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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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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Shock value fest.
A Frozen Flower definitely tries to do a lot—historical drama, palace intrigue, and steamy romance all rolled into one. It has beautiful cinematography, solid performances from the three main leads, and a messy love triangle? at its core. But does it all come together? Kind of. Misunderstanding, betrayal, consequences follow.Now, the good stuff: The production is top-notch. The costumes, sets, and cinematography are beautiful. The film also doesn’t shy away from it wants to show, tackling sexuality, love, and duty in a way that was pretty bold.
The drama in the story is extra here, some plot points feel repetitive, and the pacing drags in the second half. The steamy scenes were a talking point and feel more like shock value than storytelling.
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