My Sister Is a Hussy: Actually, She's a Tomboy

Han Hyeong-mo's hilariously named My Sister Is a Hussy is one of those strange films that can't decide whether it's for or against female empowerment. On the pro-woman side, you have two daughters raised by their judo instructor father to be masters of self-defense. And so we get to see martial arts battles that show these young ladies beat up a pair of self-styled studs cruising in the park, an abusive husband who wants a maid for a wife, a young man practicing at the dojo, a small gang of hoods seeking revenge, and a burglar with a gun and a thirst for new clothes. These scenes are unquestionably fun. But on the anti-woman side, we have to witness the more independent older daughter body-slammed into submission by her father, accidentally punched in the face by her husband, and roughed around by that aforementioned gang of hoodlums because she's worn down and devoid of self-worth.

Even the end of the movie feels unclear in its messaging for while the female protagonist (Moon Jeong-suk) is now dressed in traditional Korean garb and playing the submissive wife seeing her husband (Kim Jin-kyu) off to work, we're also aware that the night before when their house had an intruder that her husband would've died — and the criminal would've escaped — had not this fiery young wife awakened from a knock-out punch and jumped back into the brawl. In a way, My Sister Is a Hussy wants to have it both ways: It wants the "weaker sex" to act as such even if we all know that they're stronger, smarter, and sassier. It also thinks that there's nothing more appealing than a woman who knows how to fight back. is the idea to appeal to everyone?