200 Pounds Beauty
Encyclopedia
200 Pounds Beauty is a 2006 South Korean comedy
film based on a Japan
ese manga
, Kanna-San, Daiseikou Desu (カンナさん大成功です!) by Yumiko Suzuki. The literal meaning of 미녀는 괴로워 is 'Being Beautiful is Agonizing.' The story tells the tale about an overweight girl who undergoes extreme plastic surgeries to become a pop
sensation
.
The film was a financial success, earning approximately $45 million against its $4 million budget. It also received large critical acclaims, winning Grand Bell
's Best Actress for Kim Ah-jung and Best Cinematography together with nominations for Best Film and Best Director.
employee and a secret vocalist for Ammy, a famous pop singer
who actually lip sync
s as she cannot sing. Instead of being famous for her own amazing vocal talent, Han-na hides behind Ammy's performance stage and sings during Ammy's concerts, and records all of Ammy's songs. One day, Ammy ungratefully humiliates her in front of the music company's director Sang-jun during his birthday party, knowing full well that Han-na has a crush on him. While crying in the bathroom, Han-na overhears Sang-jun telling Ammy that even though they are just using Han-na for her voice, they must be kind to her so she will not walk out on them. Heartbroken, Han-na attempts suicide but is interrupted by a phone call from one of her phone sex regulars who happens to be a top plastic surgeon. She decides to get head-to-toe plastic surgery
instead. The surgeon at first refuses to operate on Han-na, but Han-na threatens to blackmail the surgeon by telling his wife about his calls. Then, Han-na makes a moving speech that she does not want to undergo surgery merely to be beautiful, but for the sake of love and as a boost in confidence, and the surgeon is deeply moved. Han-na puts herself in seclusion
for a year as she recovers from the changes.
When she comes back from the hospital, Han-na is incredibly beautiful and slender. No one, not even her best friend, Chung-min, recognizes her. With Chung-min's help, she creates a new identity for herself; she is now a Korean-American from California
named Jenny. After auditioning to be Ammy's secret vocalist again, she earns her own recording contract instead from Sang-jun, claiming that she is "all-natural". In the meantime, Ammy, oblivious just like everyone else of Han-na's new identity, desperately tries to find Han-na so that she can record her own postponed album (since she cannot sing the songs herself) by spending time with Han-na's father who is in a hospital with some mental problems, possibly Alzheimer's. Meanwhile, romance begins to blossom between "Jenny" and Sang-Jun, as he continues to promote Jenny, in effect boosting Han-na's confidence in her new self. However, Ammy, through spending time with Han-na's father and Jenny, eventually realizes that this Jenny is actually Han-na in disguise.
During a date one night, as sparks fly, Jenny supposedly strips for Sang-Jun in the character of a nurse, through a phone sex session. After Jenny has fallen asleep, he sees the African character Jenny had drawn on the glass and realizes it was a sign he had seen before. He remembers that when Han-na still existed and he had not met "Jenny" yet, Han-na had drawn exactly the same signs on a sheet of music. Then he adds all of the signs up and realizes as well that "Jenny" is actually Han-na but he keeps this information to himself.
"Jenny's" debut single 'Maria' becomes a hit and the recording company holds a party to celebrate its release. On the day of a party however, Ammy brings "Jenny's" father, in an attempt to blow Han-na's cover. Han-na's father tries to return Han-na's Barbie doll to her, which has always been Han-na's favourite childhood gift from him. Startled by the sudden appearance of her father and not knowing how to react in front of all the people, including Sang-jun, Han-na denies knowing her father and calls him a fan instead when Sang-jun asks her if the old man is her guest. As her father keeps on insisting on giving the doll to Han-na, Sang-jun drags him away from Jenny and accidentally knocks him down onto the floor. Desperate to keep her true identity a secret, Han-na made no move to help her father. It was Chung-min who finally helps him up, casts Jenny a furious look and leads Han-na's father away from the party.
After the party, Sang-jun and 'Jenny' were the only ones left in the room. Sang-jun reveals to 'Jenny' that he knows her true identity but is now cold and distant. He seems to be unable to forgive her for lying to him but says that he will still work to promote 'Jenny' and carry on with her concert scheduled the next day. Han-na breaks down at this point, heartbroken and unable to pretend to be someone else anymore. Han-na tells him that it is incredibly frustrating and painful not being able to be just be herself but have to live a lie, especially in front of him. The surgery that took a whole year to recover from was not nearly as painful as realizing that she still could not be close to Sang-jun. As Sang-jun tries to comfort her, she brushed away his efforts saying, "You broke my heart. Tissue paper cannot fix it."
