Mind blowing
This movie literally blew my brain up and changed my worldview. It was shocking and beautiful. It was my first experience with this type of production and the last one. There is simply nothing like A Frozen Flower.It is not a perfect movie, but it is certainly an interesting aesthetic experience. The story itself is beautiful, but a little shocking, so for me personally, it's a beautiful film that I never come back to.
Without a doubt, the best thing about the movie is the story itself. I must also praise the costumes and photos. The music is not memorable to me, hence the slightly lower rating.
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the actors were great... and i admit the JO IN SUNG is great actor
i watched it's ok that's love _ that winter the wind blows
and this one
in each one he represents a different personality.... and he is great in every single one of them....
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This review may contain spoilers
Loyalty or love - a complex love triangle
HUGE SPOILERS!!!!!I didn’t expect to love this movie so much, but I did. This tells the complicated love triangle between the 3 main leads - Hong Rim (Chief of King’s guard), Gong Min (king) and No Guk (queen). Set during Goryeo dynasty, Hong Rim and Gong Min are lovers, Gong Min trusts Hong Rim the most, and Hong Rim is very loyal towards Gong Min, would do anything for him. But Gong Min, who has no interest in No Guk, is pressured to make her pregnant, so that she will give birth to future heir. But he refuses to sleep with her and orders his lover to sleep with her instead, to make her pregnant. Hong Rim doesn’t want to, but he has no other choice but to obey… neither him or No Guk are happy about it, and it starts out as awkward and confusion when they sleep with each other first time, but eventually comes to enjoy it and their intercouse becomes full of lust and passion. And Hong Rim gets confused by his own growing feelings for the queen while also wanting to stay loyal to the king. It becomes dangerous as Hong Rim and No Guk starts playing with the fire, that could destroy everything…
The acting is amazing by all 3 leads - So In Sung, Jo Jin Mo and Song Ji Hyo! They gave it all and the acting comes off as very natural. The setting, clothes is very beautiful and overall Goryeo is a very interesting dynasty. A high quality movie even tho it’s from 2008…but this movie can be very disturbing , it had Gore and many erotic scenes - so, very sensitive viewers should not watch this. The sex scenes are very intense and realistisic, I started to think that the actors actually Did ’it’ for real. Such a progressive, extremly daring movie as not only violent and erotic - but also because it has homosexuality , in a movie set during Goryeo dynasty!! I don’t want to spoil too much but I have No idea Why so many feels sorry for Gong Min?? Like, seriously!
I was surprisingly moved by the forbidden love story between Hong Rim and No Guk, I truly believe they fell deeply in love with each other, they risked so much just to be together, Chemistry between Jo In Sung and Song Ji Hyo was on fire , it could melt my screen! And I was rooting for the impossible romence. I don’t think Hong Rim was ever in love with Gong Min… he loved him yes, but not romantically.
I love that We have k-dramas that usually are pretty tame/innocent but that k-movies can be anything but tame/innocent lol! If i want to watch something innocent I watch k-dramas , but if i’m in mood for something very spicy, I’ll go for k-movies!
Anyways, this movie is very intense, sometimes I had to hold my breath! It was interesting that when Hong Rim fell for No Guk, his lust/passion/love for her took his mind and thus his huge loyalty for Gong Min started to decline… which of course makes Gong Min in full rage mood!
