Frozen Flower
Ssang-hwa-jeom (2008)
Director: Ha Yu
Predictability, an undercooked background subplot and excessive sex of all positions and across genders muddle this otherwise provocative piece on the grey areas between love, lust and obligation. Quite obviously all out to cause a stir (all pun intended) in its audiences not just in the film’s graphic sexual sequences but also brazenly and openly addressing taboo subject matters (like homosexuality) and of a certain uncomfortable-to-watch dismembering.
What’s also memorable and well handled are the shifting tensions (physical, sexual and what not) within the doomed-from-start love triangle (the King - the bodyguard - the Queen). Regardless of which side of the triangle you feel for, it’s equally tragic and the film’s inevitable tumbling towards a clichéd ending made everyone a victim in his/her own way.
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