Sang-jun still insists on continuing with Jenny's first concert, despite protests from the company boss. Later, he encourages a distraught Jenny to do this concert, not for the sake of the fans or the company but for herself, thus implying that he has forgiven her and will continue to support her. At the concert, Jenny can't sing and later breaks down from the pressure of seeing her father being dragged away by security and tells everybody to stop. She then reveals to the public that Jenny is a "fake," and that she is not "all-natural", as she had claimed, but is "plastic". However, nobody seems to believe her. She proceeds tearfully to tell the large crowd her story: how she has abandoned everything that is dear to her - her best friend and father - to get to where she is. She also tells the crowd about how along the way to fame and fortune she has also lost her own identity and that she now no longer knows who she is. Just then, the screens behind her on the stage started to show a clip of the old, obese Han-na, singing angelically. Han-na turns around and sees her old image and tells the crowd that the image is the real her. The crowd, moved by her sincere confession, responds by chanting "It's okay," and Han-na rekindles her relationships with her father and best friend. She drops the stage name "Jenny" and re-releases a CD with her own name, Han-na, and becomes a highly successful music artist, gaining many fan
s and anti-fan
s along the way. Sang-jun realizes the very thing about Han-na that had always drawn him to her was Han-na's innocence. However he also realizes that she has moved on and is now content with who she is.
At the end of the movie, Chung-min also asks to get head-to-toe plastic surgery.
An official of KM Culture (the production company in charge of the film) revealed that the screenplay has been drafted and that the sequel’s title will be (in Korean) “Being Mother and Daughter is Painful”. Initially, there was plan to make the sequel a continuation of the first movie; however, the production company decided to make the sequel more of a spin-off.
The sequel, which will be directed by Kim Jung Min, will deal with the conflicted relationship between a “plastic” mother and non-plastic daughter, who looks just like her mother pre-surgery.
song "Maria
", sung in Korean by the film's star, Kim Ah-jung. The Korean modern rock
band Loveholic
also appears on the 200 Pounds Beauty soundtrack.
Quoted the author of the Egyptian film "X-Large," the story of this film and also the movie poster
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
film based on a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, Kanna-San, Daiseikou Desu (カンナさん大成功です!) by Yumiko Suzuki. The literal meaning of 미녀는 괴로워 is 'Being Beautiful is Agonizing.' The story tells the tale about an overweight girl who undergoes extreme plastic surgeries to become a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
sensation
Superstar
A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity.Superstar or superstars may also refer to:-People:* Warhol Superstar, associates of Andy Warhol* WWE Superstar, the term used to refer to entertainers from the WWE...
.
The film was a financial success, earning approximately $45 million against its $4 million budget. It also received large critical acclaims, winning Grand Bell
Grand Bell Awards
The Grand Bell Awards is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea....
's Best Actress for Kim Ah-jung and Best Cinematography together with nominations for Best Film and Best Director.
Plot
Han-na is an overweight phone sexPhone sex
Phone sex is a type of virtual sex that refers to sexually explicit conversation between or other persons via telephone, especially when at least one of the participants masturbates or engages in sexual fantasy...
employee and a secret vocalist for Ammy, a famous pop singer
Pop Singer
"Pop Singer" is the début single from London-based glam rockers Rachel Stamp. It was released in February, 1996 through WEA. The single was released as a 2 track CD Single and limited edition pink 7" vinyl of 1000 copies...
