User reviews

It is difficult to compartmentalize "The King and the Clown". It is part drama, part comedy, part forbidden love story and part artistic freedom struggle all combined into a wonderful period movie. One of the best things I liked about this movie is that all the characters are shades of gray. Whether it is the King or the clown, you find yourself agreeing with them at one point and rooting against them at the next.

It starts at a very light note and becomes dramatic towards the end. But it never becomes preachy or soapy. There are no explicit messages here. This film has a homosexual angle so I was surprised to read that it was a big hit in Korea. I guess a good movie can triumph against all odds. A must-see for all cinephiles.

King and the Clown was South Korea's best selling film of 2005, having sold more than 12 million tickets over a span of 7 weeks. But after watching it, it's difficult to fathom the craze, nor about the New York Times hype that it "may be the equivalent of 'Brokeback Mountain'". Not that it is a bad movie, it is actually entertaining and tells an intriguing story in the courts of the Korean emperor.

Perhaps anything to do with the gay theme will suffer inevitably comparisons to Lee Ang's acclaimed Brokeback Mountain. But somehow, the way this film developed, I saw it in a different light - a story between two male best friends, even though one of them might look and behave more effeminately than even some girls do. Instead of jumping to the straight conclusion that both the protagonists are gay, why can't it be a platonic relationship, and that the more effeminate one had chosen what he had to do, i.e. sell backside, because being poor minstrels, they cannot afford to put food on the table? Literally capitalizing on his looks, to bring back the dough. Sure his friend might not like the idea, and it could be interpreted as either being jealous (as a lover), or disapproving (as a friend). Then again, because of culture, this movie might have decided to be more subtle about the theme. Ambiguous to say the least, but it makes for interesting debate if you watch this with a friend.

Two friends, Jang-seng (Kam Woo-sung) and Gong-gil (Lee Joon-ki), are impoverished street performers who dream of having their entertaining performances reap rewards they should be getting. They come up with a wildly popular and bawdy performance poking fun at the emperor and his consort, and it's not long before they get arrested, only to have Jang-seng proposition a dare, that if the King doesn't laugh at their skit, they can be put to death.

As fate would have it, their jittery performance brought on a favourable response from the tyrannical King (Jung Jin-young). Having now become official court jesters, their subsequent plays, whose content they obtain from coffee-shop talk of those days, about the royal family and other court scandals, serve as suggestive fuel for the King to break free from his constrictive shackles, and take some serious action according to his whims. But dictator attitudes aside, he casts a lustful eye at Gong-gil, and turns almost childlike when in his presence, in private. The most powerful man in the kingdom, reduced to a vulnerable kid in the presence of a lowly minstrel. What ensues is an interesting look at the relationship dynamics amongst the three men, and with the people around them.

Set during the Chosun Dynasty, King and the Clown has some of the most gorgeous sets bringing to life an era long gone, and beautiful costumes that drown the movie in a myriad of colours. The songs are also fairly pleasing to the ears, and the skits, I believe, are likely to be many times more enjoyable if you understand Korean, instead of having to rely on subtitles.

The movie also makes discreet jibes at those in power, and their ability, or inability, to accept satires about themselves. It is always easy for men in power to dismiss harshly the satires and their creators, but it takes a lot more to be able to look past the comic and understand the issues made fun of. There are brief scenes at courtroom politicking and on corruption, but these scenes are too short to leave any lasting impression or distract the audience.

The cast is a delight to watch as they carry their roles with aplomb. The chemistry between the 3 main leads was almost perfect, especially Jung Jin-young as the temperamental King - childish at times, serious at others, and the androgynous looking Lee Joon-ki truly owned the role of Gong-gil, that even as a guy, I thought he was beautiful to look at (*ahem*).

All in all, King and the Clown is a story of friendship, how good friends fend for each other, how, despite shortcomings and misunderstandings, the best medicine is always laughter, and it's the strength of the bonds between men that can ultimately stand up against fear and overcome any adversary. If only the opening didn't spoil the entire movie.

Trust South Korea to produce nice tragedies again and again. First it was "Friend", then "Joint Security Area", and now "The King and the Clown", which is about two male clowns being arrested for staging a comedy which mocks the King, and would be spared the death sentence if they could humor the King as much as they did to the civilians. This sounds a little like "Brokeback Mountain" taking place in Korea, but the speech and behavior the two clowns have towards each other is carefully crafted that they make it look more like a case of brotherhood amongst them. However, that does not in any way dilutes the affections we see between the two male friends, which are incredibly genuine. It is this genuine affection that makes this such a touching show to watch. Also, this is not just romance; this has elements of a thriller and social commentary interwoven within the plot. And all these roll out just nicely and rightly paced. No wonder it becomes one of the biggest selling movies in Korea, despite its modest production cost.

