, in fact, do it. The king at the next room, hearing of that exact moment, freezes and blots his ink painting. The king has started to lose his control over the matter.

17. Frozen Flower 2008 _an embroidery gift

At the library, the queen hands over a gift to Hong Lim. It’s a head band that she herself had embroidered.

Hong Lim felt it. He excuses himself from the palace to distance himself from this overwhelming new force in his narrowly restricted existence. The queen felt it. She persistently prostrates herself in prayer to calm her confusion. Hong Lim cannot stop the force. He thinks of her in his sleeping time. He gets a new necklace to replace her lost one (during the assassins’ attempt at the picnic). He sneaks a peak at her at the palace, while she repeatedly bows in front of the altar, unbeknownst to all. He muses about her while his brothers play at the river. He hides the truth from the king whenever the latter asks of anything that might divulge a clue to his increasing attachment to the queen . She becomes sick and gets a fever.

At these times the king starts to re-establish his control over the two–he shows open affection to Hong Lim just like before, and he shows sincere concern for the queen just like before. Hong Lim will start to distance himself from the king. The king reaches out and tightens his hold against Hong Lim. These acts of insistence on control worsen, escalate, until even the sub-chief becomes horrified at the king’s madness—the first instance of which is the tragedy in the library during the night of the thunderstorm. In there the king had become like a hysterical woman scorned by her lover.

16. Frozen Flower 2008 _the king sings magnificently

The king in his magnificent voice sings Ssanghwajeom. It means “A Frozen Flower”, itself the title of the doomed situation he will shortly find himself in together with the two persons closest to him.

We see in the queen’s eyes the switch of affections. Whereas before to the king she gives warmth and to Hong Lim she is uncaring, now she turns her face away from the king, perhaps shielding her true emotions from his gaze. Little by little she looks at Hong Lim with warmth (there is that deleted scene, of another secret meeting in the library, the queen wearing a palace maid’s attire and Hong Lim wearing the head band that she embroidered for him, where she in a playful mood surprises him with a hug from behind, erasing his anxious look, and then they talk briefly, and he tearfully cradles her head in a tight embrace–a mark that they eventually see each other as equals, and are now “self-less” in their regard for each other). As to Hong Lim, whenever he is not looking at the queen, his eyes are sad, touched with a resigned and helpless look. Though he is sure of his love for the queen, and eventually of the queen’s love for him, yet these are absolutely forbidden in their context.

18. Frozen Flower 2008 _king's guards like his song

The clueless guards go on loving their king, enjoying his song. Can you see Song Joong-Ki in front? ❤ ❤ ❤

So Hong Lim continues to hide truths from the king. The sub-chief consistently works out his way into snatching for himself the affection that the king has for Hong Lim. The queen responds to Hong Lim’s signals. In the very constrained situation that they are in, where the king always finds ways to know about truths they hide from him, Hong Lim and the queen nurture their newly found world. They communicate through little gifts, and glances, and meetings whenever they can snatch them.

But Hong Lim calculates their chances of survival before the queen does. He realizes that he has no power to protect the queen from the king. He tries to put a stop to the danger when he sees that only disaster awaits him, and the queen especially, should they continue with their attachment, where they are persons of mutual high worth plus without a demand to sacrifice their personhood.

19. Frozen Flower 2008 _Hong Lim starts to distance

The morning after. Hong Lim begins to withdraw from the king’s advances.

The king has been persistently hounding him, enough to assure him that surrender is his only safety net. The king has had all traitors killed, all the high officials and even the queen’s brother. He knows of the king’s capabilities. He cuts his happiness short by surrendering to the king. His eyes now look almost lifeless.

The queen, on the other hand, did not have the understanding by this time enough for her to agree with Hong Lim. She begs him to run away with her anywhere, to “take her away”, even to the hills. He tells her of his powerlessness. She is saved from a suicide attempt. She discovers she is with child. She accepts Hong Lim’s departure (him being assigned by the king to the border stations for the purpose of “forgetting”) but has to tell him of her fear, that their child might not be safe with the king.

20. Frozen Flower 2008 _the flower unfreezes & blooms

When she thought he had left her he came looking for her. When he thought she might leave him he came looking for her.

Alas, their love for each other cannot be constrained. The king, with the help of the sub-chief, finds them despite the thunderstorm. Both, with hands tied and kneeling before the king, alternately defend each other at the cost of their lives. When Hong Lim declares twice that he loves the queen the king snaps. He makes a shocked sub-chief castrate a superior brother. The queen faints. The royal physician congratulates the king on the queen’s conception. The madness in the king’s eyes that started when Hong Lim lied about sending honeysuckle tea to the queen now grows into crazy proportions–he commands the sub-chief that all subjects private to the fatherhood of the queen’s pregnancy be killed. Except Hong Lim. The king goes to him in prison and bargains at the back turned to him, to return to how they were before, and that all would be forgotten. (Whoa! You cruelly deprive a man of an essential part of his personhood and you bargain your kingdom with him! Too late, king! Hong Lim has finally discovered that a person can live outside of your gilded cage.)

