It
is one of the few government programs that worked as intended. The game of
Jokgu was devised by the ROK military to promote physical fitness. Korean
enlisted men immediately took to the soccer-volleyball hybrid and it also
caught on with civilians. However, the snobbish remain disdainful of its
roughneck roots. At least, that seems to be the case on the college campus
where the recently discharged Hong Man-seob has re-enrolled. However, the older
underclassmen is not about to give up on the game he was born to play in Woo
Moon-gi’s King of Jokgu (trailer here), which screens
this coming Tuesday as part of the free Korean Movie Night series at New York’s
Asia Society.
Sergeant
Hong was the best Jokgu player on his base, by a country mile. He is actually
sort of sorry to leave the Jokgu court that was like a second home to him. However,
he is eager to return to the School of Food and Nutrition, in the hope that he
will meet his future wife there. He sure thinks he has found her when he lays
eyes on An-na. She often has that effect on guys, but Hong has more stick-to-itiveness
than most. Inconveniently, An-na is still hung up on Kang Min, a former member
of the national soccer team, but when an injury ended his playing career, he
basically gave up on himself.
Initially,
An-na starts seeing Hong to spur some jealousy in Kang Min, but she has to
admit the big lug is a heck of a nice guy. She even starts to enjoy hanging
with his oddball friends. Together, they join Hong’s campaign to rebuild the
campus Jokgu court. However, An-na will have to decide who she will root for
when Hong’s team faces Kang Min’s squad in the university’s re-established Jokgu
tournament.
Yes,
King is desperately trying to be a
crowd pleasing romantic comedy, but it succeeds. It is endearingly bittersweet
and surprisingly restrained when it comes to the slapsticky shtick. It starts
with Hong Man-seob, who is not merely another stereotypical gentle giant. The
man has integrity and he will even stand-up to An-na from time to time. Ahn
Jae-hong plays him just right: slightly goofy, but wearing his heart on his
sleeve. He shares some delicately ambiguous chemistry with Hwang Seung-eon’s An-na,
who also pleasantly exceeds and subverts our expectations.
Okay,
maybe Kang Bong-seong and Hwang Mi-yeong can be a little embarrassing as Hong’s
goony teammates, but the film is bolstered by several strong yet subtle key
supporting turns. Lee Se-rang gives the film real heft as Hong’s off campus
steakhouse employer and Park Ho-san nicely portrays the evolution of Hong’s
initially judgmental roommate Hyeong-gook.