This movie is really popular in South Korea these days. Why ? It's not exactly a blockbuster, there is no impressive special effects. In my opinion, the two strong points of this movie are the historical background and the fictional story over it.

This movie takes place during the reign of king Yeonsan (1476-1506) of the Joseon dynasty. King Yeongsan was not exactly a quiet man and is well known for being despotic and cruel. It is believed that he had serious psychological problems. A part of his life, as a Joseon king, is well depicted in "Wang-ui namja". This movie gives opportunity to understand a bit the private life of a king during this time, especially concerning entertainment.

The story starts following two clowns during their every day life. One of them looks like a woman but is actually a man. He will be in the center of major events. Questions about social position, sexuality and private life are issued. This make an interesting story although not revolutionary.

The relationship between people are quite well shown. There is some funny parts (maybe too easy) but it's obviously not a story for children. Acting is OK but the movie seems sometimes a bit longer, due to long monologue (very korean way) and some parts could have been skipped.

Anyway, it's a nice movie to watch and I recommend it for people curious about the korean tradition and culture under the Joseon dynasty.

I knew this movie was extremely popular in South Korea, but I never had a chance to watch it until today. And I am very glad to report that it exceeded my already high expectations.

Not so many excellent movies draw my full attention from the beginning; they tend to pull me in toward the climax. With this movie, I found myself completely immersed after the first few minutes. Although the theme of love, jealousy, and politics are commonplace (except the subtle homosexuality which I don't believe plays too much role in this movie), director Jun-Ik Lee magnificently put together the beautiful Joseon dynasty Korea, euphonious dialogs, and some great acting. I particularly liked that of the King (Jin-yeong Jeong) and Jang-sang (Woo-seong Kam).

It made sense why the movie was so popular and why many people have seen it more than once. It is a multifaceted masterpiece which can appeal to multifarious crowds: it is a love story, a political drama, a comedy, a tragedy, a musical, a historical gallery, and maybe more.

I believe the dialogs are straightforward enough to be translated well into English, but non-Korean audiences may lose some great rhymes and subtlety - especially those of the clowns as their dialogs are downright colloquial and hilarious. Granted, I still believe everyone will find the film enjoyable from at least one perspective.

The movie was good, the acting and the story was great, I love the fact that the minister use them to tell the king all the dirty deeds his court was doing, love the ruthlessness of the king, BUT I did not see BL content in it, only when the king kiss Gong gil and that's it. Other than that I'm satisfied with the result very entertaining 😀👏

This is one of the most powerful Korean movies that I've seen in my entire life. The story of The King and the Clown, (왕의 남자) is an artful tale of entertainers that dare to mock the King, and then are brought to the palace. Though well-known for the gay-themes that the movie brings, it is only implied, and not the sole purpose of the story. It deals with corruption in the high court, the art of entertainment and survival.

Although the script, cinematography and etc. are done masterfully to successfully bring the audience back to the Joseon Dynasty in which our story is set, its main attractions are the characters that are beautifully portrayed by actors Kam Woo-Seong, Jeong Jin-Yeoung and, last but Definitely not least, Lee Jun Ki. Jeong Jin-Yeoung plays the slightly deranged tyrannical King, scarred from his mother's early suicide forced upon by his court ministers, who later becomes obsessed with one his new entertainers, Gong-gil (Lee Jun Ki). Kam Woo-Seong, who plays Jangseng, the leader of the troop, managed to win a DaeJong award (equivalent to an Oscar) for his role, while Lee Jun Ki, for his brilliant acting that brought tears to his audiences, as well as his beauty that surpasses most girls, became an instant (and extremely popular) success.

I highly recommend watching this film. The end brings the audiences heart-rending tears, and empty wallets from watching it about 20 times. It is that. good.

The movie enjoys huge success in both commentary and box-office figure in both Korea and Mainland China since its premiere in 2005. Strangely, though Hong Kong does import large bunches of Korean movies in the past five years, no cinema or distributor's eyes were on this. Its DVD was just out last weekend yet it has already become a top hit DVD in the Mainland.

An obvious reason for its being slighted could be: Hong Kong viewers may flatly compare the female images of Leslie Cheung in Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Jun-gi Lee's (Gong-gil), a young Korean screen hopeful (to-date 24 years old) who is known for his commitment to the industry. (He sings, dances, acts in TV and movie, attends demonstrations for protecting Korea's film industry against the authority's unfavourable policies…) And the truth is not distant from our guess, audience can just link up these two movies as Lee frankly did admit that he has watched "Farewell" for 20+ times before the camera rolled its first round. When being promoted in China, it was even nicknamed "Farewell my concubine - the Korean interpretation"! In actuality, besides the look of the two feminine protagonists, no other similarities of these two movies exist! And thus, Hong Kong may not be that interested in the story or the presentation as we have already had our late sweet-heart Gor-gor Leslie Cheung.

