Movie review

Language B

Februrary, 4, 2013

Word Counts: 417

 

Two kings for one nation?

 

Movie: Guanghae, a man who became a king(2012)

Main Casts: Beong Hyun Lee and Hyoju Han

Director: Changmin Chu

 

Have you ever imagined a king or a leader such as Hitler actually using a stand-in for his political affairs? In the movie, a King named KuangHae, who was the only misevaluated king in the Joseon Dynasty, the latest kingdom before Republic of Korea, uses an understudy for him for the sake of his assassination. This is not a whole interesting part of the movie. The understudy of a real king was a person from the bottom class. He does not know how to follow the manners and passes gas regardless of any places.

One day, a king get into a critical condition of illness due to assassination attempt from opponents. He needed time for recovery. As a result, Fake king replaces the real kings place for a while. However, it is not that easy to imitate a king, who nearly spent most of his life time educated to be polite and dignity.

In the movie, sound plays a significant role to make audience to stay focus on the scenes. Usually, most of fillms use modern sound or latest song in it, likewise, the movie plays songs not only modern music, but also traditional music. Since it is our traditional songs that are used to our ear, audiences are more likely to be indulged to the movie.

This film served as great entertainment with its colorful cast and numerous plot twists. Changmin Chu, who is a director of the movie, did not use the actors who are limited to a few typical roles. Beong Hyun Lee, who is a main character in the movie as a king, have not tried the historical drama or movie on his acting career. However, Mr. Chu targeted the point that audience would be curious about Beong Hyun Lee’s new acting in historical performance, and eventually I can strongly support that his marketing was amazing. Besides unexpected casting, there are many things that he did to make the movie success. Using an actor like Hyoju Han, who is a well-known actor in historical drama field, helped Beong Hyun Lee to be comfortable adapting to new conditions.

 

Despite the historical background and 140 minutes fairly long movie, Chu’s film not bored at all. I can strongly say that this film would be the best movie in 2012.

 

Hyun Seok Lee

Reviewer of Guanghae, a man who became a king(2012)