200 Pounds Beauty (Hangul: ??? ???; RR: Minyeoneun Goerowo; lit. "It's hard to be a beautiful woman") is a 2006 South Korean romantic comedy musical film written and directed by Kim Yong-hwa. It is based on the Japanese manga Kanna's Big Success! (??????????!, Kanna-san Daiseikou Desu!) by Yumiko Suzuki about an overweight ghost singer who undergoes intensive plastic surgery to become a pop sensation.
The film was a critical and commercial success. It was the third best-selling domestic film of 2006 with 6,619,498 admissions nationwide, grossing US$42,013,016. 200 Pounds Beauty also received several awards and nominations, including Best Actress for Kim Ah-joong at the 2007 Grand Bell Awards.
Video 200 Pounds Beauty
Plot
Hanna Kang is an overweight phone sex part-timer and a ghost singer for Ammy, a famous pop singer who actually lip syncs instead of being famous for her own vocal talent. Other than that, Hanna has a huge crush for Sang-jun who's a director and whose arrogant father owns the entertainment company. One day, Ammy purposely insults Hanna's weight in front of Sang-jun during his birthday party, knowing well that Hanna likes him. While crying in the restroom, Hanna overhears Sang-jun telling Ammy that even though they are just using Hanna for her voice, they must be kind to her so she will not walk out on them. Heartbroken, Hanna attempts suicide but is interrupted by a phone call from one of her phone sex regulars who is a top plastic surgeon. She persuades him to perform a head-to-toe plastic surgery operation on her. Hanna puts herself in seclusion for a year as she recovers from the changes from the surgery and weight loss.
When she comes back from the hospital, Hanna is incredibly beautiful and slender, that even her best friend Jung-min cannot recognize her at first. With Jung-min's help, Hanna 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 desperately tries to find Hanna by spending time with Hanna's father who is in a hospital due to mental problems, possibly Alzheimer's. Sang-jun orders Ammy to give up her search for Hanna and give Jenny a chance to help him finish her album. Ammy refuses out of fear for possible competition for album sales with Jenny and is determined to find Hanna because she will come back to her like always. After many encounters with Jenny, they both realize that Jenny is actually Hanna.
Jenny's debut single "Maria" becomes a hit and in the party to celebrate it, Ammy brings Hanna's father in an attempt to blow her cover. Desperate to keep her true identity a secret, Hanna ignores her father. Jung-min gets furious about her indifferent behavior. After the party, Sang-jun reveals to Jenny that he knows her true identity but is now cold and distant. He seems unable to forgive her for lying to him but says that he will conduct her concert scheduled the next day. Hanna also confesses her love for him that made her to do such a thing. After realizing how worthless she was to him even as Jenny, Hanna tearfully refuses to have anything to do with him and leaves. When she tells the plastic surgeon about it, he makes Hanna realize that she's better off without Sang-jun. Before the concert, Ammy threatens Sang-jun that she will reveal Jenny`s deception if the concert was not cancelled. Even his father agrees and confronts Sang-jun for the deception after being sent photos by Ammy. He order the cancellation of the concert and make Hanna apologize for humiliating their label. He stands up against her threat and his father's orders by refusing to cancel it. Sang-jun encourages a distraught Hanna to do this concert, not for the sake of the fans or the company but for herself. At the concert, Hanna proceeds tearfully to tell the large crowd her story: that she was a ghost singer to an ungrateful Ammy while she was overweight, how she went into a year of seclusion to heal from the changes from the surgery and that she has abandoned everything that is dear to her, including her best friend and father, to get to where she is. Sang-jun plays a tape of the old, obese Hanna, singing. The crowd, moved by her sincere confession, responds by chanting "It's okay". Hanna 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. Despite her having moved on from her crush on him, Sang-jun realizes the very thing about Hanna that had always drawn him to her was Hanna's innocence, and continues to promote her. It's also implied without the supportive fans and exposure of her lack of singing voice, Ammy has faded into obscurity.
During the post credits, Jung-min also asks to get a head-to-toe plastic surgery from the surgeon.
Maps 200 Pounds Beauty
Cast
- Kim Ah-joong as Kang Han-na / Jenny
- Joo Jin-mo as Han Sang-jun
- Sung Dong-il as Record company executive
- Kim Hyun-sook as Park Jung-min
- Im Hyun-sik as Han-na's father
- Lee Han-wi as Plastic surgeon Lee Kong-hak
- Ji Seo-yun as Ammy
- Park No-shik as Jenny's fan
- Lee Beom-soo as Taxi driver (cameo)
- Kim Yong-gun as Record company CEO (cameo)
- Lee Won-jong as Fortune teller (cameo)
- Ryu Seung-soo as Traffic officer (cameo)
Awards and nominations
- 2007 Chunsa Film Art Awards
- Best Actress - Kim Ah-joong
- Best Cinematography - Park Hyun-cheol
- Best Editing - Park Gok-ji
- Technical Award - Lee Seung-chul (Sound)
- 2007 Grand Bell Awards
- Best Actress - Kim Ah-joong
- Best Cinematography - Park Hyun-cheol
- Best Music - Lee Jae-hak
- Nomination - Best Film
- Nomination - Best Director - Kim Yong-hwa
- Nomination - Best Editing - Park Gok-ji
- Nomination - Best Art Direction - Jang Geun-young
- Nomination - Best Costume Design - Jo Sang-gyeong
- Nomination - Best Visual Effects - Jeong Seong-jin
- Nomination - Best Sound - Jeon Sang-jun, Lee Seung-chul
- 2007 Korea Movie Star Awards
- Best New Actress - Kim Ah-joong
- Best Couple Award - Kim Ah-joong and Joo Jin-mo
- Best Special Appearance - Lee Beom-soo
- 2007 Blue Dragon Film Awards
- Nomination - Best Film
- Nomination - Best Director - Kim Yong-hwa
- Nomination - Best Actress - Kim Ah-joong
- Nomination - Best Screenplay - Kim Yong-hwa
- Nomination - Best Music - Lee Jae-hak
- 2007 Korean Film Awards
- Nomination - Best Actress - Kim Ah-joong
- Nomination - Best Supporting Actress - Kim Hyun-sook
- Nomination - Best Editing - Park Gok-ji
- Nomination - Best Music - Lee Jae-hak
- Nomination - Best Visual Effects - Jeong Seong-jin
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album was released by KM Culture and SBS Contents Hub on December 13, 2006.
The title track is a cover of the Blondie song "Maria," sung in Korean by the film's star, Kim Ah-joong.
Director Kim Yong-hwa has been friends with music director Lee Jae-hak since their college days. Lee is a member of the modern rock band Loveholic, which is also featured in the soundtrack.
References
External links
- Official website (in Korean)
- 200 Pounds Beauty at the Korean Movie Database
- 200 Pounds Beauty on IMDb
- 200 Pounds Beauty at HanCinema
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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