Sung-hyun (elder brother) was born with a hare-lip, a condition of incomplete development on the roof of the mouth. The father threw baby Sung-hyun away out of embarrassment but the mother recovered the baby back, determined to keep the child. Soon, the father died from illness and mother is pregnant again with Jong-hyun (younger brother). Single handedly, she raised the two children by herself with her debt collecting business.

For your information, the ending of the movie was used as a flashback to the beginning of the movie. The movie tells a tale of two very different brothers living with a loanshark mother. The whole sad story is narrated by Jong-hyun (younger brother).

The build up of the story is slow and steady. The mom seems to show more love and concern to her elder son. Throughout the movie, the director successfully made the audience think that the mom showed favoritism to the elder son because of his hare-lip condition and his good academic performance in school. However, the mom revealed in the ending of the movie that she treated Sung-hyun like her son and Jong-hyun like her 'husband'. No.. there is no incest in this movie. She feels Jong-hyun is very independent and strong-willed. Jong-hyun takes on the imagery of a father, engaging in fights when he feels its not right or quiting cram school to work for more cash to support the family.

A little bit of jealousy and rivalry was conjured by letting both brothers have the same crush on a girl (Mi-ryeong) in school but that is only a sub plot. Sung-hyun likes Mi-ryeong quietly from far but Jong-hyun is more outspoken and chased the girl. Jong-hyun stole Sung-hyun's poems to impress the girl. Jong-hyun felt guilty in the end and broke off with the girl. In the storyline of the movie, the girl went missing in action halfway in the movie. Even her family could not find her.

What I like about Korean movies is that they are merciless to kill off any actor/actress in the story. Even though the audience may have started to develop a liking to a person, he/she will still be killed in the script if there is a need to. Unlike Hollywood/Hong Kong movies, main heroes of the movie will never die. The worst is if they suffer insane amount of injuries, they will recover miraculously instead of dying like a real person. I am not criticizing that this is bad but lets be real. Seeing a Rambo running amok gunning down large armies is too much. Shouldn't he lose a limb or at least bleed more than that?

Sung-hyun was innocently killed in the end by a mentally unstable guy by repeated brick hits on the back of his head. The retarded guy wanted to kill Jong-hyun but killed Sung-hyun instead. Jong-hyun worked as a debt collector for a while to support the family during a cash crisis. The retarded guy wanted revenge because Jong-hyun hurt his mother and him during a debt collecting session. The saddest part is not Sung-hyun's death but the arrival of a bouquet of roses sent on the mom's birthday by Sung-hyun himself. Sung-hyun had made arrangements to send the flowers on his mom's birthday before his death. He left a note, telling mom to take care and show more concern to Jong-hyun. After Sung-hyun's death, Jong-hyun has turned over a new leaf and started being a photographer... like his late father used to be.

Mao points: 6/10

A tragic and surprisingly involving melodrama. It's overacted and lacks subtlety. Could have been done better. One of Won Bin's few movies so fans may want to see it for that reason.

i consider this a very good movie. the plot is simple, rather predictable yet it's believable and sufficiently strong. the acting is also good. u might find won bin's a bit exaggerated and annoying in the earlier part of the movie but it it's understandable if u put yourself in his position. his mom always treats him unfairly because she sees him as a husband figure, ends up making him grew as a frustrated and angry teenage. he actually loves his brother so much while at the same time envying him. sometimes u might find how Koreans react towards a particular situation a bit strange if you're not a Korean. but this movie can make u see like one.