Crying Fist/ Jumeogi unda (2005)

Plot: Set against a backdrop of the run-down and decaying back streets of Seoul, Crying Fist focuses on two characters. There is the washed-up former Asian Games silver medallist Gang Tae-shik (Choi Min-sik) and street thug Yoo Sang-hwan (Ryu Seung-beom). Gang has made one too many bad investments, losing his home and family and ending up living in a shack and desperately trying to earn a crust by offering passers-by his body as a human punchbag to release all their stress at 10,000 won (not much more than a fiver) a go. Living in a cramped hovel with his family, Yoo drifts into petty crime and ends up in prison where his violent temper gets him into worse trouble. Both men find a possible way forward through boxing. With Gang desperate to gain some self-worth, he starts training for the Super Lightweight Championships to pay back his debts and face his son. In prison, one of the guards sees potential in Yoo and persuades him to join the prison gym, training as a boxer and eventually working up to the same championship match as Gang.