Both films involve a love triangle of some sort riddled with high tension, jealousy, and royal scandals.
Both sageuk films that feature intense relationships. both films have some scenes not for minors too. Homosexuality is featured in both.
The New Yoshiwara pleasure district, in the twilight years of the Edo Period. Popular prostitute Asagiri will soon be freed from her indentured service. One day at a local festival, she meets young artisan Hanjiro who changes her destiny. Asagiri feels love for the first time in her life, but the history involving Hanjiro's client leads to tragic circumstances.
Both movies feature a pair of men, one more manly, and one very effeminate, that are actors together. In both, they start out poor, but climb the social ladder by performing for the high society. They achieve this mostly through the unusual charm of the effeminate character, who is torn between his ambiguous relationship with the other male lead, and the advances he receives from rich and powerful men. Although they are very different eras (and countries!), both take place in difficult political contexts in which the characters become entangled, but that their theatre plays reenact metaphorically. Both characters cross-dress and play woman characters on stage. However, The King and the Clown is more comical, whereas Farewell My Concubine is more thoughtful, artistic and tragic.
Both feature two artists (one older and one younger) who eventually worked for the king as the king were impressed by their skills. Except in Painter of the Wind, the artists are painters, while in King and the Clown, the artists are male clowns. The two main artists in both shows also really care for each other and are willing to sacrifice a lot for one another. Homosexual themes prevail in both shows though presented quite differently. In King and the Clown, you have a feminine male clown and two other men (one fellow clown and the other is the king himself) who can both possibly be interpreted as having some sort of feelings for him. In Painter of the Wind, the younger female artists has lived as a man her whole life and the older male artist who thinks she's a man can possibly think of himself as homosexual since he is having some feelings for a fellow male artist. In addition, the female-pretending-to-be-a male artist in Painter of the Wind is also shows to have another love interest that can be interpreted as homosexual, that is her relationship and fascination with a female gisaeng
Saito Haruomi is a young man who moves from his hometown to Tokyo to attend a university. He begins to live in a lodging place that charges the low price of 10,000 yen per month. On his first day there, he meets a beautiful girl named Kokono. While making conversation with her, Saito Haruomi’s face blushes. He suffers from erythromania, which causes him to blush often. Saito Haruomi is excited to live with a such beautiful girl, but he soon discovers that Kokono is actually a man.
Choi Han Gyul is the grandson of chairwoman Bang of Dong-in Foods, a company that has a thriving coffee business. He has never had a job and does not care for responsibility. Han Gyul is hung up on his first love, Han Yoo Joo, who only sees him as a friend.
Go Eun Chan is a 24-year-old tomboy who is often mistaken for a guy. Her father died when she was 16 years old and since then she has taken over as the breadwinner in her family.
When Han Gyul and Eun Chan meet, he, not knowing that she is a girl, decides to hire her to pretend to be his gay lover so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han Gyul takes over a rundown old coffee shop, later renamed "Coffee Prince," to prove that he's capable, to both his grandmother and Yoo Joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good-looking male employees. Eun Chan, desperate for money, continues to hide her gender to get a job at the Coffee Prince.
Go Eun Chan is a 24-year-old tomboy who is often mistaken for a guy. Her father died when she was 16 years old and since then she has taken over as the breadwinner in her family.
When Han Gyul and Eun Chan meet, he, not knowing that she is a girl, decides to hire her to pretend to be his gay lover so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han Gyul takes over a rundown old coffee shop, later renamed "Coffee Prince," to prove that he's capable, to both his grandmother and Yoo Joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good-looking male employees. Eun Chan, desperate for money, continues to hide her gender to get a job at the Coffee Prince.
Choi Han Gyul is the grandson of chairwoman Bang of Dong-in Foods, a company that has a thriving coffee business. He has never had a job and does not care for responsibility. Han Gyul is hung up on his first love, Han Yoo Joo, who only sees him as a friend.
Go Eun Chan is a 24-year-old tomboy who is often mistaken for a guy. Her father died when she was 16 years old and since then she has taken over as the breadwinner in her family.
When Han Gyul and Eun Chan meet, he, not knowing that she is a girl, decides to hire her to pretend to be his gay lover so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han Gyul takes over a rundown old coffee shop, later renamed "Coffee Prince," to prove that he's capable, to both his grandmother and Yoo Joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good-looking male employees. Eun Chan, desperate for money, continues to hide her gender to get a job at the Coffee Prince.
Go Eun Chan is a 24-year-old tomboy who is often mistaken for a guy. Her father died when she was 16 years old and since then she has taken over as the breadwinner in her family.
When Han Gyul and Eun Chan meet, he, not knowing that she is a girl, decides to hire her to pretend to be his gay lover so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han Gyul takes over a rundown old coffee shop, later renamed "Coffee Prince," to prove that he's capable, to both his grandmother and Yoo Joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good-looking male employees. Eun Chan, desperate for money, continues to hide her gender to get a job at the Coffee Prince.
