Like a Virgin

A pleasingly pudgy transgendered teen becomes a wrestling wunderkind in order to secure the hefty prize money for his sex change operation in the directorial debut of acclaimed scriptwriters, Lee Hae-yeong and Lee Hae-jun. It's no wonder then, that added tender loving care was given to its colourful cadre of carefully drawn characters that elevates it from being just another brave little film that's centred around an ideal. Besides having the benefit of seminating from proved pedigree, "Like A Virgin" manages that rare distinction of actually being quite amusing despite succumbing to that very Korean Achilles' heel of parental melodrama. The truest moments of pleasure primarily stems from its protagonist, Oh Dong-gu's (Ryu Deok-hwan) absurd responses to his chauvinistic reality, and his flights of fancy involving an attractive teacher. For the most part, the film does approach society without preconceptions allowing itself a fair bit of leeway for fluff and fantasy. There's a sense that its secondary characters become too much of a handful when there's a discernible, almost portentous shift in tone whenever Dong-gu's miserable louse of a father shows up, upsetting the thoughtful equilibrium of its comedy that does occasionally become reminiscent of Masayuki Suo's "Sumo Do, Sumo Don't".