who actually lip sync
Lip sync
Lip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
s as she cannot sing. Instead of being famous for her own amazing vocal talent, Han-na hides behind Ammy's performance stage and sings during Ammy's concerts, and records all of Ammy's songs. One day, Ammy ungratefully humiliates her in front of the music company's director Sang-jun during his birthday party, knowing full well that Han-na has a crush on him. While crying in the bathroom, Han-na overhears Sang-jun telling Ammy that even though they are just using Han-na for her voice, they must be kind to her so she will not walk out on them. Heartbroken, Han-na attempts suicide but is interrupted by a phone call from one of her phone sex regulars who happens to be a top plastic surgeon. She decides to get head-to-toe plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
instead. The surgeon at first refuses to operate on Han-na, but Han-na threatens to blackmail the surgeon by telling his wife about his calls. Then, Han-na makes a moving speech that she does not want to undergo surgery merely to be beautiful, but for the sake of love and as a boost in confidence, and the surgeon is deeply moved. Han-na puts herself in seclusion
Seclusion
The act of secluding, i.e. shutting out or keeping apart from society, or the state of being secluded, or a place that facilitates it . A person, a couple, or a larger group may go to a secluded place for privacy, or because the place is quiet...
for a year as she recovers from the changes.
When she comes back from the hospital, Han-na is incredibly beautiful and slender. No one, not even her best friend, Chung-min, recognizes her. With Chung-min's help, she creates a new identity for herself; she is now a Korean-American from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
named Jenny. After auditioning to be Ammy's secret vocalist again, she earns her own recording contract instead from Sang-jun, claiming that she is "all-natural". In the meantime, Ammy, oblivious just like everyone else of Han-na's new identity, desperately tries to find Han-na so that she can record her own postponed album (since she cannot sing the songs herself) by spending time with Han-na's father who is in a hospital with some mental problems, possibly Alzheimer's. Meanwhile, romance begins to blossom between "Jenny" and Sang-Jun, as he continues to promote Jenny, in effect boosting Han-na's confidence in her new self. However, Ammy, through spending time with Han-na's father and Jenny, eventually realizes that this Jenny is actually Han-na in disguise.
During a date one night, as sparks fly, Jenny supposedly strips for Sang-Jun in the character of a nurse, through a phone sex session. After Jenny has fallen asleep, he sees the African character Jenny had drawn on the glass and realizes it was a sign he had seen before. He remembers that when Han-na still existed and he had not met "Jenny" yet, Han-na had drawn exactly the same signs on a sheet of music. Then he adds all of the signs up and realizes as well that "Jenny" is actually Han-na but he keeps this information to himself.
"Jenny's" debut single 'Maria' becomes a hit and the recording company holds a party to celebrate its release. On the day of a party however, Ammy brings "Jenny's" father, in an attempt to blow Han-na's cover. Han-na's father tries to return Han-na's Barbie doll to her, which has always been Han-na's favourite childhood gift from him. Startled by the sudden appearance of her father and not knowing how to react in front of all the people, including Sang-jun, Han-na denies knowing her father and calls him a fan instead when Sang-jun asks her if the old man is her guest. As her father keeps on insisting on giving the doll to Han-na, Sang-jun drags him away from Jenny and accidentally knocks him down onto the floor. Desperate to keep her true identity a secret, Han-na made no move to help her father. It was Chung-min who finally helps him up, casts Jenny a furious look and leads Han-na's father away from the party.
After the party, Sang-jun and 'Jenny' were the only ones left in the room. Sang-jun reveals to 'Jenny' that he knows her true identity but is now cold and distant. He seems to be unable to forgive her for lying to him but says that he will still work to promote 'Jenny' and carry on with her concert scheduled the next day. Han-na breaks down at this point, heartbroken and unable to pretend to be someone else anymore. Han-na tells him that it is incredibly frustrating and painful not being able to be just be herself but have to live a lie, especially in front of him. The surgery that took a whole year to recover from was not nearly as painful as realizing that she still could not be close to Sang-jun. As Sang-jun tries to comfort her, she brushed away his efforts saying, "You broke my heart. Tissue paper cannot fix it."
Sang-jun still insists on continuing with Jenny's first concert, despite protests from the company boss. Later, he encourages a distraught Jenny to do this concert, not for the sake of the fans or the company but for herself, thus implying that he has forgiven her and will continue to support her. At the concert, Jenny can't sing and later breaks down from the pressure of seeing her father being dragged away by security and tells everybody to stop. She then reveals to the public that Jenny is a "fake," and that she is not "all-natural", as she had claimed, but is "plastic". However, nobody seems to believe her. She proceeds tearfully to tell the large crowd her story: how she has abandoned everything that is dear to her - her best friend and father - to get to where she is. She also tells the crowd about how along the way to fame and fortune she has also lost her own identity and that she now no longer knows who she is. Just then, the screens behind her on the stage started to show a clip of the old, obese Han-na, singing angelically. Han-na turns around and sees her old image and tells the crowd that the image is the real her. The crowd, moved by her sincere confession, responds by chanting "It's okay," and Han-na rekindles her relationships with her father and best friend. She drops the stage name "Jenny" and re-releases a CD with her own name, Han-na, and becomes a highly successful music artist, gaining many fan
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
s and anti-fan
Anti-fan
While fan studies, as part of media audience research, has traditionally positioned the fan as one who engages with ideas related to a topic they are exceptionally interested in and enjoy, little research has been done for those who engage just as obsessively with media they claim to oppose, but...
