Too much of everything

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

I found this movie accidentally which also led me to start watching several South Korean soap operas later.I want to explain why the director employed such intensive sexually explicit scenes in the movie. One reason might be sex is the most powerful and primitive human behavior which would carry out the subsequently tragic endings. All to be said and done, this movie gave me such reflections which I felt the story couldn't be better. The struggling between conscious and desires is forceful enough to overwhelm audience's mind. The scenes and customs were also splendid in details. One thing I would like to point out is I watched both English and Chinese subtitles of this movie. Not to mention that Chinese version is way better. I think the language barrier can affect how you see the movie. The culture difference between east and west also have impacts.It is loosely based on history. The plot was unexpected and mind blowing. Some reviews criticized the young actor who played the guard was not veteran enough. I would differ over that because the director tried to show the young man's first love which would be longing, obsessed and addicted. The affection between the guard and queen was growing from lust to love. If you can imagine the society at that time which the two lovers only could express their affections privately, you will understand why the director used extensive sexual contents in this movie. However, the third part of their mating was excessive and unnecessary which only served for box office ticket sale.If you like those eastern historian movies, you probably should understand the society some. Then you will see the movies in different way.

I didn't think that a film about a homosexual king persuading his lover to sleep with the Queen to produce an heir would be very exciting. But as so often happens, it was. I've watched this twice now, and appreciated the film a lot more the second time around.The lead characters are well drawn, the dialog is interesting, the acting is excellent - heck, I even liked the music. There's not an over-abundance of battle and fight scenes, but what scenes there were were well -staged, and I thought the final scenes were as good as anything I've seen.And, of course, there's sex - lots of bare-bottomed bare-breasted, tongue in tongue, man on man, man on woman sex. But none of it descends into sleaziness and perhaps because Ji-hyo Song is such a beautiful woman (and, dare I say it, In-seong Jo is such a beautiful man) the scenes don't become tedious as they do in so many other other movies. The scenes are completely integral to the movie. Funnily enough, I've always thought of the French as being the only ones capable pf handling sex in cinema properly. The Germans and Spanish and Australians always tend towards crudity, the Americans invariably imbue their sex scenes with their childish puritanism, and sex in Asian cinema can be downright ludicrous. But having said that, the most erotic and interesting sex scenes I've seen have all been in Asian movies - "Samsara", "Erotic Ghost Story", "A Frozen Flower".I really like this film - it gets a 9/10 from me.

This film should have been a whole lot more engaging for my money. The film starts out as an epic sword fighting--die to protect the king--like saga (you see these boys being groomed to be the king's bodyguards and warriors when they grow up--kind of like a school for boy secret service agents actually.) where the "die for the king" like mantra is tried and true. This mantra gets severely tested later on in the film when the king starts going off his rocker--but we;ll get to that in a second. The king starts taking to this one particular warrior (a more "sensitive" kind) and appoints him his own personal bodyguard. Before too long--the 2 men are in a secretive affair. The king however decides to get married to a woman--got to protect the throne of course. eventually the king decides that he needs to produce and heir to protect the throne---however the king is having some sexual issues in bed with his wife (possibly because he secretly pines for his bodyguard when he's in bed with her.) He then gets the bright idea of having his lover/bodyguard to impregnate his wife on his behalf. The bodyguard who has probably never said No to the king in his entire life of course agrees to it--and before too long--the bodyguard and the queen are engaging in a secretive affair all their own. (yes i realize the affair can't be that secretive if the king hired him to impregnate the queen in the first place--but the queen and the bodyguard end up meeting behind closed doors in non officially sanctioned romance sessions as well)The King Then loses His mind with jealousy basically. I kept wondering who he was jealous of at first. Was he jealous of The Bodyguard or his wife? Turns out Both! That's more or less it for the plot---there's a king or queen or some kind of royalty at another kingdom who's plotting to take the king down and those attempts are the basis for some very well done attacks on the king's throne that the bodyguard (and other warriors as well) must fight off...but the main plot line seems to be all about the increasing jealousy of the king for his lover and for his wife. While i wish there was more of a competing plot line to go with here because this plot line while filled with good old fashioned drama--and dressed up in an old fashioned royalty costumed drama as well is kind of a bore after a while. I personally really relished the attacks by the other kingdom if only because it distracted me from the ultimate predictability of what was about to happen (although i will admit the actual ending was pretty darn good--when the inevitable happens and the king finally has a reason to justify his jealousy--his actions finally make the film suspenseful...not to mention squirm inducing as well--that's all i'll say about that--i leave what happens to the king and bodyguard to you fine folks to see--but it ain't pretty.) Film has gorgeous set design and costumes and lighting and plush scenery that really pops on camera--the whole works were done as is traditional for a costume royalty drama genre piece...and that's all well and good--but if the heart of the story doesn't grab you and keep you interested the whole way through, then its all for naught.

One would be puzzled with the title of the movie: Frozen Flower, or better known as Frozen Flower Shop in Korean. While the title was related to a song performed in the movie, the plot is far stretched from what it seems to be.Set in the Koryo Dynasty, the King (Ju Jin-Mo) and Hong Lim (Jo In-Seong), the chief of guards, are two best friends growing up together. Hong Lim devoted his life to the King, while the King sees him as a close friend he can trust, including the physical intimacy they shared with each other.Under the pressure from the Yuan Kingdom of China for unable to have a son as a heir, the King comes with a solution: to allow the Queen (Song Ji-Hyo) conceived by Hong Lim. After sharing the intimacy with Hong Lim, the Queen began to meet Hong Lim in private, so as to fulfill her desire. It ends up in a tragedy which no one would have foreseen in the first place.Directed by Ha Yu (Marriage is a Crazy Thing), Frozen Flower dealt with the modern day issues in a ancient Koryo Dynasty background. Homosexuality and adultery are the two topics which is a hush-hush in South Korea today, has been fully exploited and utilized in the palace. Issues such as conspiracy on overthrowing the King and control of power, which were commonly seen in a Korean drama, did not get a chance to see the daylight. It ends up as a supporting agenda to tell the story.The movie revolves around the King, the Queen and Hong Lim, on exploring their desires for each other, betrayal and lust. Apart from that, there is nothing much left to see on the remaining characters, since they are dispensable, and their existence in the story do not give much support to the presentation of the story.The affection between the King and Hong Lim were displayed through their daily conversations and actions to each other, such as feeding each other when sick, exchange of sword fighting skills and pillow talks. On the other hand, you will get more than what you see for the relationship between Hong Lim and the Queen, where both were seen having sex most of the time.Frozen Flower can be easily related to any modern day love triangle relationship drama, or some modern day Korean drama sharing the similar plot. However, the movie is greatly similar to Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972) from HK's Shaw Brothers Studios. The 1972 production discussed similar issues, in the view of 2 women and a inspector.If sword fighting and love triangle relationship is your cup of tea,Frozen Flower will be a good choice.