Jumeogi unda

When i started watching this film i didn't have any expectations ... because i didn't have a clue what the film was about. So it could have been turned out pretty nasty; but luckily it did't! It was a really nice experience.

The first obvious thing i noticed was the professional work of the DP/director. This film is beautiful shot; lightning, camera etc. Sound and music were fine, but weren't very special but rather very solid. The second thing is the surprising good acting of the entire cast. There weren't any awkward moments. Everything felt very natural. And this is very important for the entire film because so much of the atmosphere depends on the performance of the lead protagonists. If they fail, the whole film might collapse.

A friend of mine said "crying fist" would be the Korean equivalent of Rocky. Well, i don't agree with this. The story of "crying fist" has much more content and value; discussing, for example, the issues and problems of people who lost their status in society is important and worthwhile. And, in this case, also very moving.

If you are interested don't hesitate! I really can recommend this one!

Ryoo Seung-Wan is one of South Korea's more interesting directors, if only for the fact that each of his 4 feature films has been very different to the others, though all have an element of action/violence. Last year's Urban Martial Arts Fantasy ARAHAN was an eminently watchable commercial film that deserved a worldwide release on the scale of KUNG FU HUSTLE in my opinion, but was denied it. 2005's CRYING FIST is about as different as a film can be, and is much more suited to the art-house circuits than the multiplexes. We'll see if it gets even that :) Basically, CRYING FIST is a Boxing Film. One might argue that there have been entirely too many boxing films already, as the sport has always been a favourite for underdog stories - the visuals of a boxing match being particularly evocative for a tale of triumph over adversity, I guess. Since there have been so many boxing films, including some that are good to great, it's pretty easy for a new one to be dismissed as formulaic, clichéd and entirely redundant in the grand of scheme of things - because they usually are. CRYING FIST escapes this fate because it's a boxing film with a difference! It's not a big difference by any measure, but it's enough to make the film a worthwhile entry in the genre.

CRYING FIST follows too mostly independent stories, both revolving around underdogs and boxing. CHOI Min-Sik is an ex-boxer who had some moderate success in his youth, but at 40 years old finds himself penniless and generally under-qualified, with his home life in such a mess that he's sleeping on the streets before the film has run too long. To try to make enough money to eat he sets up a "business" on the streets where people can pay to use him as a human punch-bag.

RYOO Seung-Bum (the director's brother) plays a young thug with a tendency to violence and anti-social behaviour that quickly lands him in prison. The prison has its own boxing team, and RYOO is encouraged to join, to channel his aggression and learn self-control, to make himself a better man and all that.

CRYING FIST presumably derives its name from the fact it's a bit depressing, and may produce a liquid response from the viewer in places. It focuses heavily on the characters, who are pretty crappy people in many respects, but hurting enough that the audience can't help feel sympathy for them, even care for them. CHOI Min-Sik has already proved that he can make just about any character come to life and make the audience care for them, but it's quite a surprise that RYOO Seung-Bum was able to achieve the same effect, since he was mostly annoying in ARAHAN and is generally listed as the reason people didn't like the film (wrong people, obviously). He's still not up to Choi Min-Sik's level of acting, but so few people in the world are that it's a little cruel to have to compare them.

The visual style of CRYING FIST is entirely different to that of ARAHAN, closer to NO BLOOD NO TEARS but still different. The film uses a lot of rapid exposure film, creating that stroboscopic effect during fast movement and simply being left to overexpose in other scenes, meaning the visuals are generally quite intense. Colour is used sparingly, appropriate for a film that's much more gritty and downbeat than the lurid ARAHAN.

Writing and direction is top-notch, and the film generally feels very maturely and expertly directed. It does perhaps veer a little too close to cliché towards the end, particularly an extended training montage that was just too ROCKY IV to be taken seriously (a shame RYOO couldn't find a newer way to show it). That misstep is pretty much the only one in the film though, with other scenes being quite inspired.

