Miracle on 1st Street (2007)

A corporate thug charged with the task of convincing impoverished Seoul fringe dwellers to sell their property to wealthy real-estate developers experiences a curious change of heart in this dark, Capra-influenced comedy drama from Sex is Zero writer/director Yun Je-gyun. First Street is the Korean equivalent of America's Skid Row - a place where the hopeless and homeless go when all other options are lost. On this street, there is no electricity, and the community restroom is a shared hole in the ground. To outsiders, the folks who live on this rugged little patch of land would likely have little to fight for, but to them, community is all that matters. When corporate real estate representative Pil-je (Im Chang-jeong) arrives on a mission to persuade the First Street locals to relinquish their shoddily constructed homes in the name of progress, he is met with unanimous resistance. The person most fiercely opposed to Pil-je's proposal is tough-but-lovely Myung-ran (Ha Ji-won), a pretty pugilist who longs to become a champion just like her brain-damaged father - a former boxer who has since fallen on hard times. Convinced that he is in for an extended battle, Pil-je arranges for electricity and internet access to be brought into the neighborhood for his own convenience. As a result, the man who was supposed to frighten the citizens away suddenly becomes a hero of the community. The attention heaped upon him makes Pil-je feel refreshingly good, and he soon begins teaching the local kids how to fight back against bullies in addition to showing a young television fanatic how to fly like Ultraman. Later, when his corporate handlers decide that Pil-je has had plenty enough time to accomplish his mission, the situation takes an unexpectedly grim turn of events. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi