The Sword with No Name

The Sword with No Name (lit. 'Like Fireworks, Like Butterflies') is a 2009 South Korean film based on a fictionalized account of Empress Myeongseong. The film sold 1,671,387 tickets nationwide.

Plot
Mu-myeong is a bounty hunter during the Joseon Dynasty who lives day-to-day by catching fugitives. His life is forever changed when, on one of his missions, he meets a beautiful noblewoman, Min Ja-young, and falls in love with her. Several years pass and Ja-young enters the royal palace to be married to Emperor Gojong as the next queen of Joseon. Lovesick, Mu-myeong joins the royal guard to be near Ja-young, staying loyally by her side as she navigates court politics and rises to the throne to become the Empress Myeongseong.

Myeongseong tries to modernize the dynasty by breaking it off from its hermit kingdom past while avoiding being colonized by Russia and Japan. She becomes embroiled in a political power struggle with the court's conservative Confucian faction, led by her own father-in-law, the regent Daewongun. As threats against the queen grow, Mu-myeong tries to protect her by fending off assassination attempts from foreign and domestic enemies.

Cast

 * Cho Seung-woo as Mu-myeong (literally "Nameless")
 * Soo Ae as Min Ja-young, later Empress Myeongseong
 * Chun Ho-jin as Daewongun, Gojong's father
 * Choi Jae-woong as Noe-jeon
 * Kim Young-min as Emperor Gojong
 * Park Min-hee as Mi Woo-ra
 * Go Soo-hee as So-hee
 * Song Hee-yeon as Dae-doo
 * Lee Yong-nyeo as Court lady Choi
 * Yoon Young-bae as Min Young-ik
 * Bong Man-dae as Lee Saeng-won/Ji Kyeong-chool
 * Lee Joo-sil as Ja-young's mother
 * Kim So-hee as Mu-myeong's mother
 * Lee Joon-myeong as young Mu-myeong
 * Shin Cheol-jin as Go Jong's eunuch
 * Yeo Moo-young as Prime Minister
 * Sophie Broustal as Isabel
 * Jung Woon-sun as Ja Young's waiting lady
 * Lee Moo-saeng as Noe-jeon's subordinate #2