Of course there's some actual boxing in the ring in the film, and these scenes are shot very powerfully and realistically - completely opposite in style to the fights in ARAHAN. The fights are mostly filmed in extended takes which leave no doubt that the actors are doing the fighting themselves, absolutely no stunt doubles or clever editing. If it weren't for the way the camera moves around the ring and between the cameras I'd say the fights were unchoreographed, so convincing do they look. The actors must have undertaken a lot of training to learn how to box, and their stamina and resilience is a credit to them. I wasn't always sure the bloody bruises on their faces were done with makeup! Although CRYING FIST is arguably the "better" film, I didn't enjoy it is as much as ARAHAN for the simple reason that it's not as much FUN. But then it's not meant to be, and there'd be something wrong if it was. It's not as easy a watch as ARAHAN and probably doesn't have the same (potential) universal appeal, but it has much more "substance" and is likely to make a deeper impression on those who find what they're looking for in it.

So, if you're looking for a boxing film that might just make you cry, CRYING FIST comes highly recommended. At the very least it proves that the RYOO brothers deserve close attention in future, if only to see which direction they go in with their next film.

One of the great qualities about many Korean filmmakers is their ability to reinvent Hollywood genres. Drawing upon the intellectual and moral sensibilities of their own culture, they transform genres that in America traditionally consist of incredibly simple-minded narratives into something far more human, complex and literary. In the film "Crying Fist," it is the boxing movie genre that is wonderfully reinvented. Rather than presenting the audience with gratuitous action scenes involving a hero and a villain--as American audiences are so used to seeing--"Crying Fist" carefully and sympathetically develops the lives of both fighters. In the end, we are left with not only empathy for both fighters but a thoughtful drama that seeks to deepen our insight into the human condition.

Boxing is used in this movie as the main plot, but this is not a Rocky episode and the protagonists do not fight for glory, fame or wealth. The climax match is just for the domestic rookie contest title and even a win would not improve the life of either Kang or Ryu that much. Boxing has long been dying as a professional sports anyway, at least in Korea.

So what these two main characters fight for? They are just trying to regain the minimum dignity as a human being, the last desperate effort to climb up from the deepest bottom of their existence. Therefore, you know, sometimes who wins is not so important.

This film was not a big hit when it was released to Korean theaters, and no wonder it was as the majority of movie consumers are happy youngsters.

Many of them think this is just another tear-jerking melodrama. It is not, I guarantee, but you would not be able to appreciate the real thing unless you have once gone through your own hell in the life. I cried with Ryu at the end of the movie, I felt his sorrow and happiness so real just as they were mine, it was mentally painful.

My main reason to seek this move out was to see Min-sik Choi, but I also shared an equal interest in what the director and his brother had to offer as well. I think we all had our share of boxing movies dealing with a man overcoming the obstacles and reaching his triumph in front of a massive crowd, with his face swelled up and bloody, looking for someone to share his happiness with. Then you had the bad guy conveniently set up in the opposite corner with redundant reactions and a task to come off as inhuman as possible throughout the film. This movie is no such travesty of epic proportions. It is so much more.

I don't want to dive too deeply into the plot, but in short the story deals with two men of different ages. Choi plays an Asian Games silver medalist whose health and family is in a downward spiral and Ryoo Seung-beom plays a careless young man with crime chasing tendencies and a small family that stands behind him no matter what.

With such premises set up both characters not only offer great acting, (notable Ryoo Seung-beom, who is barely recognizable) but they relentlessly take turns in shredding any hopes of achieving a better life or even surviving the one they already have. In certain cases their judgment is at fault and at other instances their luck just simply runs out. Ultimately the audience is left to cheer for these two characters, but since the film stands at over 2 hours it makes it pretty hard for you to somber over one guy more than the other.

Now the boxing itself is done pretty neatly, although for a silver medalist Choi's character had a rather amateurish fighting style, which could have been excused for number of reasons. Still it isn't even a complaint, as the boxing was booked sufficiently and to a minimum since the film's number one priority was to plunge you into the lives of these characters before the big showdown.

I guess it's safe to call this a "feel bad" movie, but one with an unorthodox resolution at last, which wasn't as much about guessing, but more about conjugating and accepting. In the end it was another great getaway cinematic experience from Korea, which I find very rewarding when knowing just where to look. Definite recommendation, Ryoo Seung-beom breathed a new life not only into his future career but made his past work seem more subtly meaningful than it actually was.