200 Pounds Beauty (2006) - 미녀는 괴로워 (Mi-nyeo-neun Goi-ro-wa)
(Photos from hancinema.net)
This movie was a flick I have been wanting to see since December when I was in Korea. I was seeing the MV every morning of a cover of the Blondie song "Maria". This movie beat out other higher cost, more mega wattage star powered flicks during the holiday season in Korea! I enjoyed it for what it was just for pure entertainment.
It tells the tale of a beautiful inner woman named Hannah who has a gorgeous voice, but she is the "hidden" voice of sexy sultry and slender singer Ammy (who cannot sing a proper note). She is secretly in love with Ammy's manager Sang Jun. Ammy loves to embarrass and pull jokes on Hannah. One day she goes to far during Sang Jun's birthday. Using her connections from one of her other part time gigs (phone sex worker) and decides to go under an EXTREME makeover. There is alot of cajoling and tears pleading with the plastic surgeon from Hannah.
Hannah disappears and has major plastic surgery and weight loss regimen during one year. She reappears to Sang Jun and Ammy but as Korean American Jenny who wants to break into the Korean music industry. What will happen next?
Kim Sung Ah owns this movie! If it were not for her, this movie would not have been as compelling and great as it was (plus she garnered some acting awards too). Another thing, Kim Sung Ah sang a fews songs on the soundtrack (not lip synced but sung by her !) plus she is not a singer by trade! Ju Jin Moo doesn't need to do much here but look good, which he does very well.
(source: Wikipedia.org)
200 Pounds Beauty (미녀는 괴로워) is an award-winning 2006 South Korean comedy based on a Japanese manga by Suzuki Yumiko. The story tells the tale about a large girl that undergoes an extreme makeover to become a pop sensation.
Plot
Kang Han-na (Kim Ah-jung) is an overweight phone sex employee and a secret vocalist for Ammy, a famous Korean pop singer who actually lip syncs as she cannot sing. Instead of being famous for her own amazing vocal talent, Han-na hides behind Ammy's performance stage and sings during Ammy's concerts, and records all of Ammy's songs. One day, Ammy ungratefully humiliates her in front of the music company's director Sang-jun (Ju Jin-mo) during his birthday party, knowing full well that Han-na has a crush on him. While crying in the bathroom, Han-na overhears Sang-jun telling Ammy that even though they are just using Han-na for her voice, they must be kind to her so she will not walk out on them. Heartbroken, Han-na contemplates suicide but is interrupted by a phone call from one of her phone sex regulars who happens to be a top cosmetic surgeon. She decides to get a head-to-toe makeover instead. The surgeon at first refuses to operate on Han-na, but Han-na blackmails that she will tell the surgeon's wife about his calls. Then, Han-na makes a moving speech that she does not want to undergo surgery merely to be beautiful, but for the sake of love and as a boost in confidence, and the surgeon is deeply moved. Han-na puts herself in seclusion for a year as she recovers from the changes.
When she comes back from the hospital, Han-na is incredibly beautiful and slender. No one, not even her best friend, recognizes her. With the help of her best friend, she creates a new identity for herself; she is now a Korean-American from California named Jenny. After auditioning to be Ammy's secret vocalist again, she earns her own recording contract instead from Sang-jun, claiming that she is "all-natural". In the meantime, Ammy, oblivious just like everyone else of Han-na's new identity, desperately tries to find Han-na so that she can record her own postponed album (since she cannot sing the songs herself) by spending time with Hanna's father who is in a hospital with some mental problems, possibly Alzheimer's. Through spending time with Han-na's father, she eventually realizes that this new Jenny is actually Han-na in disguise. So on the day of a party, Ammy brings "Jenny's" father, who tries to return Han-na's Barbie doll to her, which has always been Han-na's favourite childhood gift from him. Startled by the sudden appearance of her father, Hanna knocks him down, and Hanna's friend helps him back up.
Romance then begins to blossom between "Jenny" and Sang-Jun. However, after a date one night, when Han-na is asleep, Sang-jun wakes up and happens to look at a glass panel on which Han-na has drawn a Hakuna Matata sign. He remembers that when Han-na still existed and he had not met "Jenny" yet, Han-na had drawn the exact same signs on a sheet of music. Then he adds all of the signs up and realizes as well that Han-na is actually Jenny, and he seems to be unable to forgive her for lying to him, though Han-na still tells him that she will continue working and will succeed as an artist.
The day of "Jenny's" first concert, Jenny breaks down from losing her friend and father and reveals to the public that Jenny is a "fake," and that she is not "all-natural", as she had claimed, but is "plastic". However, nobody seems to believe her. During the concert, Han-na breaks down and tells the large crowd her story: that she has abandoned everything and her best friend and father to get to where she is, and that she is not naturally beautiful. The screens behind her on stage then show a clip of the old, obese Han-na, singing angelically. The crowd responds by chanting "It's all right," and Han-na rekindles her relationships with her father and best friend. She drops the stage name "Jenny" and re-releases a CD with her own name, Hanna, and becomes a highly successful music artist, gaining many anti-fans as well as loyal fans along the way. Sang-jun realizes the very thing about Han-na that had always drawn her to him - Han-na's innocence.
Cast
Kim Ah-jung 김아중 -Kang Han-na
Ju Jin-mo 주진모 - Sang-jun
Soundtrack
The title song in the movie is a cover of the Blondie song "Maria", sung in Korean by the movie's star, Kim Ah-jung. The Korean modern rock band Loveholic also appears on the 200 Pounds.
Beauty soundtrack.
Track/Title/Artist
#1 Beautiful Girl 김아중 [Kim Ah Joong]
#2 별 [Byul] 유미 [Youme]
#3 Maria 김아중 [Kim Ah Joong]
#4 Dance With My Daddy Alex Chu (Clazziquai)
#5 You Don’t Know I Love You-- U [유]
#6 슈퍼스타 [Super Star] Loveholic
#7 튜울립 [Tulip] Venny (상상밴드) (Feat. 종휘 [Jong-hui])
#8 Miss You Much 유미 [Youme]
#9 Beautiful Girl(teaser Edit) 김아중 [Kim Ah Joong] (Feat. Alex Chu of Clazziquai & And)
#10 바보처럼 [Like A Fool] 김형중 [Kim Hyung Joong]
#11 별 [Star] (Original dialog Version) 김아중 [Kim Ah Joong]
No comments:
Post a Comment