''Like a Virgin'' (; literally ''Strong Man Under Heaven Madonna'') is a 2006 South Korean comedy-drama film written and directed by

Lee Hae-jun Lee Hae-jun (born August 18, 1973) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed '' Like a Virgin'' (2006), ''Castaway on the Moon'' (2009), and '' My Dictator'' (2014). Career As screenwriter Lee Hae-jun studied adv ...

and

Lee Hae-young Lee Hae-young (born 1973) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Lee wrote and directed his debut feature '' Like a Virgin'' (2006) (with director Lee Hae-jun), which won several awards for Best New Director and Best Screenplay. His f ...

Ryu Deok-hwan Ryu Deok-hwan (; born June 12, 1987) is a South Korean actor. Career Ryu Deok-hwan began his career as a child actor on stage at age 6. Among his early Korean drama, TV drama appearances was a role on the popular ''Lifetime in the Country'' whi ...

stars in the lead role as

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

teenager Oh Dong-ku, and won several domestic awards for his performance, as well as a nomination for the

Asia Pacific Screen Award The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO, UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cult ...

Best Performance by an Actor. The film's English title is a reference to a Madonna song of the same name.

Plot

Chubby

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

student and Madonna-devotee Oh Dong-ku is a

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

living with her abusive,

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

father. Dong-ku works part-time to save money for the

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and a ...

she craves. Despite being told that she has the perfect physique for

ssireum ''Ssireum'' (Hangul: ) or Korean wrestling is a folk wrestling style and traditional national sport of Korea that began in the fourth century. In the modern form each contestant wears only a belt (satba) that wraps around the waist and the th ...

, Dong-ku has no interest in taking up sports—but when she finds out about an upcoming ssireum tournament with a large cash prize going to the winner, she changes her mind and signs up for the team.

Cast

as Oh Dong-ku *

Baek Yoon-sik Baek Yoon-sik (born 16 March 1947) is a South Korean actor. He is known for his characteristic near-expressionless facial acting. Career Baek Yoon-sik made his debut in 1970 on KBS TV. In the coming years he would appear in four films, taking l ...

as Coach * Lee Sang-ah as Dong-ku's mother *

Lee Eon Lee Eon (5 February 1981 – 21 August 2008) was a South Korean actor and model. Early life and career Lee Eon was born Park Sang-min on 5 February 1981. Lee began practicing ssireum while in elementary school, going on to win gold medals at K ...

as Park Joon-woo * Moon Se-yun as Big guy 1 * Kim Yong-hoon as Big guy 2 * Yoon Won-seok as Big guy 3 * Park Young-seo as Jong-man *

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi is a Japanese actor, singer, television host, and a former member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia. Early life Kusanagi grew up in Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan. Career Music In 1987, at age 13, Kusanagi auditioned to enter Joh ...

as Japanese teacher *

Kim Yoon-seok Kim Yoon-seok (born January 21, 1967) is a South Korean actor, film director and screenwriter. Kim began his career in theater and it subsequently led him to be cast in minor roles in films and television dramas. His breakout role came as the vi ...

as Dong-ku's father * Kim Kyeong-ik as Jin-chul * Oh Yoon-hong as Company president's wife *

Choi Jung-woo Choi Jung-woo (born February 17, 1957) is a South Korean actor. He began his acting career in theater, then became active as a supporting actor in film and television, notably in the sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or sit ...

as Company president * Kwak Min-seok as Priest * Kim Do-yeon as Large female employee * Kim Won-sik as Oh Dong-chul * Kwon Oh-jin as Worker * Jang Nam-yeol as Homeroom teacher * Lee Jae-gu as Employee at labor office * Kim Tae-joon as Choir member at concert hall * Kwon Jae-won as Lawyer

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Like A Virgin 2006 films 2000s sports comedy-drama films 2000s high school films 2006 LGBT-related films 2000s teen comedy films 2000s teen drama films Films directed by Lee Hae-young 2000s Korean-language films LGBT-related sports comedy-drama films South Korean high school films South Korean LGBT-related films South Korean sports comedy-drama films South Korean teen films Ssireum films Teen LGBT-related films Teen sports films Films about trans women 2006 directorial debut films 2006 comedy films 2006 drama films 2000s South Korean films