The absurdities of war, and the pomposity of most historical movies, are over-inflated targets that are gleefully pricked in this mud-spattered absurdist comedy from Lee Joon-Ik, Korea’s greatest historical movie maker and the man who directed The King & the Clown, the most successful Korean movie of all time. 668 AD – Koreans are caught between two warring kingdoms. Thingy (so poor he doesn’t even have a name) is a Goguryeo farmer conscripted into the army that just destroyed his hometown and he’s desperate survive the war, using his fast-moving mouth to get him out of dead-end situations and suicide missions. Like a Terry Gilliam film, the comedy here comes caked with mud and historically accurate absurdity: a barrage of farm animals launched by catapult, a musical number praising rice, and much more.