The storyline is simple with some funny glitches. Anyway, it is not the story but the wardrobe, the striking feminine look of Lee, the traditional Korean street-acting, "Darwaz" (High altitude tightrope dancing/walking -- originated from the present Xinjiang area/Central Asia. There it is taken to be a sport rather than performing art in this film.) catch my attention more. To me, a Chinese, they are not strangers but with novelties. If you like to know a bit of Korea's older days, this may satisfy some of your wish.

anyone anywhere that gets the opportunity to see this movie on the big screen must absolutely do so!! as a Korean i'm quite critical about films from my home country. i personally think this is another movie my country's created that will live up to international standards and expectations. it has made me prouder to be a Korean. i won't say anything about the storyline except that it was a new perspective in looking at the Korean history of that era, and has brought a new dimension to productions based on Korean history. the acting, sound, costume and of course story all fit together like a beautiful jigsaw puzzle made complete. i'm just worried the incredible script won't be translated properly across to the world.

people everywhere, please watch this movie if you get the chance to. you won't regret it. i've already seen it four times on the big screen. now i'm just waiting for the DVD to come out (i hear they're going to release the full 4 hour version)

This movie is a waste of time tbh, i don't understand what poeple really like about it, the plot is boring and uninteresting, the acting is so superficial and overdramatic, even the directing failed to leave an impression on me as an audience... I don't understand why the movie is really popular and have a lot of good reviews

This is an amazing film, it has everything in it, the visuals are beautiful, the soundtrack fits the film perfectly and the acting is amazing! i was so struck by this film and it was so emotionally charged it brought tears to my eyes. This film has no big name actors but it's appeal is it's simple universal storyline, the subtle yet powerful relationship between Gong-gil and Jaeng-sang. Even though this film has no big name actors in it, watch out for Lee jun ki who is amazing in this film he was partly the reason this film did so well, you will love him after watching this film ^^

don't be scared off by the homosexual theme, there are no sex scenes and all the homosexuality is implied.

all in all I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS FILM ENOUGH!

When I first heard that the movie King and the Clown was being made, I thought that it wouldn't be very interesting. But it was so good. Directed by Lee Joon Ik(a quite well known director in our country,though not in overseas),King and the Clown tells about a love story between two courters and the triangular relationship between them and the king.(of course,unlike what many foreign audiences might think,although the king,his concubine and Kong Gil are real people,the story itself is 100% made up)What was most astonishing about this movie was that,it showed the passionate love between the two male jesters without showing any sexual scenes.(I liked Brokeback Mountain,but not it was too explicit)And the choreography,costumes etc were so beautifully made with a low budget(around 4.5million dollars). Finally I see a well made Korean movie that was very interesting even without any star actors.

King Young San was perhaps the most infamous tyrant in Korean history (or perhaps the most well known). He showed sociopath tendencies even as a child(hurting animals and such)but what drove him over the age and started his tyrannical reign was his discovery of the circumstances under his mother died.

His mother Yoon, was the King's favorite concubine. She was falsely accused of plotting to kill her rivals and ordered to drink poison by the king. The circumstances of her death were kept a secret until King Young San found out by accident. Upon his discovery, he was seized with sorrow and rage, and put to death or exiled anyone who was responsible of his mother's death. Even those those who didn't strongly oppose her execution were put to death.

Although he is portrayed as a terrible dictator, his love for his mother and the terrible pain her death caused adds an extra dimension to his tyrannical reign.

It is interesting to note (according to the movie) his bringing the clowns into the palace and having them perform those skits was what drove his ministers into a rebellion.

The King and the Clown is an excellent film noteworthy of it's critical acclaims. It showcases the purity of love in a universal light - something that is easily misunderstood in the Western world.

It's difficult for me to explain my interpretation of the relationship between the main characters - simply put, they are soul mates and the soul does not discriminate between gender. To say their relationship is not homosexual, is a Western explanation, but most Westerners (especially Americans), will not easily understand this because love to is categorized differently. I think of it as taking the "sentiment and care" felt by loving a child, parent, lover, friend, husband, and wife and eliminating the titles, roles, sexual intimacy, and stripping it to only the "sentiment of sincere care". This is what I mean by purity of love.

This film expresses this beautifully.

Well I had seen commentary about this one several weeks ago and got to see it last night. It was actually so good that the action alone could carry most of the story since I did not understand the dialog. Now although the name translates directly as 'The King's Man' the English title being used for it is the "King and the Clown". This is why I had such a hard time finding it on this site, so the administrators might want to add this other title. It is based on a true story. Also the historical representation (should be somewhere around the year 1506 since this is the end of King Yeonsan of the Joseon Dynasty's reign) or staging and costumes was absolutely magnificent, not to mention some very good acting.

