The topic of homosexuality quite often appears in films today. Most often, it is affected in European and American films. The countries of the CIS and Asia rarely make films about same-sex love, but there are exceptions. They became the South Korean film "Ice Flower". Actors participated in fairly explicit scenes of a sexual nature, so not all channels in South Korea ventured to show this tape. Despite this, the audience liked this controversial film, which tells about the period of the reign of Emperor Conmin-wan in the middle of the XIV century.
The film "Ice Flower"
This colorful historical melodrama about love and duty was released in 2008.
At that time, it was the most expensive movie made by South Korea. His budget was $ 10 million, and total box office revenues were almost $ 19 million. The “Ice Flower” was shot by a famous South Korean director, screenwriter and poet Yu Ha.
At home, this film was perceived ambiguously. But in Europe she liked it. The rights to its rental were acquired by Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany and the neighbor of South Korea - Japan.
The plot of "Ice Flower"
Against the background of the historical struggle for power, a love triangle is depicted: King Conmin-van, his wife Noguk and bodyguard Hon Rim.
Due to the fact that his state of Koryo (modern South Korea) has long been under a foreign yoke, the emperor urgently needs an heir, otherwise the Mongol Yuan dynasty will seize power. The sovereign, being a homosexual, could not force himself to go to bed with his wife and conceive a child. To save the situation, Conmin-van asks his beloved Hon Rome to spend the night with the queen and become the father of his heir.
Having overcome the experiences, Hon Rim fulfills the request of his sovereign. However, they and the Queen still cannot conceive a child. The king is disappointed, but even more worried that Hon Rim and the queen fall in love and begin to meet secretly. During one such “meeting”, Conmin-van, surrounded by guards, finds lovers. He is furious because of betrayal and orders to deflect Hon of Rome. It soon turns out that the queen is pregnant. The king decides to recognize her child as his own, but at the same time orders to kill everyone who knows about adultery, including Hon Rome.
Meanwhile, the queen is plotting to overthrow her husband, and her supporters save Hon of Rome. Having barely recovered, the hero sneaks into the chambers of Conmin-wan with a fight and challenges him to a duel. During the battle, the sovereign defeats and mortally wounds his lover, but at the last moment, playing on the feelings of the king, he also manages to strike him with a katana. As a result, both opponents die.
Interesting Facts
The creators of the film “Icy Flower” treated the historical truth quite freely. Actors (photo below), although they played their roles perfectly, are not very similar to their historical prototypes, in particular, Conmin-van.
The historical truth about the relationship of the king and queen is slightly different. Queen Noguk from the Mongolian clan Yuan was a faithful and loving wife, not even thinking about treason. Conmin-van did not look for souls in her and did not neglect conjugal duty, as shown in the film. Together they lived for sixteen years, but had no children. Noguk later managed to get pregnant, but she died during childbirth with the baby.
For a long time the sovereign wore mourning for his beloved woman, which did not stop him, but he could spend time in society with four more wives and two concubines, as well as have love relationships with young men from the personal guard. One of them, the same Hon Rim, dared to have an affair with one of the king’s wives named Face.
According to the official historical version, having learned of the betrayal of his wife and lover, Conmin-van ordered the personal guard to kill the latter. But they rebelled and killed the king himself. True, many historians believe that the murder of the ruler was politically motivated. The fact is that all the bodyguards in the royal guard were representatives of influential noble families, while Conmin-van at that time carried out a lot of reforms in the country, designed to limit the power of the aristocracy, which caused widespread discontent. As a representative of a noble family, Hon Rim may have hoped, after giving birth to a child (if it would be a boy), to put him on the throne. But a girl was born who lived only two years, and his son from one of the concubines became the heir to Conmin-wan.
The real Conmin-van was not only a visionary politician, but also an excellent musician and artist. At the end of the film, before the credits, a picture of his work appears with the two hunters depicted on it.
The title of the film “Ice Flower” is the name of the famous 14th-century Korean folk song Ssang-hwa-jeom, dedicated to the intimate relationship between a guy and a girl.
As for the process of working on the film “Ice Flower”, some actors did not even read the script to the end, hastening to agree to participate in this project. So did the leading actor Cho Ying Song, while he was the first of the main cast to receive an invitation to star in Ice Flower. But Chu Jin Mo (King Conmin-wan) joined the project shortly before the filming began.
Despite the scandalous reputation of this film, more than 3.5 million tickets were sold throughout the country on the day of the premiere.
The film "Ice Flower": the main actors
To attract the attention of South Korean spectators, stars were taken for the main roles. So, the main female role - Queen Noguk - went to the former model of Kiki magazine Song Ji Hyo.
Other actors in the movie "Ice Flower" were also not new to the world of film business. Cho In Song, the performer of the role of Hong Rome, became famous as an actor for melodramas, and Chu Jin Mo was not only the actor’s favorite dramas, but also a musician.
Both male lead actors are keen on taekwondo, which helped them to portray battle scenes in a rather naturalistic way, in particular the final duel.
Contrary to the expectations of fans of the film, between Cho Ying Son and the beautiful Song Ji Hyo, the novel did not arise, and after the end of filming, they completely stopped communicating, although the actress tried to resume dating, but Cho ignored her attempts.
Chu Jin Mo (Conmin-Wan)
Chu Jin Mo is the oldest among the three actors in the main cast of the movie “Ice Flower”. Actors and other members of the crew noted that he is quite similar in character to his hero - equally responsible and serious.