This movie is almost perfection, nothing really I want to change. I’m proud of the 3 actors who took such daring roles! Kudos to them! I recommend this movie for adults who are not too sensitive, it’s truly a great movie. But don’t watch with your parents!! I truly fell for Hong Rim , who’s Been groomed by Gong Min since childhood , how he Been taught all his life to always obey and be loyal to Gong Min, taught to sacrifice his life for him - taught to always put him first and for Gong Min to be Hong Rim’s whole world. The only one he should ever care about..so when he falls in love with No Guk, it shakens up his life, and him who never before been with a Woman…
Truly a great movie, but no way i feel sorry for the king! It’s all his fault in the first place as he was the one who ordered them to sleep with each other , he should have known that there is possibility for them to develop feelings for each other. This movie … for sure it won’t be the last time I watched it ! :)
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This review may contain spoilers
The whole review is a spoiler
I'll start by saying, I wasn't forced to watch A Frozen Flower, but it was hard to watch due to my background of childhood sexual abuse and a narcissistic parent who preferred either male or female.The story: A teenage King who groomed a pubescent boy to be his lover in the guise of "service" to the King who was homosexual. Years later, the King needed an heir to keep his reign (or be killed). Disgusted at the thought of being with a woman, his Queen, whom he'd never consummated his marriage with, the King offered the services of his Chief Guard (his lover) to impregnate the Queen and hopefully no one would be the wiser. The Chief & the Queen fell in lust with one another (love?, NO.) after sneaking around behind the King's back well beyond the required "services" after finding their much needed freedom FROM the King and for both TO a first sexual encounter for both of them; she with her first lover and he with his first woman. They both were escaping a Stockholm syndrome situation with the King so they thought they "loved" each other. The King had the Chief's doonie cut off (castrated) in response to him being "betrayed" by the Chief & the Queen. The Queen had been impregnated so the King's plan did work, but now the King had to shut everyone up since too many people knew it was the Chief's dna and not the King who had gotten the Queen pregnant. The Chief, infuriated by not having a doonie anymore, and not having a future with the Queen, decided to kill the King. The King had also killed the Queen's maid and hung her head on a pike with the Queen's sachet (given to her by the Chief) making the Chief think the King had killed her. This gave the Chief all the more reason to kill the King. The Chief killed the King. The Chief was finished off by the other Guards and both bodies were to be hidden. The Queen could give birth to the throne's heir, and everyone could not live happily ever after. The end.
TL;TR: A gay King needed an heir, offered his longtime lover Chief Guard to service the Queen to impregnate her. The plan backfired due to the King not understanding people have emotions, and aren't robotic, thus he didn't contemplate his CG and the Q falling in lust with one another. Having lost control of his CG the King sought revenge by castrating the CG which prevented both he and the Queen from having a relationship with him in the future. The King was killed by the Chief. The Chief Guard was killed by the other guards. The end.
Korean films take leeway in explicit content, whereas their dramas don't.
SERIOUSLY, the movie should have a disclaimer attached to it (on Viki where I watched) as an EROTIC film, a Trigger Warning for sexual abuse (or grooming), pedophilia, explicit sexual scenes, nudity, profanity, & extreme violence, and restrict access for anyone under the age of 18. It also is not a BL movie and shouldn't be labeled as such. It is an adult erotic movie with adult content, plot, and storyline.
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I didnt skip a second
I came to watch this movie after watching the drama its ok thats love by Jo In Sung. His mature acting is really a treat to watch.This movie is a masterpiece having the perfect amount of everything. A great story, amazing actors and perfect execution. I didn’t skip a second of this movieThe story where king always felt he is is the supreme and others would do anything for him either its his subjects, wife or love. But each character takes up their chances and makes therier own choice. I also remembered the drama Hwarang were group of men are trained as loyal soldiers to the the king I felt the same vibe with the kunryongwe.
I read the plot and was ready with my box of popcorn and tissues. The love making scenes were done very boldly and perfectly. It really felt they were doing it onscreen. The sex scene between the king and hong lim was a real surprise and It showed the complexity of the movie even precisely. The actors did their part amazingly well. I wont criticize anyone, its the story and it should be apprecited
The betrayal, tragedy, boldness were crazily marvellous. I enjoyed the fight scenes and the sword dance, yes I had seen that In hwarang too. The song played by king on his musical instrument are really heartbreaking.
Rewatch is a must.
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Could be gayer?!
Warning: This movie is for 18+ viewers ONLY.A year ago, I came across this movie but it wasn’t available anywhere so I read the summary on Wikipedia and gave up! Now about a week ago, by complete dumb luck, I found the movie on a website and thought I’ll watch it, anyway. It’s a good movie. The production, the story, the acting, etc. were all nice. On top of it all, it has a well-executed love triangle of the type I like. So it was a shoo-in for 10/10. It’s just…I liked the first two-thirds but the third act was kind of…meh? I wanna say it was a total sad surprise but I kind of could already tell I wouldn’t like the ending when I read that summary a year ago. No, it’s not negative bias that affected my judgment. Because when I started watching the movie, I expected to be underwhelmed but the movie surprised me by how good it was. Then the third act happened!
