A Frozen Flower (Hangul: 쌍화점; RR: Ssanghwajeom) 2008

Set in the Goryeo dynasty, “A Frozen Flower” tells the tragic story of a king, his queen and the boy caught for his love between them.

The king of Goryeo Dynasty Korea attempts to shake off the dominance of Yuan Dynasty China and establish an autonomous state. He forms a palace guard composed of thirty six young soldiers, led by military commander Hong-rim and favoring one in particular. While there is a definite age difference (and questions of authority) it seems that the boy, Hong-lim, completely loves and adores his king and could almost always be found beside him.

For political reasons, the King is assigned a woman to marry, but at first she is practically invisible to the King as he saves all his passions for Hong-lim, who pretty much go at it in bed like animals. This all changes when the King finds himself under pressure to produce an heir, and foolishly asks Hong-lim to attend to the Queen and give her what he cannot. Hong-lim is at first shocked by the request, but soon finds himself actually falling in love with the Queen, who in turn loves him back.

The political intrigue and the betrayal all escalate as the King fights a war on two fronts: one for his kingdom, and one for Hong-lim. He can sense what is going on under his nose, and although Hong-lim continuously feels guilty about his actions, and meeting the Queen in dark corners, the two are perpetually drawn to each other. It all comes to a head when the King finds them together, and exacts the most cruel, heinous revenge, eventually putting all three on a path to bloody destruction.

A Frozen Flower is based on a true story from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) Korea, and takes its title from a song of that era which described the sexual relationships between men and women. It is the fifth feature film by director Yoo Ha, who wanted to make a change from his previous works by doing a historical film, saying, “I always felt uncomfortable with the genre but I felt I should try to overcome those feelings. It is also a new challenge for me to focus on a melodrama”. He also stated that the film was “a love story between men”.

Jo In-sung was on board from the beginning of the project, having turned down other acting roles to make A Frozen Flower his last work before enlisting for military service. He choose to appear in the film without knowing the exact details, having faith in the director following their earlier collaboration in 2005 on A Dirty Carnival. Jo began training for the role in August 2007, learning martial arts, fencing, horse riding and geomungo. The casting of Ju Jin-mo as the king was announced in December 2007.

The budget for A Frozen Flower was $10 million, and the film went into production on 16 April 2008. It was the first film to shoot at the newly built Jeonju Cinema Studio.

Cast

* Jo In-sung as Hong Lim
* Ju Jin-mo as King
* Song Ji-hyo as Queen
* Shim Ji-ho as Seung-gi
* Im Joo Hwan as Han Baek
* Ye Wook hwan as Im-bo
* Song Joong Gi as No-tak
* Jang Ji Won as Bo-meok
* Kim Choon Gi as Hwang Nae-kwan
* Lee Jong Goo as Tae-Sa
* Kwon Tae Won as Jo Il-moon
* Do Young Goo as Gi Won-hong
* No Min Woo as Min Woo
* Do Ye seong as Choi Kwan