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83 Review by Dean Crawford KOREAN DVD CORNER THE SMALL SCREEN Directed by Ahn Kwon-tae PG-13 Kang-cheol (Yoo Ah-in) is a down-on-his-luck twentysomething living in Busan. He is broke, working a dead-end job and struggling to find the money for an operation that will save his mother. On top of that, she often suffers from bouts of dementia, mistaking Kang-cheol for his dead father and constantly wandering off unat- tended. After witnessing the murder of a Yaku- za mob boss by the Korean mafia, Kang-cheol is unexpectedly forced into the criminal under- world and must do their bidding if he is to pro- tect the people he cares about the most. Despite its gangland premise, “Tough as Iron” (2013) is at times a fun movie. But as you would expect from a Korean mob film, it is also very violent. Overall, the movie is well directed and edited, and has a good pace that keeps you entertained throughout. The real star of the show, however, is Yoo Ah- in. I thought he was excellent in “Punch” (2011), and with a perfectly understated performance that shows his range, in this film he proves that the former was no fluke. He manages to make Kang-cheol an extremely likeable character in spite of his tough circumstances. Take, for example, a scene where his mother soils her- self in the police station. It could have been so easy for Yoo to ham up the situation. Instead he underplays the scene, cracking a joke or two while his eyes say something completely differ- ent, and we come out of the exchange liking him even more. This sets up a scene where he finally breaks down over his mother’s dementia; it just wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t care for Kang-cheol. There’s a love story here that feels a little needless, mainly due to Jeong Yu-mi’s Su-ji never becoming a fully fleshed-out character. She exists merely so that Kang-cheol can tell the audience his thoughts and leave the viewer with the possibility of a happy ending. Wheth- er or not Kang-cheol gets one, you’ll have to watch to find out. But I’d happily recommend that you do. Action / Drama 108 minutes Tough as Iron 깡철이 Since his wife’s death, Deok-gyu (Hwang Jeong-min) has become a mild-mannered res- taurateur living a quiet life and trying to provide for his daughter. But he is thrust into the lime- light when cutthroat TV producer Gyu-min (Lee Yo-won) offers Deok-gyu the chance to win 20 million won by competing in the reality TV show “Fists of Legend.” Deok-gyu, once a skilled boxer hoping to compete in the Olympics, comes out of retirement in a bid to turn his and his daughter’s lives around. Things get complicated, however, when Gyu-min decides to ask Deok-gyu’s best friends from high school to appear on the show in order to boost ratings. The lives of the four friends have gone in very different directions in the 25 years since they last met, and it quick - ly becomes apparent that old wounds have yet to heal as they are all faced with the decision of fighting each other or remembering why they were friends in the first place. One way to describe Kang Woo-seok’s epic tale could be to call it the Korean “Once Upon Time in America” (1984). But the theme of friendship through the decades is where the comparison with the Sergio Leone film ends. “Fists of Legend” (2013) meanders through its narrative at times, and it generally feels about 60 minutes too long. There is just no need for this movie to be nearly three hours in length, which is a shame because the way the film juxtaposes the early days of the friendship with how they are living now is actually really interesting. Despite the film’s length, there is enough to keep you entertained, especially for fans of MMA and “bromances.” The movie is well acted, with the versatile Hwang Jeong-min demonstrating why he is one of the best actors in Korean cin - ema today. Ultimately, “Fists of Legend” is an interesting story that will have you cheering for any one of its likeable characters. But be careful: You’ll be cheering for a while. Directed by Kang Woo-seok R Action / Drama 153 minutes Fists of Legend 전설의 주먹
83page
83page