Dec
28
2006
Like A Virgin
Posted by luna6 5 Comments
Movie: Like A Virgin / Cheonhajangsa madonna / 천하장사 마돈나
Release Date: August 31, 2006
Country : South Korea
Director : Hae-jun Lee, Hae-yeong Lee
Starring: Ryu Deok-Hwan, Baek Yun-Sik, Kim Yun-Seok
Runtime : 116 Minutes
Editor Rating : 8.5
Users Rating: 8.55 
(11 votes)
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Plot Synopsis : Oh Dong-Gu is a chubby high school kid that just so happens to be a girl born in a boy’s body, in other words a pre-op transsexual. His dream is to get a sex change operation and when he reads about a local wrestling tournament offering a sizeable cash prize for the winner he decides to enter the competition to pay for that operation.
Movie Review : What an absolutely fantastic film! As the subject matter (transgender teenager) is quite unusual for a Korean film, I couldn’t help thinking, while watching the movie, that perhaps Korean cinema, and maybe Korean society in general, has opened up to a more liberal world, or maybe the filmmakers were just riding the coat tails of “The King And The Clown” but for whatever reasons, I was just so pleased to have experienced this wonderful coming of age film.
“Like A Virgin” starts off as a cutesy high school comedy film. You have Dong-Gu, our main protagonist in the film, working in a shipyard in the early morning and carrying more than his share of sacks so he won’t be late to school. He arrives at school but of course is late again. Luckily his best friend had set his books opened on his desk and Dong-Gu walks into the room pretending that he just came from the bathroom. He is a chubby kid, that talks in a slightly effeminate voice and loves Madonna, but doesn’t really look anything like a female. After class he hangs out with his best friend, and tries on red silk dresses, while thinking to himself that he may resemble Maggie Cheung.
When Dong-Gu gets home in the evening, we are introduced to his home life. Which is about as bleak and depressing as you could possibly imagine. His father is an alcoholic and abusive towards Dong-Gu and his brother. Dong-Gu’s mother recently left their home to start a new life.
Dong-Gu also has a crush on his Japanese language teacher. The scene is setup in a humorous dream sequence, but sad in a way, because whatever hopes he possibly has cannot come to fruition.
Shortly afterwards, Dong-Gu gets introduced to the quirky wrestling teacher at his high school. The wrestling teacher quickly realizes that Dong-Gu has the type of body that would excel at the Korean wrestling sport known as Ssireum. When Dong-Gu finds out that there is a wrestling tournament coming up, with a sizable cash prize for the winner, Dong-Gu decides that this may be the way to pay for the sex change operation that he has always wanted.
From there it is basically fasten your seat-belt and prepare for a rush of different emotions. There are some absolutely hilarious scenes (especially between Dong-Gu and his wrestling teammates) to some heartbreaking moments (Dong-Gu discussing the difficulties he will likely face after his surgery with his mom) and finally some root for the underdog moments in the wrestling tournament. The final wrestling match is setup like the Korean film “Crying Fist” where both opponents are good guys and you don’t want to see either person lose. There’s an even better scene during the closing credits, so I would suggest you stick around for that as well.
The supporting cast, in particular his wrestling teammates, were all very good and the soundtrack was reminiscent of one of my all time favorite soundtracks…Take Care Of My Cat.
I didn’t know much about “Like A Virgin” prior to seeing the film, but I did leave the theatre with a huge smile on my face and feeling a bit lucky that I lucked into seeing this gem of a movie. I would guess that if you watch this film you may get the same feeling.
Buy Like a Virgin from YesAsia
Cast:
Deok-Hwan Ryu – Oh Dong-ku
Yun-shik Baek – CoachKyeong-ik Kim
Yun-seok Kim
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi – Japanese Teacher
Jae-gu Lee
Sang-a Lee
Yun-hong Oh
Yeong-seo Park
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2006 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews, Movies |
Comments
5 Comments so far
I loved this film! Where do I find the soundtrack?
Luna6,
Thanks for your comment. I don’t believe that a wrestling match would have ended like that in real life especially with a motivated opponent like the captain. It is a good movie and the characters were real and I enjoyed the movie. Thanks for such a good site.
Dave interesting comments. I was confused when you said Dong Gu felt real but the ending couldn’t happen in real life – I was thinking of the final wrestling match. So I went back and watched the ending and remembered now about the music scene. I guess it’s a bit of a fairy tale ending – but there’s always people like Harisu (post op transsexual now popular singer/celebrity) –
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so if you were actually referring to the musical performance by Dong Gu I think it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Dong Gu wanted to be a performer and it would seem plausible that he would eventually become a performer. Plus it looked like he was performing in front of a small group of people – not like an arena or anything.
I did like this movie. Cheers…
Just saw this on the Korean Film Festival 2007. It was a good film. At times it is slow however the premise of it and the acting was believable. There were scenes that was a bit melodramatic however for the most part I felt that the characters especially Dong Gu was real. The ending was interesting and I don’t believe that it can happen in real life however it was a happy ending for all parties.
Good film!
Thank You