21. A Frozen Flower 2008 _self-made rice cakes declare love

She makes him rice cakes according to her home country’s customs. She tells him she loves him.

The queen, in danger to her own safety, sends brothers loyal to Hong Lim to take him away from the palace. The baby, she says, cannot have two fathers. (I guess she has projected how their lives would be in the future when the child grows up and Hong Lim is forced to live in the pain of not even be allowed to have his child call him “father”. The secret of the true fatherhood is bound to eventually leak out. Perhaps she has a good idea that Hong Lim will not be willing to be reconciled to the king anymore. Perhaps she did not anticipate that the king has gone crazy enough to ask Hong Lim for a reconciliation–she did not anticipate the king’s level of obsession with Hong Lim. She miscalculated that the king would put Hong Lim first before self-honor. Ahh, but this is a drama movie–the more angst the better.)

22. Frozen Flower 2008 _she asks if he likes the rice cake

Tearfully she asks how the rice cake tastes to him.

The king guesses right that it was the queen who has sent Hong Lim away. She denies his accusations without turning her head to answer him. When she finally does so she gives him a venomous glare.Her child is threatened yet still she insists on Hong Lim’s safety. Hong Lim, successfully spirited out of the palace, turns back against his brothers wishes in order to get the queen, and his child, out of the king’s clutches. His brothers say he has nothing to give the queen anymore. He rides fast alone. The queen’s song plays. He stops. He is resigned. He goes back to a ransacked temple-hideout, his comrades missing.

23. Frozen Flower 2008 _he admits that the rice cake is exquisite

He solemnly answers her that the taste is exquisite.

But then, how would I say anything about a king who has known the virtue of being in control all his life? Can his acts be justified in view of his insecurity and humiliation at not being capable of producing an heir? That, him being in this state, Hong Lim shouldn’t have spurned him? Did he really love Hong Lim? How many legitimate dimensions of love can one possibly talk about? He has lavished Hong Lim with gifts and attention—is this a proof of love? Whereas, Hong Lim, who has not had the privilege of choices at all, and who has been indoctrinated since childhood that his life belongs to the king, has only his integrity to give to the king—and this he did until the king initiated the triangle. Were the king’s consistent intents at forgiving Hong Lim’s betrayals proofs of love? Crazy.

24. Frozen Flower 2008 _deleted library scene _the queen in servant's dress

A deleted scene, at the library. Hong Lim is wearing the queen’s embroidered head band. She sneaks out to meet him wearing her maid’s clothing. He is worried for her and she tries to comfort him.

Crazy to torture and kill the four brothers that protected Hong Lim, thereby supporting him and the queen in their quest for freedom from the king. Crazy to bait Hong Lim back by putting up the queen’s head along with the brothers’ on stakes at the palace wall. As Hong Lim declares at their swordfight, the king has “cut him to his roots”. The king is a bad loser. It happens to people. From where I am coming I hesitate at blaming the king here. I only know the story based on the characters’ faces and voices and on the dialogues translated into English (hehehe). I can only understand the story based on where I’m “coming from”, which is not of the ancient Goryeo worldview. Besides, the king can sing beautifully, too (it’s the actor’s own singing voice) 🙂 His song is as haunting and poignant as the queen’s.

If Hong Lim’s sword had not become broken at that precise instance then he and the king would have thrust at each other simultaneously. As the king impales Hong Lim he asks if he was, even for one instance in the past, an object of Hong Lim’s “love”. The latter answers “no” and “never”, and drives himself forward through the length of the king’s sword in order to thrust his own halved sword into the demoralized king’s torso. Thus, the king dies open-eyed, gazing at Hong Lim’s back.

The queen did the only way she could to ensure Hong Lim’s protection, and also perhaps avenge the deaths of so many people including her brother and her personal maid (whose head on the stake with the queen’s necklace Hong Lim mistook as hers): instigate the sub-chief at killing the maddened king, to “put him out of his pains” she tells him.

Fortunately for the sub-chief, Hong Lim is already on the process of doing the deed for him. The king is having a late night snack in his bedroom as Hong Lim enters and bows his final respects, which basically is a request for the king to get hold of his sword. (Hong Lim then unsheathes his sword—from some Japanese story I read I learned that this act is an indication of an intent to strike. Swords are valued and are not supposed to be drawn out unless they are intended for use.) He’s on his last mission at freeing himself from the king’s shackles. He’s about to perform the exact opposite of what he was programmed to do all his life: take the king’s life. His anger at the king is magnificent but subtly expressed.

