A Love on AllMovie

A man with a good heart but a criminal streak is put into a dangerous position by the love of his life in this drama from South Korean auteur Gwak Gyeong-taek. Chae In-ho (Ju Jin-mo) is a teenager with deadly talent in the martial arts and a willingness to take on people who have done wrong to others. When Chae In-ho fights campus bully Sang-woo (Im Seong-gyu) to a draw, the two walk away with a grudging respect for one another, and they become friends. Sang-woo has a troubled home life, and when an altercation between him and his mother (Lee Hwi-hyang) leaves them both dead, Chae In-ho promises to look after Sang-woo's sister Mi-ju (Park Shi-yeon), who he's loved from afar since childhood. In-ho's talent for fighting makes him a welcome addition to the crime family of powerful gangster Yu (Ju Hyeon), and In-ho and his buddy Nol-bu (Im Hyeon-seong) soon rise through the ranks of Yu's underground empire. In-ho eventually becomes Yu's most trusted bodyguard, but his love for Mi-ju forces him to re-evaluate his loyalties and puts them both in grave danger. Sarang (aka A Love) marked a return to the crime drama genre for Gwak Gyeong-taek after a handful of glossy big-budget productions, and was a major box-office draw in his homeland.