200 Pounds Beauty

200 Pounds Beauty (Korean: 미녀는 괴로워; RR: Minyeoneun Goerowo; “Beauty is pain”) is a 2006 South Korean musical romantic comedy film written and directed by Kim Yong-hwa.[2] It is based on the Japanese manga Kanna's Big Success! (カンナさん大成功です!, Kanna-san Daiseikou Desu!) by Yumiko Suzuki about an overweight ghost singer who undergoes intensive plastic surgery to become a pop sensation.[3]

200 Pounds Beauty
200 Pounds Beauty movie poster
Hangul미녀 괴로워
Hanja美女는 괴로워
Revised RomanizationMinyeoneun Goerowo
McCune–ReischauerMinyŏ-nŭn kwerowŏ
Directed byKim Yong-hwa
Produced byPark Mu-seung
Won Dong-yeon
Bang Chu-sung
Written byKim Yong-hwa
Based onKanna-san, Daiseikou Desu!
by Yumiko Suzuki
StarringKim Ah-joong
Joo Jin-mo
Music byLee Jae-hak
CinematographyPark Hyun-cheol
Edited byPark Gok-ji
Jeong Jin-hee
Production
company
REALies Pictures
KM Culture
Distributed byShowbox
Release date
  • December 14, 2006 (2006-12-14)
Running time
120 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
BudgetUS$4 million
Box officeUS$42 million[1]

The film was a critical and commercial success.[4] It was the third best-selling domestic film of 2006 with 6,619,498 admissions nationwide, grossing US$42,013,016.[5][6] 200 Pounds Beauty also received several awards and nominations, including Best Actress for Kim Ah-joong at the 2007 Grand Bell Awards.[7]

Plot

Hanna Kang is an overweight phone sex part-timer and a ghost singer for Ammy, a famous pop singer who actually lip syncs her songs instead of singing live. Hanna has a crush on Sang-jun, a director whose arrogant father owns the record company Ammy is signed to. One day, Hanna receives an outfit from Sang-jun with a note to wear it to his birthday party. However, it actually came from Ammy, who wears the same outfit just to humiliate Hanna. 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 abandon them. Heartbroken, Hanna attempts suicide but is interrupted by a phone call from one of her phone sex regulars, a top plastic surgeon, and persuades him to perform head-to-toe plastic surgery on her.

After a year of seclusion while recovering from the surgery and weight loss, Hanna is so 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 as a Korean-American from California named Jenny. After re-auditioning to be Ammy's secret vocalist, she earns her own recording contract instead. Meanwhile, Ammy fears her own secret in being unable to sing will be exposed if the release of her second album is delayed. She desperately tries to find Hanna by spending time with Hanna's father who is in hospital due to Alzheimer's, but Sang-jun orders her to give up her search, threatening to terminate her contract if she does not stop. 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 becomes furious at her indifferent behavior. After the party, Sang-jun tells Hanna he knows her true identity. He cannot forgive her for lying to him but says he will conduct her concert scheduled the next day. Hanna confesses her love for him and reveals she got plastic surgery in order to make him love her back. After realizing how worthless she was to him even as Jenny, Hanna tearfully refuses to have anything to do with him.

Before the concert, Ammy threatens to reveal Hanna's deception unless Sang-jun cancels the concert. Though his father agrees, Sang-jun stands up to them and refuses, and encourages a distraught Hanna to do this concert, not for her fans or the record company but for herself. Before performing, Hanna apologizes to Jung-min for her earlier behavior. She coldly rejects her apology, rebuking Hanna for the way she treated her own father. At the concert, Hanna tearfully confesses to the large crowd her story of being a ghost singer to an ungrateful Ammy while she was overweight, going into a year of seclusion to heal from the changes from the surgery and abandoning everything that is dear to her, including her best friend and father, for her career. Sang-jun plays a tape of the old, obese Hanna, singing. Hanna remarks that the person on the video is the real her. The crowd are moved by her sincere confession and praise her for showing her true identity. Hanna reconciles with her father and Jung-min. She drops the stage-name Jenny and re-releases a CD with her own name, Hanna, and becomes a highly successful music artist. Sang-jun realizes the very thing about her that had always drawn him to her was Hanna's innocence, and continues to promote her in hopes of pursuing a relationship with her.

During the post-credits, Jung-min also asks to get head-to-toe plastic surgery from the surgeon.

Cast

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
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.[4]

Director Kim Yong-hwa has been friends with music director Lee Jae-hak since their college days.[2] Lee is a member of the modern rock band Loveholic, which is also featured in the soundtrack.

No.TitleArtistLength
1."Beautiful Girl"Kim Ah-joong1:49
2."별" (Star)Youme5:02
3."Maria"Kim Ah-joong3:07
4."Dance with My Daddy"Alex Chu3:00
5."You Don't Know I Love You"U4:08
6."슈퍼스타" (Superstar)Loveholic3:19
7."튜울립" (Tulip)Venny (Sangsang Band) feat. Jong-hwi3:19
8."Miss You Much"Youme3:26
9."Beautiful Girl (teaser edit)"Kim Ah-joong feat. Alex Chu1:29
10."바보처럼" (Like a Fool)Kim Hyung-joong4:01
11."별 (original dialog ver.)" (Star (original dialog ver.))Kim Ah-joong2:04

References

  1. "Mi-nyeo-neun Gwae-ro-wo (200 Pounds Beauty) (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  2. Yang, Seong-hee (25 January 2007). "On the big screen, being thin still rules". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  3. Park, Soo-mee (25 April 2007). "DVD Review: The heavy price of feminine beauty". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  4. D'Sa, Nigel (6 February 2007). "200 Pounds Beauty Weighs in at the Box Office". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  5. "Commercial Releases in 2006: Box-Office Admission Results". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  6. Paquet, Darcy. "200 Pounds Beauty". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  7. "200 Pounds Beauty - Awards". Cinemasie. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
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