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Fresh out of Cannes and making its North American debut, it's CRYING FIST, the
long-awaited boxing movie from Ryu Seung-Wan, the director of ARAHAN. Director Ryu brings together powerhouse actor, Choi Min-Shik (OLDBOY), and Ryu Seung-Beom (ARAHAN) to make a movie as invigorating and painful as a punch in the face.
Choi plays a boxer at the end of his run. Middle age hasn't been kind, and he's
been reduced to renting himself out as a human punching bag on the streets. For
$10, frustrated men can pound him for one minute, frustrated women get to whale
on him for two. On the other side of town, rage-junkie Ryu gets introduced to
boxing while in juvenile lock-up. He discovers that instead of beating people up
on the streets and getting arrested, he can beat people up in the ring and get
paid.
Both men are losers, on a downward trajectory: one is middle-aged, the other is
young, but neither are going to make it very far. They are the kind of guys who
don't need any enemies besides themselves. And they both sign up for a super
lightweight fight as their one big break. Which means that they're going to have
to fight each other.
Neither character knows the other, and they don't meet during the movie, but the
director turns the standard boxing movie dynamic neatly on its head. Usually we
root for the underdog and cheer when Rocky beats Apollo Creed. But in CRYING
FIST both men are the underdog, and we're pulling for both of them. With CRYING
FIST, Director Ryu has created a minor masterpiece where everyone's a loser. |
Director RYU Seung-wan (Born in 1973)
After shaking up Chungmuro (Korean film industry) with his 16mm relay film DIE BAD, Director Ryu Seung-wan went on to take Korean action films at least two levels up with NO BLOOD NO TEARS. He then secured himself as a commercially successful director through martial arts with a unique comical sense in ARAHAN. CRYING FIST is a moving film about two men who lead rough lives to come up against each other in one great fight and breaks away from his previous works. Life on the edge seen through the honest eyes of two men, and Director Ryu' s very own stylish sense, join forces to create a human drama that tugs on the heartstrings. |