s along the way. Sang-jun realizes the very thing about Han-na that had always drawn him to her was Han-na's innocence. However he also realizes that she has moved on and is now content with who she is.
At the end of the movie, Chung-min also asks to get head-to-toe plastic surgery.
Sequel
It has been rumored since 2009 that a sequel to the 2006 Korean blockbuster hit “200 Pounds Beauty” (or literally in Korean "Being Beautiful is Agonizing") is currently in the works.An official of KM Culture (the production company in charge of the film) revealed that the screenplay has been drafted and that the sequel’s title will be (in Korean) “Being Mother and Daughter is Painful”. Initially, there was plan to make the sequel a continuation of the first movie; however, the production company decided to make the sequel more of a spin-off.
The sequel, which will be directed by Kim Jung Min, will deal with the conflicted relationship between a “plastic” mother and non-plastic daughter, who looks just like her mother pre-surgery.
Soundtrack
The title song in the film is a cover of the BlondieBlondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
song "Maria
Maria (Blondie song)
"Maria" is a song by the American band Blondie, taken from their 1999 album No Exit. This song was Blondie's comeback single, their first since "War Child" in July 1982. In the UK, it was the band's sixth no.1 single, topping the charts exactly 20 years after their first UK no.1 "Heart of Glass" in...
", sung in Korean by the film's star, Kim Ah-jung. The Korean modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
band Loveholic
Loveholic
Loveholic is a South Korean modern rock group.Their song "Shingiru " was used as the ending theme to the Japanese anime Black Blood Brothers...
also appears on the 200 Pounds Beauty soundtrack.
| Track | Title | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beautiful Girl | 김아중 (Kim Ah Joong) |
| 2 | 별 Star | 유미 (Youmee) |
| 3 | Maria | 김아중 (Kim Ah Joong) |
| 4 | Dance With My Daddy | Alex Chu Clazziquai Clazziquai , also known as Clazziquai Project, is a South Korean experimental band that combines several genres including electronic music, acid jazz and house. The group's first short unofficial albums were released online in 2001, spreading its music through words of "netizens," who positively... (Clazziquai) |
| 5 | You Don’t Know I Love You | U (유) |
| 6 | 슈퍼스타 [Super Star] | Loveholic Loveholic Loveholic is a South Korean modern rock group.Their song "Shingiru " was used as the ending theme to the Japanese anime Black Blood Brothers... |
| 7 | 튜울립 [Tulip] | Venny (상상밴드) feat. 종휘 (Jong-hui) |
| 8 | Miss You Much Miss You Much "Miss You Much" is the lead single from American R&B and pop singer Janet Jackson's fourth studio album, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 . The song was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.-Song information:... |
유미 (Youmee) |
| 9 | Beautiful Girl (teaser Edit) | 김아중 (Kim Ah Joong) feat. Alex Chu Clazziquai Clazziquai , also known as Clazziquai Project, is a South Korean experimental band that combines several genres including electronic music, acid jazz and house. The group's first short unofficial albums were released online in 2001, spreading its music through words of "netizens," who positively... (Clazziquai) |
| 10 | 바보처럼 [Like A Fool] | 김형중 (Kim Hyung Joong) |
| 11 | 별 [Star] (Original dialog Version) | 김아중 (Kim Ah Joong) |
Won
| Year | Award | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Grand Bell Awards Grand Bell Awards The Grand Bell Awards is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea.... |
|
Quoted the author of the Egyptian film "X-Large," the story of this film and also the movie poster
Nominated
| Year | Award | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Grand Bell Awards Grand Bell Awards The Grand Bell Awards is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea.... |
|