200 Pounds Beauty

200 Pounds Beauty (미녀는 괴로워, 2006) is a South Korean musical romantic comedy directed by Kim Yong-hwa — stream it online on iFILM. Kang Hanna has one of the best voices in the music business and no one's ever going to know: she ghost-sings for Ammy, a manufactured pop star who looks the part but can't carry a note. The producer Sang-jun signs the checks and doesn't see Hanna as anything more than a useful tool, even though she's been quietly in love with him for years.

Then she overhears what people really say about her when they think she's not listening. That night she calls a plastic surgeon and asks him to change everything. A year later she walks back into the industry as Jenny — thin, beautiful, and completely unrecognisable to everyone who dismissed her. Kim Ah-joong does her own singing throughout, which matters: the film's emotional credibility depends on her actually being as good as the script claims, and she is. 200 Pounds Beauty asks an uncomfortable question about what recognition really costs, but it does so without turning preachy. Watch it online on iFILM.