| The cover of Ha Ji-Won having dorky dude in a headlock is a very misleading image. This movie is as depressing as "Calla." It feels like when they tried to market "The Pallbearer" as a romance comedy by showing the only one funny scene in the movie where David Schwimmer falls into an open grave.
This is not helped by the fact that this is not a good movie. A depressing movie can be effective if you care about the characters, but the people presented are very dislikeable. Ha Ji-Won as a boxer who saw her daddy get beat down as a little girl and now wants to be a professional boxer, not as hot as two girls fighting might suggest. The dorky guy is a gangster sent to punk out the poor villagers out of their homes; he is as pathetic as the suits he wears. There are also the poor siblings who have to collect cardboard at the market so that their roofs won't leak onto their heads. This is some heartbreaking subject matter which doesn't lend itself to be something enjoyed. Even people who read tabloids just to revel in other people's misery will not feel this. Briefly it tries to have gangster guy and boxer girl have some romance comedy feelings going on, but it is quickly dashed away when gangster guy's mob family comes by and literally steps on people's fingers just so that they will sign over their property. The depression never ends when this is a story about poor people and their daily struggles to survive. There are some comedic bits about being in the country and trying to adjust when you are from the city (no internet, sharing one toilet with the neighborhood, no gas stations). But mostly it fails.
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