This movie is currently showing in cinemas nationwide; a Korean movie which I would say, enthusiasts of soap operas(Korean fans) should not miss.
Why?
It contains all the elements of a likeable Korean hit with all those charming faces and gorgeous babes who even cry pretty:)
But besides that, this movie had a new twist from the norm which most of the Korean dramas seem to showcase most of the time of those triangular or square-love as I call it.
Namely, the formula often applied in their movies are usually girl falls in love with boy or vice versa; and at the same time, they both have other people secretly harbouring feelings for them as well; thus boy loves girl, girl loves boy, boy loves girl, girl loves boy.....you know, and then all the trials and tribulations, they end up together but happy ending? Not so...then girl diagnosed with illness (usually cancer...fave is leukemia) and then you follow through the dramatic sequence and end up crying over boxes of tissues.
So what's so different from another Korean spin of movies?
200 Pounds Beauty actually focuses on the realities of life and love (of course) but most importantly, it is educating for the contemporary youth on searching for their own identities and the true deciphering of the saying that Beauty is only skin deep.
Kang Hanna is an overweight or obese young lady who harvests a deep passion for singing. In fact, she was gifted with the voice to sing and this gained her a job as a singer.
No, not a front stage singer, Hanna was actually the back stage singer of a pop singer, Ammy who had the looks and the body but do not have the voice of a singer. In a desperate move to promote her, her manager, Sang Jun, resorted to hiring a voice talent for her to rise to fame.
Hanna was pleased and at the same time, fell in love with the dashing and kind manager.
The ugly truth reveals when she was invited to Sang Jun's birthday party and she wore the dress which the guy bought for her and Ammy appeared in the exact same dress. She was embarassed and as she hid in the restroom, she overheard Sang Jun and Ammy's argument and found out that all along, Sang Jun only wanted to use her to promote Ammy and he warned Ammy to be nice to her.
Soon, Hanna resorted to dieting to lose weight and in one drastic move, she made up her mind to undergo plastic surgery for a total reform.
Disappearing for a year, Sang Jun was searching frantically for Hanna as Ammy was unable to release her album due to her disappearance.
Hanna, in the meantime, has gone through rounds of surgery and tanks of liposuction and she is now a skimpy girl who floats. Estatic, she bought her favourite dress and started singing that she is beautiful on the streets. She turned heads and she soon learnt that beauty really can do wonders!
She was still not confident and even hid behind walls when she bumps into Sang Jun.
She soon learns that her whole recording company have been watching on her dad (an Alzheimer's patient) in the home and she avoided visiting him for a year despite her yearning to see him.
After a careful round of thought, she decided to go back to her old interest, and she auditioned for the role for Ammy's background singer again using the identity Jenny.
She won the contract but Sang Jun had other plans; instead of using her as the background singer, he proposed to bring her up as a new generation singer and using her claim that she was a natural beauty.
A series of events followed and soon, everyone discovered her true identity as Hanna and that she was a fraud.
On the night of her premier/pilot concert, she was so down that she refused to go on stage but Sang Jun pushed her to it and she eventually did.
However, she actually didn't sing BUT broke down and confessed the whole truth.
Sang Jun then helped by showing her old look and how well she sang.
Her true fans told her it was alright and she regained her confidence.
Sang Jun, at the same time, realized he had fallen in love with her.....
Moral of the story?
This is truly a beautiful story and depicts the ugly realities of life. We are often viewed as objects and only nice-looking objects are graded as acceptable. Otherwise, you are often despised; and as such only people with the good looks and the body are considered a position in the society and if you are born with plain looks or even with a heavy weight, then you are doomed to be an outcast in the society; no matter how good or what kind of talents you have within you.
Isn't that sad?
We have so many stories telling us that this is not so; but yet, the media themselves have been playing their part in showcasing all the slim and beautiful/hunky models - creating the image in all the minds that this is the ideal society we are looking at and hence, we are creating anorexics, bulimics and also paving opportunities for the plastic surgeons and also liposuction to make their way into the industry.
BIG SIGH!
This movie really touched me; and it really made me feel very sad that we are such shallow beings despite the advancement of technology. I felt the tears particularly towards the end of the movie; especially when Hanna confessed to the crowd....
So sad....actually it is a clear distinction between Hanna, Ammy and Sang Jun - the 3 main characters in this movie. Hanna was the only one who was not the "in" crowd BUT, she was also the only one with a pure and generous heart who was kind to everyone.
Ammy was too conceited and selfish about herself and her looks; same goes for Sang Jun....
Perhaps, that's the price that is tagged with beauty....it always invites vanity and individualism along with it....
Perhaps we should really reflect and think about it...
Are looks really that important to you?
Can we make a difference?
Let me know your thoughts if any....
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