Kirpianuscus the image. the story. the performances. parts of a South Coreean historical drama. like many others. but only at the search sigh. because it is more a parable than recreation of an episode from the past. it is touching and dark and strange. a story about love and power and relationships in a not ordinary manner, a story who not use the myth but represents a bitter trip to the essence of things. a film for a precise target. because it is wise answer to different challenges, because reflects the politics and personal life in a manner who reminds old taboo and ambiguous rules.it preserves the atmosphere of historical dramas, it propose same questions and solutions but it remains different because it preserves the rhythm of every day contemporary existence. short, a film about survive. and that definition could be enough.

KineticSeoul This movie is nothing all that new and the taboo part of this movie is what drives it. Although it has some sword fighting sequence than and there. And the fight sequences although isn't the major part of this movie is well done. The other elements in the movie besides the taboo aspect of the movie is interesting enough to be passable. So the king of Goryeo Dynasty has palace guards and is being suppressed by the Yuan Dynasty and is pressured to make a heir from the Yuan princess. And things go wrong from there on. This movie also features Ju Jin-mo and Jo In Sung, two of the popular actors in Korea. This movie has few disturbing parts but if it had a bit more originality it would have been better cause it has been done before. Maybe a bit of a different direction with some shock factor, cause overall it's actually quite predictable. This is a watchable movie but doesn't really stand out as much as it should have.6.0/10

eucalyptus9 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.

samuelding85 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.