VIFF 2005 Reviews

I have never liked boxing much so thank goodness Crying Fist isn’t actually about boxing. Yes, a bit ironic but let me explain. The story follows the lives of two men and their eventual fight to win the amateur boxing championship. Gang Tae-Shik (Choi Min-Sik of Oldboy) was a silver medalist in the Asian games ten years ago and is now an alcoholic whose wife left him with his son. To make a living, he is forced to let people on the street beat him up for a few dollars. Then there is Yoo Sang-Hwan, a young delinquent who comes from a poor family and gets thrown in jail for his violent crimes. While in prison, he becomes the target of brutal brawls.

The first two acts of this film serve as a window into the human drama of these two characters’ daily lives. We hate Gang for abusing his wife, for his reckless self-destruction; but we love him as a caring father, as a courageous man without pride. We love and sympathize with Yoo as a repentant son, his father’s death and his ailing grandmother; yet we hate him for his unwarranted violence, for his moronic anger and youth. Then finally we get into the boxing and the two characters come face to face in the fight for the champion title. As the rounds continue, the two seem to come closer to embracing than fighting. Ruthlessly and wonderfully rooted in modern Korean society, these two men, one young and one old, are both unique and iconic. Crying Fist examines masculinity, duty, family and individual worth in a compelling and entertaining way.