Striking off 'Watch The Face Reader' from my to-do-list for this semester break.
Watch The Face Reader
Plot:
The Face Reader is a movie about a face reader that lives in the Joseon era with his son and brother-in-law.
The story began as an old man was swinging his sword recklessly towards two men that apparently was just his servant that wanted to give him some remedy. The old man kept on repeating that he will die beheaded and showed how afraid and cautious he was towards his surrounding. So, the servants asked him why he kept repeating that words and he answered that a skillful face reader told him once long ago.
Then the screenplay continues by playing the scene of a beautiful woman named Yeon Hong and a man went to a house at the hill which belongs to Kim Nae Kyeung. It turned out that Yeon Hong was a gisaeng that wanted to lure Nae Kyung to work under her for her to gain more money. Lee Jong Suk played as Jin Hyeong, the face reader's son that aimed to be an officer to serve for government and help the people of Joseon.
The next day, after an argument between Nae Kyung and his son, Nae Kyung and his brother-in-law planned to leave home for Hanyang as he decided to take the gisaeng's offer in order to make some money and offer his son a better life. At the night before, Jin Hyeong seemed so upset that his father used his talent to read people face to make some money and he rebelled about why he cannot take the exam and be an officer like he always desired to. It turned out that Nae Kyung was a son of a disgraced noble family and there's no way that his son is going to be accepted to be an officer in the government. So when the sun rise, Nae Kyung woke up and found the letter that had been left by his son, stating that he wanted to go to the city and sit for the exam. Nae Kyung then let him go.
The face reader and his brother-in-law continued their plan to go to Hanyang and soon to be tricked by the gisaeng and they must serve her for two years. However, their fate changed when he got involved in investigating a murder of a woman., whose apparently killed by her own husband whose working with Prince Suyang, which then led he and his brother-in-law been captured and almost killed by a group of men led by an unknown man that soon in this story his face will be revealed. They then were saved by the men of General Kim Jongseo, a high-ranking loyalist to Kim Munjong. The rumors said that there was a great power struggle between Prince Suyang and General Jongseo. After that, the face reader was offered to work with General Jongseo in the Inspection Board to read people face that should be hired by the government. Soon he reunited with Jin Hyeong whose also interviewed for an officer position after scoring the highest mark in the exam.
His skill then was acknowledged by many people and soon also by King Munjong himself and he was given a task to identify the possible traitors among people around him. However, after meeting them, Nae Kyung still couldn't trace the possible traitor that would harm the king and take the throne. After the unexpected death of King Munjong, he found out that he read the wrong Prince Suyong. The man he read before was not Prince Suyong. As soon as he saw the face of Prince Suyong, he knew that he was the traitor and he felt so wronged because he could not warn the king before.
The face reader was offered by Prince Suyang to join his forces to take the throne away from the young successor
. However, Nae Kyung decided to keep his promise to the late king to serve and protect the young king.
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If you are intended to only red the synopsis without spoilers, please end your reading here and watch The Face Reader here ----> The Face Reader---
---If you feel like we are the same kind who like to read the whole synopsis of a movie before watching it, please continue your reading :p---
The night before Prince Suyang traveled to China, he planned to kill the young king but failed to do so. Nae Kyung and General Kim Jongseo tried to tell the young king but he was naive enough to not to believe that his own uncle would dare to kill him. They were in the midst of losing hope when they could not convince the young king to believe them when there is a news of Prince Suyang got sick on his way to China. After General Kim Jongseo mentioned that the young king read a physiognomy book, Nae Kyung rushed to the library to read the same book and it gave him an idea how to make the young king to believe him.
Then he went to meet Yeon Hong and asked her a favor to do something for him. The next night, four of them including Nae Kyung's brother-in-law and Yeon Hong's man went to Prince Suyang's resident disguised as physicians to treat his sickness. Actually, their plan was to make three moles on Prince Suyang's forehead in order to make him look like a traitor's face like his late grandfather that betrayed his own brother to take the throne. Nae Kyung knew that the young king had read the physiognomy book and this would trigger him to believe General Kim Jongseo as it was stated that the traitor will begin his attack after the appearance of three moles on his forehead. Well, they did it! The young king soon believed them and ordered General Kim Jongseo to exile Prince Suyang. General Kim Jongsoe planed to ambush Prince Suyang during his travel to China. However something awaited them. Someone knew this is going to happen. This someone whom his face never seen by the face reader.
