O Traidor

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The Treacherous (2015) (South Korean Drama).

After being engulfed with insanity and revenge, a prince demands beautiful women (regardless of age, marriage status, or social class) to be rounded up for his personal pleasure – this caused widespread anger in the kingdom. One of the would-be sex slaves makes an impression, but his long-time friend also has eyes for her. This film has some serious balls, and will likely offend many viewers with its immoral male characters, its wild tonal shifts, and its depiction of women (who inexplicably become very willing to be sex slaves once they enter the palace). However, this is way more interesting than one might think. Although this is primarily a drama, it does have a few highly entertaining doses of humor. There's a lengthy, hilarious "training" sequence where the women are formally educated in the art of sexual pleasure. The prince is a psycho nutcase, which provides some entertainment value in itself. Of course, there are some disturbing moments of graphic violence mixed in, which creates those oddly captivating tonal shifts. Despite the plethora of sexual references, there are only a small handful of sex scenes shown (one of which is a fairly graphic girl-on-girl intercourse). Performances are solid; the story and characters have an engaging dynamic. This film is beautifully shot and has a great visual style about it, with outstanding production values and set designs. A particularly abrasive film from South Korea, but I couldn't stop watching.

When people think of 'The Treacherous', they think of eroticism in the movie. However, visual directing should be praised more. Use of water and the color red is very well thought out and appropriate. Costumes and settings show traditional Korea in a sexiest way possible. However, too much focus on sex scene and unnecessary nude scene can downgrade the quality of the movie. It had so much potential to be historical drama but stay being an erotic art film.

A slow and overlong historical drama from South Korea, telling the story of one of that country's most sadistic kings and his mad reign. It's a little similar to CALIGULA in that respect and the king's two corrupt advisors serve to only increase the drama in the film. However, like Tinto Brass's film version of the Caligula story, this film focuses on the sexuality of the situation to its detriment. It could have been really interesting had it focused on the political intrigue in an engaging way, but instead it merely wallows in explicit sexuality and the degradation of women, which isn't something that I particularly wanted to see.

The overall feeling is on the third level. I'm not familiar with the history of the stick, I don't know what exaggeration is. The whole film reflects the political characteristics through red-picking and coup. As long as the wind turns fast, it will always be a winner. The rhythm and pictures are good, but the plot always feels very fast, and there are always some inexplicable background sounds in the source of the movie, which seriously affects the viewing.

This film is not an erotica for me. The mood is dark and morbid. The characters are not redeemable and most of the film is extremely violent. It was a difficult watch for me and I would not recommend this to someone seeking erotica. The story itself was intriguing and makes you want to finish the movie but curb your expectations.