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| Baseball film? Think again. |
Kim Sang-jin is one of the biggest names of modern Korean
cinema. He got his start with
early films such as Money in the Account
(1995), Gangster Lessons (1996), and Two Cops 3 (1998) but always as a
contracted director behind a big producer like Kang Woo-suk. It wasn’t until 1999 that he got his
real start with the anarchic hit Attack
the Gas Station, which was stamped with Kim’s signature style that has
since led to hit after hit. He’s
not the first name that comes to mind when considering the box office clout of
Korean directors, but you would be hard pressed to name a director who has been a
more consistent and impressive force on the Korean box office charts. Attack
the Gas Station became the second highest grossing Korean film of 1999,
subsequently: 2001’s Kick the Moon came in at no. 3; Jail Breakers wound up at no. 4 in 2002;
2004’s Ghost House also had a no. 4
finish; and Kidnapping Granny K
landed just outside the top 10 in 2007.
The interesting thing about all of these hits is that though
they are all quite similar in tone and structure, they were all written by
different people. Kim has actually
never written any of the films he’s directed, which is a testament to the force
of his directing style and how recognizable it is on its own. Kim’s best and most enduring works have
been deranged blends of gang and youth violence (Attack the Gas Station, Kick
the Moon), prison and romance (Jailbreakers),
or horror and melodrama (Ghost House). The common denominators between his
films have been warring factions, anarchy, comedy, and immense climaxes between
multiple large groups, a funny thing to be known for perhaps but very effective and
memorable nonetheless.
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| Do-hun (Kim Joo-hyeok) caught in the act |
In 2010, Kim made a follow-up to his original smash
hit Attack the Gas Station. The sequel had little of the impact of its
predecessor and 11 years later it was no longer relevant to audiences, failing to leave an
impression on the box office. Late
last year a new Kim film found its way into theaters with little to no fanfare. I first heard about Fighting Spirit the week before it opened but I
wasn’t aware of who made it at first.
Had I not known that it was a Kim Sang-jin film as I sat down to watch it, I
probably never would have guessed it.
Do-hun (Kim Joo-hyeok) is the star pitcher for the Lotte
Giants, he is nearing the end of a brilliant career but he’s become arrogant
and complacent in the wake of his success. He’s been kicked out of his house after cheating on his wife
(Kim Seon-ah) and is soon demoted to the minors. He must now prove his worth to his teammates and to his
estranged wife and children. This
brief synopsis seems to indicate a typical up-down-up sports trajectory of a
fallen hero who will rise again but actually that isn’t really the case. It’s nearly incidental that he’s a
baseball player as the sporting angle is a front for what the film really is, a
family melodrama. Do-hoon’s wife
Yoo-ran develops terminal cancer and this is the real crux of the film. In fact,
Fighting Spirit is essentially a cross between
GLove and
The Last Blossom,
two mediocre 2011 films that appeared earlier in the year.
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| Park Cheol-min in a rare moment of calm |
Kim Joo-hyeok is an actor I quite like who impressed me with his effortless performance in
The Servant (2010) and has been doing
steady work for years but audiences so far have not responded to his being
recast as a leading man as both of his 2011 starring roles, the other being
In Love and the War, have been major
flops. It’s hard to blame him
since the scripts were so lacking but I wonder if he shouldn’t be more
discerning with the projects he chooses to take on. Kim Seon-ah (
She's on Duty, 2005; S
-Diary, 2004), as Do-hun’s long-suffering wife, is a little
cold in her role, thereby nudging the audience to side with the boyish and
charming Do-hun, despite his infidelities. The representation of her character is proof that as gifted
as Kim Sang-jin is, he’s never been particularly adept at handling female
characters, they always lack depth in his films. Park Cheol-min, who plays the Lotte Giants minor team coach,
is one of those working actors who appears again and again in Korean
cinema. Last year alone he had
eight roles, including
Clash of the Families,
Sector 7,
Spellbound, and
Suicide Forecast, which would seem to indicate that he’s well
liked. He’s a very over-the-top
performer who tends to grin a lot and gesticulate with mock bravado. His style never really changes: it’s more a case of putting him in the
right situations. For instance his
performance works in
Clash of the Families while it is miserably out of place in
Sector 7, thankfully he just about fits into this film.
I understand why
Fighting
Spirit didn’t make any money:
it doesn’t really know what it wants to be and it is very lacking in
passion. It’s by the numbers in
its characterizations, plot elements, and resolutions but irregular in its tone
and narrative. What this amounts
to in the end is a great director who, like Do-hun, was at the top of his game
but seems to have lost his way.
Kim Sang-jin needs to get back on the saddle before he becomes a
footnote in Korean cinema.
★★☆☆☆
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| Do-hun's estranged family |
Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema. For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update, Korean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).
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