This week in movies you missed: Curious about the toilet, sex and eating habits of absolutist monarchs in early-modern Korea? Learn all about them in this sumptuous costume drama with a touch of comedy.

What You Missed

It’s 1616. Gwanghae (Lee Byung-hun), a young king in Korea’s long-lived Joseon dynasty, suspects someone is trying to poison him. He enlists his trusted chief secretary (Ryoo Seung-ryong) to find a lookalike who can foil assassins by standing in for him during the night hours.

The chief secretary finds Ha-seon (also played by Lee), a lowly entertainer who draws crowds with salacious routines in which he impersonates the king gettin’ busy with his royal concubines. But he does look remarkably like the fierce monarch — and can imitate his voice and manner.

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Margot Harrison is a consulting editor and film critic at Seven Days. Her film reviews appear every week in the paper and online. In 2024, she won the Jim Ridley Award for arts criticism from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Her book reviews...