The Art of Fighting

This is a fantastic movie filled with plenty of action and humor. To sum up, I'd say it kind of like a cooler, more realistic, much much more violent version of the karate kid. This is one of my all-time favorite films. The characters were well cast and each has their own back story which pulls you effortlessly into the centre of the storyline. While you wont have to leave your brain at the door, you also wont need to pay attention to every single detail to thoroughly enjoy this movie. The director used a very interesting style of point of view filming which makes it seem as though you are growing with the main character through his experiences of his everyday life. This movie deserves a solid 10 in my opinion, as I can find nothing that should have been done differently.

A fighting movie from Korea, not the first one nor the last, but one which didn't wish to be entwined within a fluffy romance angle or a heavily calculated action caper. A tightly cast film about a young student name Byung Tae (Hyun-kyoon Lee) facing hard times in a school where he is mercilessly bullied by the fellow students.

Having faced problems in the past, Byung Tae's father, a policeman, has brought him down to a tech school, where the closest thing to the "project-based learning" is the excruciating, army-like push up discipline conducted by the class instructor. Not the best environment for the already angst ridden troublemakers, but a learning experience nonetheless. Mostly silent, soft spoken Byung Tae, loosely resembling the much subtler character Hyun-kyoon so greatly portrayed in 3-Iron, is tired of being on the losing end of every fight so he frantically looks for a martial arts teacher. Bring forth Pan Su, played by the always engaging Yun-shik Baek (the President's Last Bang and Save the Green Planet), who isn't the biggest of guys, but a man of few words and a walk-through the walls type of attitude. Byung wastes no time and asks Pan Su to become his master to which Su replied that Byung better have a wealthy family to pay off the victims' hospital bills, along with the usual jazz on how martial arts aren't meant to serve purely as a fighting weapon but as a mind temple. Still this didn't stop Pan Su from teaching Byung Tae the deadly skill of coin throwing and a head-butting technique which he probably should have figured out himself after all the collar nagging he received in school.

All of this is presented in a comical manner mixed with a few dramatic sequences, which I guess a film dealing with this subject matter couldn't have fully avoided, although I hoped it would. Nothing too sentimental though, but the transition from one to another still felt rather unorthodox, if not a bit irregular and disarming. Regardless, don't expect gravity defying action and wacky humor, as the poster might have suggested. Also nothing groundbreaking in regards to the teacher/student relationship which has been done numerous times and various ways. But some good laughs along with some more realistically choreographed fight scenes and no unnecessary subplots, made watching this film an effortless and an enjoyable experience. The ending reassured me that this film's intent wasn't to promote the art of tear-jerking and sadness, but instead it settled on delivering a rather benevolent message that all you need is a rule-breaking martial artist with a criminal past to teach you how to disregard pain and unleash a proverbial beating that would paint happy faces on bullied boys all over the world.

A nice little Korean comedy/action movie. Made on a low budget and with ten times the interest of the better known DESTRUCTION BABIES, for instance. It's nothing amazing but the humour is funny and the fight sequences are fairly good. The film has shades of KARATE KID in the plot, but it's set in a much more realistic world with painful violence in abundance. High school bullying plays a big part, as per usual in Korean cinema.

There is an opinion in some quarters that violence and comedy cannot go hand in hand. Yet in some movies they can, and that's what director Sin Han-sol seems to have had in mind when he sharpened the plot for "Art of Fighting" (Ssaumui gisul).

This is the kind of movie where viewers laugh occasionally and grimace the rest of the time. But the title is somewhat misleading. It is neither a serious martial arts movie nor a full-blown comedy.

The reason for the film's ambivalent identity lies largely in the equally confusing characteristics of Oh Man-su, a "legendary fighter." The character is played by Baek Yoon-sik, a veteran actor whose popularity is literally soaring among Korean moviegoers after showing off his renewed vigor as a notorious swindler in "The Big Swindle," a 2004 hit movie directed by Choi Dong-hoon.

In "Art of Fighting," Baek turns into a sort of hermit-cum-fighter who seems both a hero and a villain. His fighting skills appear relentless - even profound - and yet his way of teaching his skills seems a total sham. He acts seriously and yet the very seriousness makes it all the more funny. Of course, the disparate features stand out dramatically largely due to the peculiar image forged by actor Baek. Kudos to Baek's overall charismatic acting. His subtle, knowing smile, for instance, is irresistibly charming and playful though he's actually 58, and even his "I'm-not-very-sorry" farting parade in a steamy sauna room is fiercely dramatic.

The only drawback, unfortunately, also results from director Shin's heavy dependence on the personal charms of Baek. Other characters are sidelined, and even the storyline itself is less meaningful than the director has originally intended.