24a. Frozen Flower 2008 _the king says she'll have another man instead of Hong Lim

The queen is horrified at the king’s decision that another partner will be found for her. Rightly so. But by this time the king is now desperate to put a stop at whatever connection Hong Lim and the queen have.

He declares to the arrogant king (who shouts “castrated fool!” at him) that he has no fears anymore. Still, years of programming emerges as he feels a loss at having finally struck down the king. There is also that element of horror at having struck at a helpless man (this is against a warrior’s honor code), because the king, after hearing from the impaled Hong Lim that he had never been loved for even once by him, seemed to have let go of life itself simultaneous to his slightly slackened hold on the jade sword handle.

The sub-chief, aside from personal grudges, had to kill Hong Lim. His brothers behind him witnessed the treason: a trusted guard wanted for high treason has killed the king.

25. Frozen Flower 2008 _Hong Lim protects her by denying her plea

This, then, is the queen’s solution: that she and Hong Lim simply run away.

If during that meeting with the bodyguards moments ago the chief was not yet a “traitor” to them, now he clearly is. Moreover, they are not willing to put their lives in “unjustified” danger, though their faces looked unanimously aghast at the summary execution of Hong Lim by the sub-chief. (In fairness to them, the ones outside the building urged Hong Lim to leave the palace before anyone sees him. That is, they were still protecting him in his state of being wanted for high treason.) Would Hong Lim have lived even without that torso thrust?

26. Frozen Flower 2008 _Hong Lim is now the queen's all

Hong Lim, unlike the queen, knows that the king is capable of tracking them down. Moreover, something holds Hong Lim back from totally breaking out. Guilt, maybe, or the sense of honor, or responsibility. He is the trusted chief guard, after all, the most trusted by the person who is considered as equivalent to the kingdom, to the people. Many things hang on his neck and so he chooses to forsake his personal happiness.

The king had slashed at him several times before that final strike to the left breast, impaling him. That final hit was intended by the king to be a death blow, after all. Would his brothers have put aside the law and embraced him nevertheless at that hour of crisis? As Hong Lim staggered towards them his eyes seemed to say that he wanted to explain to them his side of the story, the reason why he did all this. It seemed he was asking the sub-chief to listen to him. When he was finally hit and was already falling his eyes seemed to say that he forgives the sub-chief, that he understands him and is without grudges against him, and that he accepts his fate.

The queen barges into the death tableau. She spots the king first and calls out “chonha”, perhaps not realizing yet that he’s already dead. Hong Lim’s resigned eyes light up at the sound of her voice. Her gaze shifts to him, already lying on his stomach and shaking in his last breaths.

27. Frozen Flower 2008 _that thunderstorm night

This is the result of desperation. She nearly died. They were saying goodbye. The thunderstorm begins to rage. His feelings for her are too strong for him.

She screams his name repeatedly and struggles to go to him against the guards who are restraining her. As she is being forced away Hong Lim looks at her direction, silently saying that he would have very much liked to spring up and rush to her. The sub-chief commands that she be ushered out. Her voice fades as she disappears from Hong Lim’s view. His eyes briefly show elements of regret that, perhaps, they will be parted permanently now, and that, perhaps, a sadness that he cannot stay with her and their child anymore. Perhaps also an apology that he was not able to protect her, and won’t have the chance to do so anymore. When her screams are not heard anymore Hong Lim forcibly turns his head to the direction of the king, whose eyes already had that same dead look even before he died.

28. Frozen Flower 2008 _the crucial library scene, thunderstorm raging

When reality catches up there are only two things possible, either to run away from it or to face it. They, each, decide to face it.

Did that turning of the head say that he loved the king after all? I don’t think so. He was already prepared to die before he discovered that the queen is still alive. He was already on the act of dying with his face turned towards the brothers that he grew up with, his family. When he sees that the queen is alive, what could have gone through his mind? Ultimate relief perhaps, for a treasure thought lost but is found again, and not only for this beloved woman but also for their child she carries.

But what about the last scenes of him and the king in the bliss of the olden days? As youngsters they had virtually pledged to each other that they would be together all through their lives. Ahh, but young children are highly impressionable and may be bound to change their preferences as they grow up. What about that dream of the king’s where Hong Lim as well was getting ready to shoot with the bow, in the manner that he requested for the king to re-depict in his painting? Well, the king was shocked when Hong Lim had slashed that painting. Whereas, Hong Lim wasn’t thinking about it at all, him being intent at just their sword fight.

