Korean movie review - King and the Clown (왕의 남자)

Unlike a lot of the Korean films I end up watching, I had actually heard of this one before watching it.   'The King and the Clown'  (왕의 남자) set a Korean box office record when it was released in 2005 and also picked up a lot of prizes at that year's film awards.  But when I finally saw it,  I was a bit disappointed with the film. The basic story is that a troupe of street performers are brought in to perform for the king and his concubine.  Through their satrical performances, they end up exposing the corruption  in the King's court, which has unintended bloody results (as the King as a very vicious streak).There are two main performers, one is a macho guy and the other is a feminine type who plays the female roles.  The king ends up falling for the lady boy guy which causes further friction in the court.  I liked the parts about the inner workings of the imperial court.  I didn't like the parts about one guy falling in love with another guy.... and I didn't understand the motivations of two comedian guys at all... the non-feminine one seems to have little character assigned to him except 'protagonist'... and their backgrounds aren't explained much, but apparently they were in love with eachother too  (all the more reason their deathwish choice in comedic material makes less sense).I'll give it a 4/10.