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The Appropriate Tune: 'Walk of Life' by Dire Straits
I might have commented on this before, but it really seems like Korea and its culture has really been making inroads in the U.S. for the past couple of years. Korean films are being lauded as some of the best in the medium, Korean food is appearing more and more in restaurants and grocery stores, and Kpop groups have formed fanbases more powerful and obsessive than some religions. Even manga, the most successful of Japanese exports, has seen its dominance challenged by Korean manhwa. Even on this year’s Marathon, a Korean film is going to place higher than films from Japan, Sweden and Spain, which would be the greatest honor if the placement meant anything on this list. And to think, it’s all thanks to Gangnam Style.
Released in 2013, Mr. Go was written and directed by Kim Yong-hwa and produced by Yoo Jin-woo through Dexter Films, based on ‘The 7th Team’ by Huh Young-man. Xu Jiao stars as Zhao Wei Wei, a fifteen year old girl and head of the Ronghua Circus who is forced to take on the gambling debt of her grandfather after he dies in an earthquake. The only thing of value she could sell is their star attraction Ling Ling, a lowland gorilla who has been trained to play baseball, and Wei Wei’s not interested in that. She might not have to sell at all however, when the Ronghua Circus is visited by Seong Chung-su (Sung Dong-il), an agent for the Korean Baseball Organization. Yes, Seong wants Ling Ling to play baseball in Korea, and the big fat contract he’s offering would be enough to pay off Wei Wei’s debts and get a new circus off the ground. Sounds too good to be true, but of course the life of a professional athlete isn’t all fun and games, especially when you’re a member of the great ape family. Will Wei Wei and Ling Ling be able to make it big in Korea and save the circus? Grab your banana and find out.
So yeah, this is basically a Korean version of Air Bud, complete with a ‘there’s nothing in the rule book that says an X can’t play X’ scene. Fair play to Yong-hwa though, as this film is far more ambitious than Air Bud ever was. The cinematography is excellent, the CG for Ling Ling looks surprisingly good for 2013, and the film actually tries to tell a story about found family and how we treat animals. This is an actual, proper movie, rather than something you’d put on so the kids shut up for a while, which just goes to show you the power of Korean cinema.
That being said, did this really need to be over 2 hours long? The first 50 minutes is like a film unto itself; We get the introduction, Ling Ling enters the game, gets super popular, big climactic moment where it turns out a gorilla probably shouldn’t be on a baseball field, that’s really all you need, but it just keeps going on and on. The film uses that time, sure, but given that we only really focus on the two main characters and a gorilla for 85 percent it gets a bit tiresome waiting around for their arc to kick in. King Kong was able to tell its story in less than two hours, I’m not sure why Mr. Go can't get the job done.
Mr. Go gets a mild recommendation. It’s a slightly silly, largely wholesome film that you can watch with the kids and maybe tear up a bit, which isn’t something I can say about any other Korean movie I’ve covered on this blog. I wouldn’t call it a must-see example of cinema though, so if you’re not up for watching a gorilla play baseball at the moment then you’ll be fine leaving it on the queue for a while. Why you wouldn’t want to see that I have no idea.
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