I’m really conflicted over this film. About how I felt about it and what to rate it. I said I’ll give myself some time to think it over but a week later and I’m still none the wiser.
You should check this out if you like:
1. Historical fiction
2. Tragic endings
3. Love triangles
4. Internal conflicts
5. Betrayals and moral ambiguity
Summary: The king of Goryeo is gay. He’s been sleeping with his chief of guards (whom he may or may not have groomed since childhood) for a long time. The problem is that Goryeo is now a vassal state of the Yuan dynasty and if the king can’t provide an heir, his country will basically get taken away from him. So, the king has the brilliant idea to have his queen and lover provide an heir for him…because that would still be in the family, right? Well… wrong!
Plot: Love triangles get a bad rep because these days we are sort of sick of them and also because they have turned into formulas that are uninspired, repetitive, and stale. Back in the noughties (The author of this review was on a noughties drama nostalgia bender at the time of watching this movie and reviewing it!) the trope wasn’t done to death yet and people still had the guts to go really wild with their love triangles. That’s the kind I love. Like here, where all three points of the triangle are involved with each other romantically and everyone is simultaneously in love with the others and jealous of them. It’s a MESS! And believe it or not, love triangles are only fun to watch when they are really bunkers. If you can already tell which side will end up together, then it’s not a love triangle. That’s two people in a relationship and a stalker. Anyway, this movie really impressed me because, for two-thirds of it, it delivers all the delicious, terrible feelings of being in love with your love rival and feeling hella conflicted and guilty about it. The final act though was rather tonally different. It was still great. The best of the acting happens during that time and it’s packed with plot and action but it fails to deliver the satisfying emotional punch that was building up in the first two acts, for me. Because while things seemed ambiguous and uncertain before, the last act tries to deliver fast and concrete answers to those questions and it cheapens the story that was told before.
The acting: It was great. I wasn’t super impressed with Jo In Sung here. His expression began to meld into the same two after a while. (But then I watched WHIB right after this, so I think he’s great anyway!) Joo Jin Mo was really good though. A Standout. Everyone else was fine. I wanna pour a drink out for the female lead who had to do so many explicit scenes though. Girl, I wouldn’t wanna be you. That looked so awkward.
Music: Great music elevated the emotional scenes in the film. It set the sad and somber mood perfectly and was also pleasant to listen to.
Rewatch value: Probably not. It’s a tragedy and has too many explicit scenes.
Negatives: For the record, yes, it does matter if the story has gay romance or not. The whole conflict exists because of the issue of sexuality so there’s no way to think about the plot by pretending the tension would still exist if the love triangle wasn’t set up the way that it was. Because the thing that makes this movie interesting and watch-worthy and the thing that sets it apart is the fact that it is known for the relationship between the king and the guard dude. If the guard was just a friend, the story would immediately be way less interesting. That would be something they would make nowadays. Not the noughties!!! With that said, I think the story was a bit conflicted in itself. Like they hesitated to lean into the implications. It didn’t know if it wanted to be about the tragic gay couple or the star-crossed straight couple and that hurts the last act because a lot of the nuance disappears as the king and the guard take the shape of stereotypical rivals more and more. The thing is, by modern standards, the straight part is not a love story at all. It’s just a physical relationship so there’s just no charisma to it. I couldn’t root for the guard and the queen to save my life! They have nothing in common except their physical desires. I can’t fault the story though. In a historical setting, I can understand how that was as good as either one could wish for. It’s just that their romance became the main drive of the last act and that was just not a strong enough romance to carry the plot. So it’s a bit less interesting to watch than when everyone is in love with everyone or married to them and they have all these feelings of lust and betrayal and confusion that they don’t know what to do with.