Jin Te Park (real name of the actor) was born in 1974 in the South Korean city of Seoul. His film debut took place when he turned 25, by then, on the advice of his agent, he had taken a more harmonious pseudonym - Chu Jin Mo.
The first real breakthrough was the participation in the film Dance, Dance. After this, the young actor was noticed and began to be invited to appear not only in dramas, but also in films. In parallel with acting, Chu Jin is fond of singing. He demonstrated his vocal skills in one of the episodes of “Ice Flower”.
For the film "Ice Flower", the main cast were nominated for many prestigious South Korean awards. Among them, Chu Jin Mo, whose acting was appreciated, he became the winner of the Paek Sang Arts Awards in the nomination "Best Actor". It is interesting that before the “Ice Flower” Mo applied for this award in 2000 in the nomination “Best Beginning Television Actor”, but did not receive it at that time. These awards are especially valuable to Mo, because by profession he is not an actor, but a physical education teacher. Today, Chu Jin often starred in films and television. In addition, he tries his hand on stage: in 2015, he played the role of Rhett Butler in the South Korean production of Gone With the Wind.
Cho Ying Song as Hon Rome
Countryman Chu Jin Mo is Cho Ying Sung, who played Hon Rome. Like Mo, Cho Ying was born in Seoul, though 7 years later, in 1981.
After leaving school, the young man entered the Faculty of Modeling at Chunnam University. Later, he began studying acting at Donguk University, although he was expelled due to rare attendance.
In parallel with his studies, Cho Ying was a model of the Ziozia brand. He was later invited to act in films. Soon, the directors noted that a remarkable dramatic talent was hidden behind Son's beautiful appearance, and began to offer him serious roles.
Acting in films and on television, Cho In Song won a lot of awards for participating in the South Korean projects New Nonstop, Piano, Shoot for the Stars, What Happened in Bali, Spring Day and A Dirty Carnival. By the way, the director of the last film from the list was Yu Ha, who later invited Son to the film “Ice Flower”.
The actors and the roles they played in “Ice Flower” did not always correspond to the real features of their characters. So, Cho Ying Sung specifically agreed to participate in the “Ice Flower” in order to go beyond the existing role and play an emotional hero, rushing between love for the sovereign and his wife. Hero of Son is a participant in all the erotic scenes in “Ice Flower”, and the actor managed to perfectly portray love and passion in bed with both a man and a woman.
In the period 2009-2011. Cho In Song was in the army, and after demobilization he began to act in films again.
Today, this actor is in great demand. In addition to film and television, he again appears in commercials, as well as in video clips.
Song Ji Hyo as Queen
Actress Jung Song Im, who has taken the stage name Song Ji Hyo, is the same year old Cho Ying Sung.
Like him, the girl began her career as a model, later starred in video clips, and then tried herself as an actress, about which she had dreamed since school days. By the way, her pseudonym consists of the names of two beloved South Korean actresses Song Sin Hong and Song Hyo Ge.
Unlike Son and Mo, Hyo began her career not with dramas, but with movies. Like Chu Jin Mo, she is a singer. In “Ice Flower”, her character performs a folk song.
She was nominated for the Paek Sang Arts Awards for her participation in the movie Ice Flower, but never received it. But after the film in the career of the beautiful Song Ji, a bright streak began - she not only won prestigious television and film awards, but also became a regular participant in the popular TV show Running Man.
Other actors
In addition to Hyo, Mo, and Son, other great actors starred in the film.
"Ice Flower" was the debut film for South Korean actor Song Joon Ki.
Like Song Ji Hyo, this young man participated in the Running Man show and received an award for this in 2010. He is known to the audience for his roles in such dramas as The Innocent Man, Triple, Descendants of the Sun and others.
Another famous South Korean dramatic actor named No Min-woo starred in Icy Flower. And the young Hon of Rome and Conmin-wan were played by Yo Jin Gu and Lee Pung Woon.
Drama “The Ice Flower of Adonis”
Sometimes viewers confuse the film “Ice Flower” (2008) with the drama “Ice Flower Adonis” (2012).
The plot of this drama is not original: a modest and good-natured girl named Sol Yong Hwa wants to succeed on her own, without outside help. Upon learning that her lover was hiding his origin from her, Sol Yong breaks off his relationship.
But the girl does not have time to start life from the beginning - because of the tricks of her half-sister, she is in prison on charges of murder. After a while, the girl manages to get out of there, but all the people from her past deleted her from her life. Having learned the truth about his sister, Sol Yong decides to take revenge on her and everyone who is connected with this, and Choi Kang Wook, who is in love with her, comes to help her.
The plot of all 108 episodes gradually tells how the relations of Choi Kan and Sol Yong develop, how they manage to achieve their goal. Based on this drama, in 2015 the Ukrainian television series Immortelle was shot.
The drama “The Ice Flower of Adonis”: actors and roles
The main role of the brave Sol Yong Hwa was played by the famous South Korean television actress Lee Yu Ri. Her evil half-sister was embodied on the screen by Yoon Ai Jong, and her ex-husband - Jaen Wu Sang. A close friend in love with Sol Yong Choi Kang was also played by the famous South Korean actor Jung Chan.
Almost ten years have passed since the release of the movie “Ice Flower”. The actors and the roles that they performed in this film have long gone down in the history of not only South Korean but also world cinema. Ironically, compared to today's European cinema, where erotic scenes between men have become almost the norm, "Ice Flower" now seems almost puritanical.