Art Of Fighting

Art Of Fighting (Ssaumui Gisul)

Release Date : 2005
Director: Sin Han Sol
Writer: Sin Han Sol

Cast:
Jae Hee ... Song Byoeng Tae
Baek Yun Sik ... Oh Pan Su



Reviewed By : Tomea

Song Byeong-tae is our protagonist, a fearful timid loser who has been bullied his whole life. He meets an unlikely mentor in Pan-su who teaches him not only fighting lessons, but also life lessons. The movie weaves through Byeong-tae's experiences in how he copes with being bullied and finally finding the courage to fight back, as well as showing us the relationship that grows between mentor and student.

++Spoilers: you have been warned!

The premise of the movie is not original. For instance, The Karate Kid has the same ideas, but this, to me, was ultimately more satisfying. It portrayed a lot more emotional depth. My emotions were invested when I watched this movie. I was there when Byeong-tae got kicked in the head or knocked down. I felt his frustration in trying to fight back and I was there rejoicing when he triumphed in the end.

I was forewarned that some parts of this movie, particularly the fight scenes, were hard to watch, and it was, but nevertheless this movie was a breath of fresh air on an otherwise overblown and saturated action genre.

I love this movie, blood splatters and all. Compared to extreme korean films, like Oldboy, this was tame, yet the film portrays a refreshing angle to the action genre which mostly shows stylistic martial arts and high flying acrobatics. There are scenes in this movie that are cringe inducing and all the more powerful. For example, our hero confronts one of his bullies in an elevator. He has a soda can inside a sock and with his cold anger he unleashes all of his rage and frustration. The camera pans out and we can see our hero's reflection reflected on the elevator's mirrors pummeling and fighting dirty. And fighting dirty is what is central in this film, it shows that in a fight, honor is never shown, so it's either eat or be eaten.