In the meanwhile, Jin Hyeong, Nae Kyung's son (in case you forgot who he is), had already began his duty as an officer. He had this scene when he met an officer-to-be that used to be an inspector in his town. A corrupt and a bad inspector actually. Jin Hyeong once saw him steal his people's money and wives. However, this guy used a yellow tag which I do not actually understand the significance of this yellow tag but it had something to do with General Kim Jongseo. He was the one who actually introduced this yellow tag thing and Jin Hyeong against it. So he made a report to the young king and it kind of created a misunderstanding betwen Jin Hyeong and General Kim Jongseo.
Back to Nae Kyung and his brother-in-law, Nae Kyung went to a physician to get some medicine for Jin Hyeong's eyes since his son once told him that he nowadays always read book until midnight, but there was one medicine that was not available so he decided to go to the hill to pick up the medicine himself. In the meanwhile, Jin Hyeong arrived at home and ended being attacked by some men. His eyes were even poisoned. His uncle, Nae Kyung's brother-in-law heard about the commotion and went to Jin Hyeong. He was considered blind at that time I guess. Paeng Heon. The face reader's brother-in-law and assistant's name was Paeng Heon. Sorry that i just know his name. Hihi. He was the one who actually always together with Nae Kyung. If you watch this movie, you'll know how talkative he was and how important his role was in the climax of this story. Paeng Heon actually known with his bad temper and noisy mouth. Seeing his beloved nephew in that condition, he overheard people talking about the misunderstanding between Jin Hyeong and General Kim Jongseo and they speculated it was General Kim Jongseo that sent his men to beat up Jin Hyeong. Paeng Heon who was not in the right mental state got angry and decided to take revenge on General Kim Jongseo. He went to meet Prince Suyang and told about General's plan to ambush him and his men.
Prince Suyang then went to General Kim Jongseo and tried to kill him. Nae Kyung was back at home and then after hearing Pang Heon, he rushed to stop the general from ambushing Prince Suyang but he was late. Prince Suyang's men killed General Kim Jongseo and his men attacked the palace. He threatened the people that against him will be executed.
Typical bad guy in the movie.
So, it turned out that it was already planned by a man behind Prince Suyang to trick Nae Kyeung to come to him and leak out General Kim Jongseo's plan. Instead Paeng Heon was the one that did that. Blinded Jing Hyeon was one of the officer that decided to against Prince Suyang and he was dragged out from the palace to be executed, Nae Kyung begged Prince Suyang to let him go. Prince Suyang played around by saying that he would grant his wish if he is willing to let his eyes to be taken off. However, he took Jin Hyeon's life instead.
Oooo, so sad :( my heart breaks when Nae Kyung screamed and cried upon seeing his only son died in front of him. :( Jong suk aa. Me also screamed out Jong suk name. Ehhh. Haha. Biane. I'm LJS biased. :p
A few years later, Yeon Hong and her assistant went to meet Paeng Heon. Paeng Heon had cut his throat and made himself unable to say any more words. Yeon Hong actually brought along Han Myung Hoi, the man that helped Prince Suyang before. So, there Nae Kyung saw the real face of that namja clearly and he said that "At the end you will be beheaded".
Apparently, Han Myung Hoi was the old man that I mentioned at the beginning of the story. 14 years after became the king, Suyang got sick because of disease and guilt. He freed hundreds of people he exiled and enslaved and died a few days later. 17 years later, Han Myung Hoi was found guilty for related in killing the birth mother of King Yeonsan. His body was dug up and beheaded posthumously.
The end.
So far, that's the synopsis that I can provide. It wasn't actually like a recap since I didn't write much details about every scenes in the film like Drama Beans. Do you read Drama Beans? I read Drama Beans a lot too. Haha. It is the right place to search through korean dramas and films. I once could not watch I Hear Your Voice drama because of low internet connection. But I was really anxious about what will happen in the next episode, and it made me found this website. ;) Thanks a lot Drama Beans. Go checkout javabean and girlfriday for dramas first impression, recaps and critics.
From my opinion, I think it is a good movie. I never actually thought that the ending would be creative like this. It made me anxious and anticipated about what will happen next. It was also a heart-breaking feeling when I watch the relationship between Nae Kyung and his son. He first started this journey for his son to have a better life but ended up having his son taken away from him. He and Paeng Heon just loved Jin Hyeong so much :(
LJS acted great in this movie and I finally can watch him with long hair. Haha. This makes me to look forward his next movie Blood Boiling Youth, where he played a comical role in this movie. By the way, No Breathing is still in the list. Gonna wait for some people to upload the movies. Hehe.
I guess that's all for now. Gonna continue striking off my movie list for this semester break.
Anyeongggg :)
-TausaBun-
