I'm not a movie connoisseur, I don't know the criteria for a good movie, and I don't think about the deep meaning of the movie. I only look at the surface and only know what I feel.
This movie tells the story of Kong Ji and Changsheng. I think the "king" in the title should not only refer to Wang Cai in the palace, but also Changsheng, which corresponds to Changsheng's speech "I am the king" in the later part of the film. Let’s talk about Kong Ji first, I think he is just a man with a man’s body and a daughter’s heart. His mentality, actions, and habits are all biased towards women. The movie doesn’t say how Kong Ji became like this. The feelings of Changsheng are clear at a glance, and it can only be said that the film emphasizes only the love of these two people. The two people have a heart-to-heart connection, but the two of them are silent, they have never said anything, just thinking about each other and sacrificing each other has already revealed everything. The two could have lived peacefully, but because of Changsheng's bold performance in the palace, they met the wrong person and did inappropriate things, so that this relationship was finally confessed before death. Only any soul rejoices on the prairie.
I also have to mention the king in the film - King of Yanshan. In fact, he was very pitiful and had to accept the fact that his mother died in a harem battle, and his father gave his mother to death. And, I think that's the main reason why he's so brutal, he loves his mother but his father is ruthless. He used to be a child and couldn't do anything, but now, when he grows up and becomes a king, he wants to take revenge on him by destroying the important things of his father, that is his country, his people. The pain of losing his mother made the king feel unbearable mentally. His attachment to Lushuiji and his madness were more or less a reaction to the uneasy experience of childhood.
Kong Ji was afraid of the king at first, and then showed more pity, so he insisted on staying in the harem battle. This pity made a big mistake and made them miss the last chance to leave. Kong Ji just responded to the king's sympathy with kindness, but let the king experience the true feelings that he never had in the royal palace, so he willfully wanted to keep him, both physically and mentally. But when the brutality remained, and the court was surrounded by bloody battles, Kong Ji was left with only fear of the palace. Therefore, when the struggle was staged on him and brought disaster to his beloved Changsheng, Kong Ji resolutely chose to die together with his beloved. No matter how powerful or high the king is, he still did not choose him. He is just a passer-by in his life, not the end.
In the end, there is longevity. All things start and end because of him. In fact, Changsheng is the most direct person in this movie. He likes Kong Ji, so he saved him, suffered for him, protected him, stayed in a dangerous place for him, and even died for him. He went to the palace just to fill his stomach. He's a juggler just because he likes the job that makes people happy. He is so direct and magnanimous, he ran out of the palace and came back to satirize the king, and he also boasted that "I will still be a juggler in the next life".
I don't think this story has any revealing historical significance or any social significance. It's just a simple and vivid love story, a love story among jugglers.
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