There were also way too many explicit scenes! Omg, just…so many! Why?! I fast-forwarded most of that because I just couldn’t stomach it. It almost looked clinical. Really disturbing. I felt so sorry for the actors…just YIKES!
Overall: The film has such a perfect set-up. When we meet the characters, the king and the chief guard seem to have a very good and intimate relationship. Same with the King and Queen who though obviously not romantic, still get along. The queen and the chief guard have this mellow rivalry which is very polite and respectful in appearance and the political unrest is interesting. Then the stuff happens and the conflicts are deliciously tantalizing as we see the three characters torture themselves and each other with their silences, with the things they keep from each other, and the stuff they want but can't have. It’s just such an interesting story to tell. The ending is still good even if it doesn’t live up to its potential. The beginning promises an epic fallout and we do get one. It’s just that it could have been an even BIGGER fallout. I think it’s worth a watch. It’s a very well-made movie.
Sidenote: If you think about it, all the problems would be solved if Hong Rim could just identify as a bisexual.
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Entertaining Though Overlong...
This film piqued my interest due to its BL/gay content. Though entertaining and epic, the film was overlong and could have easily been shortened by 30-45 minutes. I wonder though, couldn't the King force himself to have sex with the Queen? Many gay royalty had to do the same, if I remember correctly. And if he can't force himself to bed the Queen, why would he force his lover, who he presumed to be also gay, to bed the Queen?Anyways, of course, the evil King is gay and is driven mad by his obsession with his chief of guard who love his Queen. And we were made to root for the straight romance and demean the gay one.
I would love to see historical epic films with a central gay love that doesn't end in death or despair.
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If you're watching this for BL's sake, then don't!!
Honestly, they're a bunch of great actors and the production was really cool. The sex scenes were explicit and the gore fight scenes made it all realisitic. The ending was not what I expected though. I mean, I really didn't get the point of the story. SUPER ANTICLIMACTIC!If you're rooting for bl scenes, dont waste your time! There are bl scenes, but it's just like 8 percent of the whole movie. I can say the storyline could've been written better.
Also, I don't get why the King is sort of the Antagonist of this show. To me, he was just being himself but got hurt by the people he trusts and that's what led him to his demise.
Overall, it's a good korean movie but not so much that I'd want to rewatch it.
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A Realistic View
I find this story very sad. The emprises has no say in her marriage to the emperor. He is gay and does not touch a women but send his men to sleep with her because he needs an heir. She has no say in the emperors order and summits to his request. She falls for the first guard and he falls for her after he has been sleeping with the emperor. The emperor get jealous because he is in love with the guard. the emperor jealousy ends his rain on the kingdoms. It is a realistic view of what the past could have been. I have to say I cry especially at the end. The performance of these actors was great. A great story.Was this review helpful to you?
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Gripping, emotional storyline.
For over a year I battled to see where to watch this movie, until I eventually stumbled on it in Dramacool and gave it the attention I'd wanted to give it for long. And honestly, this movie is a BOMB. The love triangle is intensely captured. Imagine, chief and the king, with the former growing up under the latter and the latter loving the former from their formative years...and Chief, even as a kid, saying the best person is one who would lay his life down for the king. Reading through comments here I can see people berating the king and hating on him, but in this instance I feel he did what he had to do given the circumstances. I do not applaud it, but I understand it, and him. Furthermore, with the introduction of sex between the Chief and Queen, we see Chief opening up to a new, strange love he'd never witnessed and also being sad about it; he did go to the queen, then sleep next to the king and cuddled him, with tears leaking from his eyes. That was a sign that he loved this man, and he felt sad and confused about loving another. Then the anger, the sense of betrayal, the brutal punishment meted out, are all mind blowing. For me, chief did really love King, even though he told him otherwise in his last moments, to deeply hurt him. I know I would say the same, in the same circumstances... But the love remained there, as, even as he lay dying, he turned to King, in those very last, dying moments he had. That, dears, was love right there.Was this review helpful to you?
A very sad movie
I'm just in love with this movie...I love the actors and the story, I didn't expected that the King will make the Queen to do that but the story is perfect.
I expected that ending...
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