From this comment, I think it's pretty much obvious that he loved the queen more than the king. Even though I've…
A 13-year-old does not "groom" a 9-year-old. There was NOTHING during the scenes showing them when they were young, or in their interactions as adults, to indicate the Chief was under the King's magic spell, or being coerced into a relationship or having sex with the King. Nothing, nada, zilch. He bonded with the younger chief because he was enthusiastic in training, cute, and engaging.
The problem is that YOU have "heard of grooming" far too much. It's one of those pseudo-scientific terms that moves from being a precise definition of a specific behavior to being almost meaningless because it gets thrown around by people like you who start using it to describe situations where it does not apply.
Grooming has a precise definition. Google it. An ADULT, knowing exactly what they are doing, inserts themselves into the life of a particular child, with the aim of gaining their trust and wearing down boundaries, over time, to a point the kid will accept the adult's sexual advances.
Do you think the King, in the early scenes, was anything more than an adolescent? He has a little peach-fuzz mustache that boys in adolescence sprout when their pubes start to bloom. Educate yourself.
If you watch this with the same "filter" that they made us all use when we watched The Untamed... it is sooo much…
This was made in Korea, not China, and at the time it was made, there had already been a number of feature films made featuring gay main characters. As much as the captain loved GG, he could never bring himself to tell him so. And I think if he had, GG would have been his for life.
Please don't compare this excellent film to the pile of garbage that is the Untamed, which is nothing but bad gay-bait in silk pajamas and robes.
1. Probably not (though it's heavily implied in the movie that the King is very interested, and Gong Gil is not…
Gong Gil did NOT want to stay at the palace. Have you forgotten toward the end when he was begging the king to "let me go?" He wanted to leave with Jang Seng and the troupe.
Yes, it was released before the scandal. And no announcement about cancelling disc/digital releases so far.
Some lame scandal. None of anybody else's business. Weird how Puritannical many Asians about stuff like this. You'd think they were fundamentalist Christians from the U.S.
Oh, I watched this movie like 9 times or more, that's how much I love it! It was the reason I got into Korean…
I'm with you. Just watched it for the fourth time a few days ago and was profoundly moved once again. I love rewatching good movies as it's fun to discover details that escaped me the first time.
you're forgetting the fact that Hong Lim was forced into the relationship tho....It was a one-sided love
When, exactly, in the film is it shown that the king is a "grown person" while the chief is a "kid?" Their age difference, as indicated from the opening scenes, was no more than 5 or 6 years. I'll be waiting for the time stamp on where in this film the king is an adult and the chief is a kid. lol
how can you feel bad for someone who clearly groomed a 12 year old?
Use the brain I assume you have. In the scene at the beginning, in which they meet, the King is at most 14, the Chief maybe 8 or 9. Their age difference is five or six years. I understand you wanted to toss the word "grooming" around to make yourself sound current and intelligent. You achieved the opposite.
Grooming specifically refers to an adult male befriending and charming a minor boy in hopes of sex later. At the beginning of the movie, the chief is only around 13, a minor himself. And there was zero indication in the plot that the King ever used his power over the Chief to pressure him into sex.
MDL is dominated by young, neo-prudish women who think bad things that people do in real life should not be allowed on screen, in particular, sex and anything related to it. I haven't watched this film yet, but the dark plots that I love to experience are exactly the kind of thing they want to ban. Sounds like this film is dark.
The LGs (Little Girls) believe that audience members run out of the theater and repeat every bad act they saw in a film. So they want things censored to where everyone who does anything bad must be "punished" in the film, sufficient to their satisfaction that the audience will have learned the moral lesson the LGs think should be caught.
So, if a murderer gets away with the crime and escapes to Bermuda to live happily with lots of money, the LGs expect a wave of murders across the land, with everyone trying to fly out of the country at the same time. I exaggerate to make the point. They really do believe people are that dumb.
From the synopsis, this sounds like just the film for me.
I reacted intensely the first time I saw it. Sobbed like a child. Tonight was my fourth watch. With every go-round…
Wow, what a wonderful, thoughtful reply. I appreciate it. A Frozen Flower is definitely powerful. First time I saw it, I was new to Asian gay cinema, like BRAND NEW and had no idea what to expect. I watched in on my laptop with headphones in the living room of my brother's house while he watched car repair shows or something.
He looked over at me numerous times because I was reacting physically and audibly, in the form of jumps and gasps, and of course, sobbing for the entire last third of the movie. The library scene when the King discovers the lovers had me in a state of horror for probably ten minutes. And when the King ordered you-know-what done to the Chief, I nearly screamed.
On top of all that, I was kind of freaked out at how I was reacting to a movie made halfway around the world in Korea, with Korean dialogue. I knew almost nothing of Asian cinema at that time and was utterly amazed at the quality of every aspect of this flick. Now, three years later, I am completely immersed in Asian cinema in general, Asian gay cinema, and BLs. How I first reacted to the best of those was pretty intense also, so I learned to always have a roll of paper towels nearby when watching.
I was late to BL, so there were many dramas that had been completed, which gave me the ability to binge them. And wow, did I ever. :)
Back to AFF, I've thought a lot about what you've told me of your experience with the film and why you choose to not watch it again. I also have a few sad love stories in my past, but nothing that AFF brings to the surface for me. When I watch it, I am with them in Korea, back in time a century or two ago, and immersed in the characters and plot. I react to what is happening in their lives, not mine.
Of course, all of us come to films or dramas with a mind-set and world-view made up of what we've experienced to that point in our lives. I sometimes forget about that, and wonder why this or that commenter doesn't "get it" the way I do. Thanks for reminding med.