The King and The Clown left me speechless at the end. All I could think was, 'What a movie'. Nearly everyone whom I have recommended this movie to shared more or less the same reaction. Such is the beauty of The King and The Clown.

This film tells the story of two minstrels who break away from their troupe and seek to make a living for themselves in Seoul. Jang-sang, the more masculine and brash one, and Gong-gil, the weaker and emotionally fragile one, soon get into trouble with the higher authorities for mocking the king. Jang-sang makes a deal that their lives should be spared if their play makes the king laugh. Fortunately for them, the king does, and they are thus installed as court jesters. Everything seems to be going swimmingly until the king takes a fancy to the beautiful, effeminate Gong-gil, and the minstrels' politically satirical plays begin to strike various chords with the government.

First of all, the acting is brilliant. The main trio of Kam Woo Seong, Jeong Jin Yeong and Lee Joon Ki own their roles completely, especially Lee Joon Ki, who is really an eye-opener. I think majority of the viewers, male and female alike, were smitten with him during the show. Jeong Jin Yeong plays his psychotic, warped king to the hilt, and Kam Woo Seong is convincing as the streetsmart, daring Jang-sang. The three of them play off each other beautifully.

The script is equally good. The characters are all real and multi-dimensional, and the story pans out in a very emotional and intelligent way. The minstrels' 'meaning-within-meaning' plays, the friendship between them, the confused relationship between the king and Gong-gil, the hypocrisy of the government, and the politics are fascinating. Other aspects such as the wardrobe and soundtrack compliment the movie perfectly.

I highly recommend this movie. I watched it with high expectations, and it exceeded them. It is heartrending, touching, profound, and comedic in parts. Do not miss out on this beautiful piece of film-making!

The King and the Clown is a movie about a pair of street performers who come to the attention of King Yeonsan of Korea around the start of the 16th century (the Chosun Period).

Yeonsan is tired of his ministers who chirp away about the example of his dead father and provide consistently contrary counsel. Yeonsan is both a genuinely sensitive individual and also a deeply disturbed one, whose neuroses are amply watered in the fertile garden of his royalty, and allowed to blossom bloodily. I felt there was some sort of allusion to North Korea here, where the "Supreme Leader" Kim Jong-il is quite literally second-in-command to his dead father, theocrat Kim Il-sung, and certainly does have a twee side.

Jang-sang and his partner, the extremely effeminate Gong-gil, are clowns who come to the attention of the king. They put on shows that are sometimes extremely bawdy, or acrobatic, comic, or dramatic. They divert Yeonsan from his concubine Nok-su whose skirt he lives inside (as even the public are aware). I think this is a key point that the movie makes that the diversions of the clowns are more interesting than fondling even the most seductive woman a king can find; sex an inferior version of play that adults have come up with.

The King becomes attached to Gong-gil in an apparently non-sexual way, re-entering a childish state. The story touchingly reminded me very much of the biblical one where David plays the harp to soothe King Saul when madness came upon him.

The film in many ways is a feel-good one, times are very harsh in the Chosun era, but the performers don't let this get them down, and can find ways to cheer each other up even when times are bad. The "blindmen" scene is the key example of this. The characters perform even when no audience is around, to amuse themselves, and because they seem to feel most alive when living in a form of collective identity. Gong-gil even enjoys the stage of party nights when vomiting starts.

The film manages to capture the innocence and virtues of childhood (which the performers have kept intact), for example, and there are times in my life when I have seen this happen, admitting to misdeeds that you have not committed to avoid the collective punishment of your group. Another lovely example would be a puppet show where a love story is enacted by the furtive stroking of one another's hands. The film has a lot of bright colours and looks good, although this may be more down to the often exquisite set design than any particularly beautiful cinematography. One good example of shooting though was in a meadow, which I like to think of as daisy drop.

Aspects of the movie that weren't to my taste were the bawdiness, which was a little strong for me (I still have some innocence too, so this is a very subjective point), and the fact that Yeonsan's back story intruded a lot (the intrigue surrounding his mother's death), and was quite hard to follow.

The King and the Clown is however an excellent movie, full of values that have almost vanished, and need some reviving.

This is for Mollie for the memories at Renato's.

I did'nt wanna see this movie when it first relised coz I though that it may be some kind of odd style. I was totally wrong! This movie is not about gay, homosexual etc as many people might think of it, it's all about human's natural feeling, emotion... I like everyone from this film, all the actors played perfectly. Also I have to add that Lee Jun Ki was born to play GongGi, some people might not like his look, but I believe that nobody could ignore his talent. Adter seeing this movie, I spent quite a lot of time to search all the relevant info of it. I was obsessed in a beautiful way from this movie. It is definitely one of the great Korean movies!