THE KING AND THE CLOWN (WANG-UI NAMJA) (KOREAN) (2005)

"All the world is a stage."

This famous line of Shakespeare comes alive through this beautiful period movie from Korea which is a moving drama in the garb of a comedy.

The movie is set in the early 1500s when the Chosun dynasty ruled Korea. Two tight rope walking male clowns - the senior and confident Jangsaeng and much younger, stunning, yet effeminate Gong-gil - earn their living by performing in public with a troupe of performers. Jangsaeng and Gong-gil are the leading stars of the troupe and share a special relationship where Jangsaeng is very protective of Gong-gil. When the manager of the troupe tries to offer the attractive Gong-gil to wealthy clients to fulfill their carnal pleasures, Jangsaeng resists and is forced to flee with Gong-gil to Seoul. On reaching Seoul, they join a group of the performers and conduct successful performances which are crowd pleasers. In one such performance, they mock the king and his favourite concubine in full public glare and are duly apprehended by the palace guards. 

Facing certain death for their blasphemous satire, they are however provided a glimmer of hope in the form of a challenge, wherein their lives could be spared if they can make the king himself laugh, by performing their doomed satire in open court. However, when they arrive at the open court to perform their satire, they almost freeze to stone out of their heightened fear of the consequences. Yet, they somehow manage to surmount this arduous ordeal despite a clunky performance, thanks largely to some last minute theatrics of the resourceful Gong-gil. In what comes as a further surprise, the king, Yeonsan is so amused by them, that he orders them to be part of the court by decreeing them to court jesters. 

Yeonsan is a tyrannical king who reigns over Korea with utter ruthlessness and is considered an insensitive and cruel ruler. The people as well as his ministers bear the brunt of his unpredictable behaviour mainly because of the ancient faith of the king being revered as anointed by heaven. Yet, several of the ministers in his court are corrupt and continue to remain loyal to the former king . They try to wield an undue influence on the decisions of the king whom they consider incompetent and unstable.

Yeonsan takes a special liking to Gong-gil and spends more and more time with Gong-gil in the private confines of his room where he makes Gong-gil conduct puppet plays and skits for him. Soon, Gong-gil begins to sympathise with the king when he finds that the outwardly cruel emperor has a soft core and his cruelty stems from the trauma of seeing his mother die as a kid when she was forced to drink a cup of poison, thanks to the conspiracy of some jealous concubines of his father, the former king. Meanwhile, the hitherto protective Jangsaeng appears possessive too and is becoming very uneasy at the long hours spent by Gong-gil with king. He suspects that the king is bored of his concubines and has taken to abusing Gong-gil. He makes several futile efforts to leave the palace with Gong-gil at the earliest, but Gong-gil refuses. At the other end, the royal concubine too feels ignored and is envious of Gong-gil whom she feels receives excessive attention of the king. The ministers too are miffed at the importance given by their king to the troupe of jesters and are further irked whe


n the king arranges for the jesters to stage a performance mocking them in an open court for their incompetence and corruption. What follows is an intriguing set of dynamics between the king, the two clowns, the ministers and the favorite concubine of the king.

This movie is far removed from the long line of  bold, gripping and  bloody action thrillers which are seen as regular fare churned out of Korea. It attempts a fine blend of comedy and drama and succeeds to a great extent. The acting of the leads, especially Kam Wu-seong who plays Jangseang and Jung Jin-young who plays king Yeonsan, are exceptional.

Director Lee Jun-ik presents narrates a fine story of love and power in a beautiful period setting which is accentuated by a fine score and resplendent cinematography. Lee has sketched fine characters and has captured the intense relationships between the three leads with just the right amount of grey shades and tension. He has also ensured that this drama is also finely paced and taut. The film  showcases the ancient culture of Korea through excellent art direction and also the several performances of the troupes. While the performances of the clowns may appear irreverent and crass, i guess the director has made a deliberate choice here, keeping in view the requirements of the .

Is it a triangular love story with a twist..? Or, is it just a drama based on court conspiracies..? The movie leaves it for the audience to arrive at this conclusion. As for me, I found it to be a story of great love, beautifully told, sans the melodrama.

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!