The movie enjoys huge success in both commentary and box-office figure in both Korea and Mainland China since its premiere in 2005. Strangely, though Hong Kong does import large bunches of Korean movies in the past five years, no cinema or distributor's eyes were on this. Its DVD was just out last weekend yet it has already become a top hit DVD in the Mainland.
An obvious reason for its being slighted could be: Hong Kong viewers may flatly compare the female images of Leslie Cheung in Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Jun-gi Lee's (Gong-gil), a young Korean screen hopeful (to-date 24 years old) who is known for his commitment to the industry. (He sings, dances, acts in TV and movie, attends demonstrations for protecting Korea's film industry against the authority's unfavourable policies ) And the truth is not distant from our guess, audience can just link up these two movies as Lee frankly did admit that he has watched "Farewell" for 20+ times before the camera rolled its first round. When being promoted in China, it was even nicknamed "Farewell my concubine - the Korean interpretation"! In actuality, besides the look of the two feminine protagonists, no other similarities of these two movies exist! And thus, Hong Kong may not be that interested in the story or the presentation as we have already had our late sweet-heart Gor-gor Leslie Cheung.
The storyline is simple with some funny glitches. Anyway, it is not the story but the wardrobe, the striking feminine look of Lee, the traditional Korean street-acting, "Darwaz" (High altitude tightrope dancing/walking -- originated from the present Xinjiang area/Central Asia. There it is taken to be a sport rather than performing art in this film.) catch my attention more. To me, a Chinese, they are not strangers but with novelties. If you like to know a bit of Korea's older days, this may satisfy some of your wish.
An obvious reason for its being slighted could be: Hong Kong viewers may flatly compare the female images of Leslie Cheung in Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Jun-gi Lee's (Gong-gil), a young Korean screen hopeful (to-date 24 years old) who is known for his commitment to the industry. (He sings, dances, acts in TV and movie, attends demonstrations for protecting Korea's film industry against the authority's unfavourable policies ) And the truth is not distant from our guess, audience can just link up these two movies as Lee frankly did admit that he has watched "Farewell" for 20+ times before the camera rolled its first round. When being promoted in China, it was even nicknamed "Farewell my concubine - the Korean interpretation"! In actuality, besides the look of the two feminine protagonists, no other similarities of these two movies exist! And thus, Hong Kong may not be that interested in the story or the presentation as we have already had our late sweet-heart Gor-gor Leslie Cheung.
The storyline is simple with some funny glitches. Anyway, it is not the story but the wardrobe, the striking feminine look of Lee, the traditional Korean street-acting, "Darwaz" (High altitude tightrope dancing/walking -- originated from the present Xinjiang area/Central Asia. There it is taken to be a sport rather than performing art in this film.) catch my attention more. To me, a Chinese, they are not strangers but with novelties. If you like to know a bit of Korea's older days, this may satisfy some of your wish.