The annals of the royal Joseon court were written with great precision to pass the tales of their Kings and their (mostly) good deeds down the ages. Yet within these journals, there are some anomalies, some missing days or unexplainable events included. South Korean scriptwriters and directors have for long looked at these writings for inspirations, often focusing their stories on such missing days and puzzling moments to tell fictitious tales. Director Kim Joo-ho also takes a look at them for his new project “Jesters: The Game Changers”.
“Jesters: The Game Changers” screened at Fantasia International Film Festival
King Sejo and his ministers are adamant on having a good record of his reign in the Royal Journals but an illegally printed notorious book, being enacted by jesters across Joseon, is ruining the reputation of them all by retelling the story of the coup d'état and bloodshed they all participated in to get Sejo on the throne. In order to change the people's perception towards the King and by extension themselves, Prime Minister Han Myeong-hui appoints a team of jesters, known for bending people's thoughts and mindsets through elaborate schemes, to persuade the people that their monarch is a man worthy of the history books. The team, led by master storyteller and actor Deok-ho and comprising of agile acrobat Pal-poong, props expert Hong-chil, part-time inaccurate shaman and full-time acoustics master Geun-deok and painter extraordinaire Jin-sang, go about setting up intricate plans to change the King's image.
Kim Joo-ho is no stranger to the historical comedy, with his last feature being the popular Joseon comedy “The Grand Heist” back in 2012. Where that story had a team working against the authorities, here Kim has his team working for them. This gives the story ample scope for drama as well as comedy. It is fashioned largely as a comedy, which features in almost all segments of the narrative, including the drama and the action in the latter half. For the most part, it is fun to watch, specially as the group go about with their schemes which provide a lot of entertainment value. Mind you, the comedy doesn't always hit the mark; watching a grown man piss his pants can only be funny the first couple times, after which it feels like reaching for low-hanging fruit. But considering that it makes up for it with aplomb in other segments, such misses are forgivable.
It is not just the ruses that Deok-ho sets up that are interesting here. While many stories have been told of the piousness of the Joseon court, few rarely tell of the more sinister ongoing within those fortified walls and in-spite of being on a lighter tone narratively for the most part, “Jesters: The Game Changers” changes things up by telling its more sinister undertakings. Just like not all the public sees of the teams' ploys is real, not many of the motives of the King or Ministers' actions are quite what they seem superficially. The script's incorporation of events from the Journals that are confounding is quite clever. Its play on the fact that people's religious beliefs and superstitions are based purely on word-of-mouth and a blind belief on one's eyes rather than logical thinking is also quite relevant today, showing how easy it is for people's beliefs to be swayed and for so-called “godmen” and cults to thrive.
Even with the lack of major development in the writing, the cast manages to make their characters likeable and very watchable. Cho Jin-woong rarely lets you down with his performances and this is no exception. The majority of the story rests on his shoulders and as usual, he proves equally adept at both the straight-faced comedy and the drama. The rest of the cast are supporting characters in a true sense of the term, giving adequate support to Cho's character and performance without leaving too much of a mark by themselves. It turns out to be Sun Hyun-joo as Han Myeong-hui and Park Hee-soon as King Sejo who actually get to portray the most shades in their characters and they both do so well.
As with many big-budget features set in the Joseon period, the production designing, particularly the set decoration and the costumes are also first-rate here. The large-scale artworks that Jin-sang does require specific mention, all captured very colourfully in Joo Sung-rim's cinematography. However, since the characters make use of practical effects for their plans, it'd have been nice to see most of the work on the feature be practical effects too. The editing is slightly problematic, letting several scenes run on for too long and hampering the flow of the story at times.
Ultimately though, “Jesters: The Game Changers” is a respectful ode to the storytellers and the magic of storytelling as a medium of entertainment as well as propaganda, a good-looking production overall which has way more merits than demerits.