29. Frozen Flower 2008 _the queen & Hong Lim try to save the other

She does her utmost to save him.

The king, in between strikes, demands from him if love was really that important to him. Aha. The king has come to see that there is something that he wanted from Hong Lim but was not given to him.

30. Frozen Flower 2008 _Hong Lim declares it clearly

He does his utmost to save her.

Hong Lim heatedly replies that he is thankful enough for the king in leading him to feel that same love. (Okay, so, in this context as he speaks, would this love have been for the king or for the queen? I was confused about the whole issue of who loved whom and so I tried to understand the story again. Based on this dialogue it’s clear that both meant that love which Hong Lim declared for the queen—this is based on his confession in the library, the one that made the king snap. Hong Lim had slightly straightened from his kneeling position and had fiercely reiterated, explicitly into the king’s eyes, that he loves the queen.)

31. Frozen Flower 2008 _the king's madness starts

The king felt he was dying, and he chose survival. He embraces rage.

Hong Lim experiences something worse than death (he was shouting that he’d rather be killed). Though castrated and betrayed by the one he devoted his life to, Hong Lim was freed in his sexuality and in his personhood, even in just a short period of time for him to enjoy it all. Thus it is not only the king that controls a bow, as what the king at first depicted in the painting. He, too, has now a chance to shoot with his own bow, a freedom of choice and of decision making all by himself.

32. Frozen Flower 2008 _Hong Lim begs for death instead

Not even once does Hong Lim beg for his life.

Indeed, that happy scene with the king will forever remain as a dream because in reality the king will never consent to him a freedom of equal level. The king kept on trying to keep Hong Lim by his side until right before the time he impales him.

33. Frozen Flower 2008 _the queen begs to punish her instead

The queen shares Hong Lim’s agony and is about to lose consciousness.

Hong Lim in his death is at peace with the thought that he will soon have a child who will carry life on for him. I think his last glance and tears for the king was a goodbye as well as an expression of gratitude for all that the king has given him–for the care, friendship, attention, generosity–, for having led him to find a kind self-affirming love with the queen and hence a sort of freedom, and most of all for not killing her and his child. It might also have been an apology for a misplaced rage that is supposedly the last straw for his decision at revenge, and a sadness at killing a person that he had for so long looked up to.

A deleted scene. Hong Lim forges a sword for his encounter with the king.

Perhaps there is also sadness at the pain that came to the three of them and at the senseless waste of many lives, of his brothers and the servants privy to the secret. It also seemed to say, “Ah, you’re also just a man, a powerless one, and what a pity that it all ends like this… I did wish you happiness but not the one that you kept forcing me into… at least now I’m free…”–I thought on this after noticing that his eyes had vitality until the queen was dragged away but after he turns to the right his eyes had dullness, peace, and resignation. I think he had started to cry as the sub-chief hit him. He would have died in his fallen position and not turned to the right had the queen not appeared. It seems like this last tableau brought harmony to the three of them for the last time.

As passionate their love for each other was so deadly their final clash was also.

Alas, the queen sees her beloved dying, and thankfully he sees her, only by forcing herself against the controlling power at that final moment: that event was only within the bond between the king and his 36 bodyguards. That’s why the sub-chief had to wrap up everything fast with everyone: it must be told that it was an assassin, and that they have eliminated him. The queen is not included in this bond. However, she is smart and is aware of all palace machinations. As an untouchable princess of Yuan and the queen of Goryeo, all alone now with her maid-companion also gone, she has at least the joy of having her own child. This child was born of a love that freed her and Hong Lim from fear. The king who had threatened the child’s well-being is now gone. Among her memories she will be recalling that time, on their last meeting, when Hong Lim told her to stay strong and take care of herself.

36. Frozen Flower 2008 _freedom at a high price

This didn’t even happen in the king’s dream. Hong Lim was not aiming with an arrow then.

Ahhh… the king was really convincingly frightening here… He projects an aura of velvet-covered strength… I wouldn’t have wished him to be a real person… 🙂 This movie is not for the faint of heart with regards to issues of sexuality and the tragic consequences of controlling and uncontrolled “love“. The costumes, setting, and music are of top quality—i.e., a treat for the senses and are unforgettable for those who are not familiar with lavish settings of east Asia. I will certainly watch this movie again. I am drawn to the eyes of the three main characters. The king’s make me want to go for cover. The queen’s make me want to empathize with her in the depths of her introspection. Hong Lim’s make me want to first reach out and hug him and then go out free myself and live out life. Kaja! ~~(still hoping to post some illustrations here…)~~

♥