The story revolves around the mentor-and-protégé format. Mentor Oh Man-su is a mysterious man who happens to stay in a room at a shabby reading room where Korean students pay to study for exams. Song Byeong-tae (Jae Hee) is a fragile high school boy whose primary goal in life is not to be beaten at school - at least not that much.

Byeong-tae is the undisputed living punching bag for his friends, who could otherwise be described as ruthless bullies. Never a day passes without him getting punched and kicked by his classmates.

Byeong-tae attempts to find a breakthrough by faithfully attending a martial arts school and furiously reading martial arts books. But the fighting instinct does not harden in Byeong-tae's heart which is easily scared, even by the hint of a punch.

A glimmer of hope, Byeong-tae thinks, can be found in the mysterious man Man-su, who emits some inexplicable aura of a fighting master, though he usually spends away his time reading comic books.

Byeong-tae uses all the tricks he knows to become Man-su's student, but the master is not a person you can buy with simple begging. Byeong-tae, it turns out, has to offer money - lots of it - to get the lessons.

"Hey, you got money? You know, you need lots of money to become a fighter. Just how much money you need if you break your enemy's tooth? Fighting is a costly business," Man-su says, with an earnestness sparking in his playful eyes.

Byeong-tae has no other option. So he pays for his master's lunch and does other sundry work, which Man-su says is part of a special program.

And other training starts in a bewildering fashion that only fits in with an unabashed comedy. Man-su reveals his secret of maintaining powerful stamina: he steals a bottle of milk on the street while jogging. Man-su's unique reasoning: "In life, there is no such thing as 'that is yours and this is mine.'" His innocent and faithful student follows the master's stern instruction - "Spare the milk, spoil the child." Byeong-tae steals the milk bottle but sooner rather than later he gets caught by the delivery men. He gets beaten by the angry delivery men. Indeed, Byeong-tae beefs up his strength by continuing to steal the milk and also continuing to get thrashed.

Another of Man-su's special skills is throwing a coin to enemies a la Jang Chong-chan, a main character in the 1980s series "Human Market" by novelist Kim Hong-shin. Man-su showcases the trick by targeting a spot on the wall and actually hitting the zone with razor-sharp precision.

In the actual fighting with his school bullies, Byeong-tae smiles and finally throws the 500-won coin at his arch-rival. The coin indeed hit the target - a deserted bottle nearby, not the real enemy. While the bullies are approaching, Byeong-tae is about to try again, but all the coins he has suddenly drop on the ground. The result: he gets smacked hard.

So many violent scenes are inserted into the supposedly comic movie that the filmmakers had a hard time getting the rating for 15-year-olds or older. Although the director intended to reflect his critical view of such violent-laden school culture, it is still a matter of dispute whether the realistic fighting scenes are gratuitous.

The clue is the dictum that fighting master Man-su dispenses for Byeong-tae is, "The real art in fighting is winning it without actually fighting with your enemy." The same rule can be applied to the movie itself. Perhaps, if the movie had criticized violence without indulging in too much violence, it might have been the real art of film-making.

By Yang Sung-jin

The gorgeous Hee Jae (3-Iron) plays the unfortunate Byung-Tae, a teenager heavily bullied at high school to the point of breaking. Hammered, hounded and abused by a gang of no-nonsense bullies, he fears for his life each day with things getting worse when they hear he is the son of a cop.

He spends his days reading martial arts books and taking tips from random people on how he should look after himself, until he meets the mysterious Pan-Su, played by Baek Yoon-Sik, from the fantastic Woochi, and Save The Green Planet! Even when his old friend, Jae-Hoon (played by the super sute Park Ki-Woong in his first role) turns up at school, his hopes of some protection soon go out the window!

After witnessing the might of Pan-Su in a sauna, Byung-Tae pleads with the old man to teach him how to fight, to which he reluctantly agrees and begins leading him down a crazy path of fighting techniques, with his training routines often getting him in more trouble than a day at school...

This is one crazy film as you can't help but laugh at the outcome of poor Byung-Tae's life, while at the same time falling for his big, doe-eyed pity look. While Pan-Su may be taking him for a ride, making him pay for all drinks and food (unless he's stealing someone's milk), he does start to feel sorry for Byung-Tae and sticks by him!

The Art Of Fighting is a strange one. While its main focus is on the victims of bullying, with many dramatic and emotional moments to highlight that, there is a crazy amount of comedy laced throughout - with much of it being quite dark which is typically Korean, as Byung-Tae desperately tries to find away to stop the hurt in his life. While not as action packed as the title would lead you to believe, it still proves to be an incredible strong teen drama with some heart, comedy, and brutal violence that takes a dark turn in giving Byung-Tae justice.

Fantastic film!

Overall: If The Karate Kid was directed by Takashi Miike, it would be this!