Byung-tae is a teenager who every day gets beat up at school, often several times. He spends most of his time reading martial arts manuals and taking lessons from different adults on how to learn to fight, but nothing seems to work. One day he comes across an old man named Pan-su who is a natural at fighting, and really impresses Byung-tae. So Byung-tae of course asks the man to teach him how to fight, something Pan-su at first doesn't want to do, but later on takes him under his wing. As time goes by, Byung-tae learns a lot but still can't seem to fight back whenever the bullies pick on him, and has a hard time getting rid of the fear inside him that he has been carrying for so many years.
Art of Fighting kinda took me by surprise as I, from looking at the cover and reading about it, first thought it would be some kind of whacky comedy about fighting. Instead it proved to be a real drama that featured some black humour as well, and that sure was a pleasant surprise. Instead of being funny, it turned out to be quite brutal, and a lot of the scenes in it felt very realistic, so to label this movie as a comedy is just wrong. It has a few moments with some black humour in it, but other than that it's way more sad than ha-ha funny. That's except for Pan-su in the sauna scene, you'll know it when you see it.
The basic idea is simple yet quite brilliant and works very well. The two main actors Jae Hee (3-Iron) as Byung-tae and Baek Yoon-shik (Save the Green Planet) as Pan-su, both do an excellent job with their character, especially Jae Hee's character stands out, and if you have a heart, you'll feel for him as well. One thing that makes him stand out is the fact that half of the time he doesn't speak but still manages to communicate in an excellent way. And Baek Yoon-sik is perfect as the old man who is a natural at realistic fighting, and how to fight dirty.
 
Now, fighting dirty might sound like fun, but in Art of Fighting it's really not. It just means that if you're in a fight, just use whatever objects that are around you, and it doesn't matter where you hit the other person, because there are no rules. This can also be translated to kill or be killed, and that's what Byung-tae has to learn from Pan-su.
There are so many fights in this movie (after all it is a movie about fighting), but I was really surprised over the fact of just how brutal some of them were. We get to see Byung-tae get beaten up I don't know how many times, and sometimes it's a little much. You can't help but to feel (very) sorry for him. Before actually watching the movie I figured that bullies were gonna pick on the guy, but instead they beat him senseless, again and again. So later on he meets this man who has an amazing skill when it comes to down-to-earth type of fighting, he fights with any means necessary and seem to always win.
Later on when he has finally accepted Byung-tae, he not only learn the kid about fighting, but about life itself. For a short while it had a strange Karate Kid vibe to it, but luckily not for long. The movie is of course very predictable, but even though you know what's eventually gonna happen, it's still interesting all the way. The actors are so damn good, and even though this movie is quite sad and brutal at times, it still delivers a great feeling. Best thing though is that even if the very ending is kinda predictable, it didn't feel like your typical Hollywood feel-good-ending at all.
It was quite a while since a movie made me feel this good. It's simple yet works perfectly, and it's easy to get drawn in and to feel full sympathy for the unfortunate Byung-tae. The acting is excellent and the pacing is very good, it has a solid tempo and even though it's not fast-paced, it's still very far from being slow. It has characters that are easy to care for, and a story that might be very predictable but still is interesting, realistic, and thinkable. Recommended.
Back to Asian Review Archive
|
ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Ssa-woom-eui Gi-sool
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: Sin Han-sol
WRITING CREDITS: Byeon Seung-hyeon, Heo In-seok
GENRE: Action, Comedy, Drama
CAST: Baek Yoon-sik, Jae Hee, Kim Eung-soo
COUNTRY: South Korea
RUNTIME: 95 min
RATING: 8/10
Art of Fighting Website/IMDB Click here
Art of Fighting Trailer Click here
|
