Excellent but underrated film

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

My respect goes to Yoo Ah-in (Crown Prince Sado)for his performance, though there were other quite good performances as well. I have watched many Korean films, and was surprised to have not seen Yoo Ah-in's face before, so I googled his name. He appears to have been a model before taking on acting, and rightfully so based on his good looks. Not sure if modeling came before acting, but either way, this guy is not just another pretty face actor. There were a couple of scenes in the film where his character simply commanded me to well-up. The "trivia of decorum" is a phrase that stuck with me after watching this film. The only advantage of being the first born boy to a monarch in many ancient cultures (not just Asian), was that you were at least guaranteed meals, especially if times were hard. Otherwise, the pressures on young heirs seems to have been almost unbearable.

The film is essentially a portrayal of a power struggle between a narcissistic father and his emotionally abused son, who naively strives to earn his father's love and admiration, but rebels against his father once he realizes that he can never please his father nor truly earn his respect. At every opportunity, the king-father publicly belittles and humiliates his son before his governing subjects, making the regent-son question his own self-worth. The king even goes to the extent of revealing to his son that he considers his own son to be an enemy, when they take a stroll through their ancestral burial/worship place. The king, finally realizing that he cannot fully control his son, replaces his rebelling son with his younger grand child, whom he can easily manipulate and control. The old king gives up his throne only after his death. The power-hungriness, contempt, violence, and the narcissistic need to subjugate and humiliate is made quite evident in the interactions of the king with his son. It was also interesting to see the conniving enablers in the court always trying to please the authoritative figure and not standing up to him. The apparent powerlessness and pathetic inability to stand-up to the oppressive figure in the victims as well as the enablers are quite striking. All in all, the movie provides a great insight to narcissistic relationships.

By 1762, the Joseon dynasty in Korea has been in power for about 300 years, and it's managed to stay in power that long through a mixture of Confucian disciplinary skills amongst the functionaries and adherence to strict codes of behavior and style in the court. Yeongjo (Song Kang-ho) has been King for decades; his son by a concubine, Sado (Yoo Ah-in) is the Crown Prince but he doesn't follow the Confucian teachings (in fact, he hates to study at all) and doesn't adhere to behavioral norms either. When, in a fit of madness, he decides to assassinate his father, his plot is foiled and the King, unable to accuse him of high treason because that would place the dynasty in peril, decides to name him a commoner and condemn him to death. A terrible death, though, one in which the Crown Prince is placed in a sealed wooden box and left in the hot sun to slowly die of thirst and hunger. As the days pass, the story of how such a thing came to pass is told in a series of flashbacks, detailing the tragedy of this royal family…. This film is based on a true incident in Korean history, one that is of huge importance in that culture because of all the social resonance it encompasses. The film is beautifully created, with sumptuous costumes and gorgeous vistas, and both lead actors are convincing in their roles. But, well, the story comes across as quite sentimental and melodramatic (just about all the various women do in the film is weep silently, although there is a memorable scene with the Dowager Queen late in the film), and frankly, at 125 minutes, it's just way longer than it needed to be. In particular, the last 10-15 minutes are quite pointless, at least to someone who is not Korean and thus doesn't have the cultural or historical background to appreciate it. I liked it overall, but it could have done with some judicious editing, I think.

This is a bit of a draw out movie but isn't really a slow burner movie. The pacing of it had my attention most of the way through, but after the first hour it started to get a bit stale. I did appreciate the well crafted cinematography and for it now being a amateurish movie. With bunch of corny slapstick comedy thrown in to entertain the audiences. This is a historical film based on a true story about a prince that was ordered to get locked inside a confide space until he died. Because the king didn't find his son to be worthy of the position of being king and looked forward to his grandson taking his place instead. Mainly because the son was more interested in being free and art over order and studying. Which actually seems quite familiar to the dysfunctional aspects of most families these days. With the son or daughter rebelling against the parents and the parents forcing their belief down their child's throat. The acting for the most part is superb in this and it really makes some of the drawn out scenes very watchable. So, the beginning shows the prince getting locked up and from their on it goes from flashback to flashback on how the prince lost the favor from the king and what lead to that point. This isn't a action packed historical movie with swords and arrows flying everywhere, as a matter of fact there is almost none of that. As a matter of fact there is not even a villain that causes turmoil in the kingdom. Instead it's a historical drama about the fall of a prince and how what could have been easily avoided didn't work out because of stubborn attitude and grudge. Despite the drawn out aspect of this movie the build up for the most part had some tension to it. Overall this is a film worth checking out, at least once if you like historical dramas.7.9/10