200 Pounds Beauty
Kim Yong Hwa
This movie is a lightweight despite being a massive box-office hit in its native South Korea. With over six million tickets sold, it is the country’s top-grossing romantic comedy.
Director and co-writer Kim Yong Hwa helmed this film, which is based on a Japanese manga by Suzuki Yumiko: “Does beauty tell your fate or what?”
In this romcom, the topic of plastic surgery is placed front and centre.The plus-sized Hanna (Kim A Joong) is kept hidden as the ghost singer for pop idol Ammy. She doesn’t mind being out of the limelight as she’s nursing a secret crush on producer Sang Jun (Joo Jin Mo of 2001’s Musa The Warrior).
After being humiliated by Ammy at Sang Jun’s birthday party, Hanna decides to take a drastic step – plastic surgery from head to toe. This is no mere nip and tuck but a full-on rip-it-apart and suck-all-the-fat-up undertaking.
Following the operations, Hanna adopts a new name, Jenny, and is soon singing in front of an audience. She even starts getting attention from her dream guy, but the past begins to catch up with her.
According to one (supposedly conservative) estimate, 50 per cent of South Korean women in their 20s have had some form of cosmetic surgery and in another poll, 70 per cent of men said they would also consider surgical improvements. Still, there are decidedly conflicting attitudes towards the procedure despite its prevalence.
Sang Jun dismisses it as a choice for those without self-confidence. Yet he says he is fine with it – as long as it is not his girlfriend going under the knife.
At the movie's conclusion, Jenny stops living a lie, wins some fans, loses others and even gets her man. The troubling message here seems to be beauty really is skin deep.
What holds the movie together is Kim’s performance. She endears herself as the sweet-natured Hanna, and emanates a giddy infectious joy as the newly minted Jenny.
Best of all, she manages to convey the gaucheness and vulnerability that Hanna feels even after turning into Jenny.
But Kim’s performance alone is not enough to give this overlong and uneven movie the lift it needs.
(ST)