Ballerina (2023)

Ballerina
DirectorLee Chung-hyun

Plot

Jang Ok-ju, a former bodyguard for VIP clients, discovers that her best friend Choi Min-hee has committed suicide and her last wish to Ok-ju is to get revenge on sex trafficker Choi Pro, who victimized Min-hee by filming her and extorting money and sex from her. Ok-ju searches for Choi through his internet profile and finds his address. She watches Choi from afar, seeing him sell some sort of drug to various customers. When he finishes and heads home, Ok-ju follows. The following morning Ok-ju breaks into Choi's home and plants listening devices. Ok-ju also discovers a drawer full of USB drives, each labeled with nicknames or descriptions. Ok-ju finds Choi Min-hee's USB drive labeled "ballerina" and sees a video of Choi assaulting an unconscious Min-hee. Ok-ju is devastated. A few days later, Ok-ju learns that Choi will be at a nightclub named Heaven and goes there to meet him. Choi approaches her with a pick-up line and Ok-ju buys him a drink. They eventually leave the nightclub and Choi takes her to the hotel where Min-hee was filmed.

Choi attempts to drug Ok-ju and Ok-ju pretends to ingest the drug. However, when Choi begins filming Ok-ju and starts his assault on her, she tries to stab him. The two fight and eventually Ok-ju gets the upper hand but, before she can kill him, she is attacked by hotel staff. Ok-ju is helped by a high school student who was kept at the hotel as a sex slave, and the two escape in Choi's Lamborghini.

The leader of Choi's gang expresses disappointment in Choi, stating that the gang trafficked in drugs and prostitutes, but that he had never given Choi permission to drug women and make "weird" pornographic movies. The leader orders Choi to bring Ok-ju to him within three days. Choi visits the pharmacist who makes the drug he uses to render his victims unconscious. He tells the pharmacist that the two of them will track Ok-ju down; when the pharmacist expresses hesitation due to not being a hitman, Choi promises to pay him one-hundred million won.

The following day, Ok-ju reaches out to an old friend to procure some weapons. Meanwhile, Choi and the pharmacist track down the stolen Lamborghini through a corrupt police contact. In the evening Ok-ju goes out to a convenience store. Upon returning to her apartment, she discovers the high school student is gone, and Choi and the pharmacist attack her. Ok-ju flees through the window.

Choi lies to the leader of his gang, saying that he has killed Ok-ju and buried her body in the mountains. The gang leader orders Choi to kill the high school student as Choi has stated she saw him kill Ok-ju; instead, Choi and the pharmacist torture the student to learn Ok-ju's whereabouts. In an attempt to find the student, Ok-ju visits the hotel and learns the location of the base of operations of Choi's gang. There she ends up killing all its members when no one will tell her where Choi is. As Ok-ju is leaving, she comes across the pharmacist driving a golf cart with the student's body in the back. As Ok-ju is about to shoot the pharmacist, she herself is shot by Choi. The pharmacist then states that he will kill Ok-ju for the 100,000,000 won, but Choi shoots him in the back of the head. However, before Choi can kill Ok-ju, the high school student awakens and fires several shots at Choi. None of the shots hit, but Choi is distracted long enough for Ok-ju to shoot him several times. Ok-ju and the high school student take Choi to the beach and burn him to death. Ok-ju then goes to Choi's house and removes the USB drives containing the videos of his victims; she also discovers a notebook showing the names of Choi's customers. She takes the notebook and drives off into the sunset.

Cast

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