I noticed that I've watched AFF four times in three years, which means I watch it every nine months, the time of human gestation in the womb. Perhaps it takes nine months to gestate my emotional state to where I'm strong enough to go through AFF again. lol
In truth, I avoided watching again for nearly a year after the first time. I would scroll upon it on my plan-to-rewatch list and cringe, knowing I was not ready to go back to THAT. :)
By the way, I am also a Friend of Bill's. 23 years
Alternate title: "Portrait of a Female Sex Addict."
I don't see him that way because he was never obsessing to friends about how she didn't put out enough, and he never even thought about cheating on her.
She had no means of communicating with a man other than through her vagina. There was no indication whatsoever that he was withholding sex, and all of a sudden she's all "I feel like I'm begging for it all the time." Also, annoying things like blowing him on the bus and then acting put-out that he came in her mouth. Hello? All the hot sex was nice, and if simulated, very well-acted. One of the few movies you see that gives the male body as much screen time as the female. Kudos to the leads for establishing a rapport that allowed them to do all those scenes and make it feel real.
In a nutshell: They should have remained sex-friends only. I wouldn't call them "friends with benefits," because they had no friendship when they weren't f**king. Perhaps a case of people taking a relationship to a next level just because that's what they think they should do.
I actually liked the film more than I expected to at first.
1 
1 
The problem is that YOU have "heard of grooming" far too much. It's one of those pseudo-scientific terms that moves from being a precise definition of a specific behavior to being almost meaningless because it gets thrown around by people like you who start using it to describe situations where it does not apply.
Grooming has a precise definition. Google it. An ADULT, knowing exactly what they are doing, inserts themselves into the life of a particular child, with the aim of gaining their trust and wearing down boundaries, over time, to a point the kid will accept the adult's sexual advances.
Do you think the King, in the early scenes, was anything more than an adolescent? He has a little peach-fuzz mustache that boys in adolescence sprout when their pubes start to bloom. Educate yourself.
Please don't compare this excellent film to the pile of garbage that is the Untamed, which is nothing but bad gay-bait in silk pajamas and robes.
Grooming specifically refers to an adult male befriending and charming a minor boy in hopes of sex later. At the beginning of the movie, the chief is only around 13, a minor himself. And there was zero indication in the plot that the King ever used his power over the Chief to pressure him into sex.
The LGs (Little Girls) believe that audience members run out of the theater and repeat every bad act they saw in a film. So they want things censored to where everyone who does anything bad must be "punished" in the film, sufficient to their satisfaction that the audience will have learned the moral lesson the LGs think should be caught.
So, if a murderer gets away with the crime and escapes to Bermuda to live happily with lots of money, the LGs expect a wave of murders across the land, with everyone trying to fly out of the country at the same time. I exaggerate to make the point. They really do believe people are that dumb.
From the synopsis, this sounds like just the film for me.
He looked over at me numerous times because I was reacting physically and audibly, in the form of jumps and gasps, and of course, sobbing for the entire last third of the movie. The library scene when the King discovers the lovers had me in a state of horror for probably ten minutes. And when the King ordered you-know-what done to the Chief, I nearly screamed.
On top of all that, I was kind of freaked out at how I was reacting to a movie made halfway around the world in Korea, with Korean dialogue. I knew almost nothing of Asian cinema at that time and was utterly amazed at the quality of every aspect of this flick. Now, three years later, I am completely immersed in Asian cinema in general, Asian gay cinema, and BLs. How I first reacted to the best of those was pretty intense also, so I learned to always have a roll of paper towels nearby when watching.
I was late to BL, so there were many dramas that had been completed, which gave me the ability to binge them. And wow, did I ever. :)
Back to AFF, I've thought a lot about what you've told me of your experience with the film and why you choose to not watch it again. I also have a few sad love stories in my past, but nothing that AFF brings to the surface for me. When I watch it, I am with them in Korea, back in time a century or two ago, and immersed in the characters and plot. I react to what is happening in their lives, not mine.
Of course, all of us come to films or dramas with a mind-set and world-view made up of what we've experienced to that point in our lives. I sometimes forget about that, and wonder why this or that commenter doesn't "get it" the way I do. Thanks for reminding med.
I noticed that I've watched AFF four times in three years, which means I watch it every nine months, the time of human gestation in the womb. Perhaps it takes nine months to gestate my emotional state to where I'm strong enough to go through AFF again. lol
In truth, I avoided watching again for nearly a year after the first time. I would scroll upon it on my plan-to-rewatch list and cringe, knowing I was not ready to go back to THAT. :)
By the way, I am also a Friend of Bill's. 23 years
I don't see him that way because he was never obsessing to friends about how she didn't put out enough, and he never even thought about cheating on her.
She had no means of communicating with a man other than through her vagina.
There was no indication whatsoever that he was withholding sex, and all of a sudden she's all "I feel like I'm begging for it all the time."
Also, annoying things like blowing him on the bus and then acting put-out that he came in her mouth. Hello?
All the hot sex was nice, and if simulated, very well-acted.
One of the few movies you see that gives the male body as much screen time as the female.
Kudos to the leads for establishing a rapport that allowed them to do all those scenes and make it feel real.
In a nutshell: They should have remained sex-friends only. I wouldn't call them "friends with benefits," because they had no friendship when they weren't f**king. Perhaps a case of people taking a relationship to a next level just because that's what they think they should do.
I actually liked the film more than I expected to at first.
8/10
Also, I had no idea they had breast implants in ancient Korea.