Kick the Moon

Introduction

Third Window Films' June slate is already upon us, and they continue to bring the quirky and unexpected from the Far East. This month they are concentrating solely on Korean cinema. There is the intriguingly titled Dasepo Naughty Girls, and this, Kick The Moon, from director Kim Sang-Jin, who previously directed Attack The Gas Station.

Back in high school in the eighties, Choi Ki-Woong ruled the roost. He was the toughest kid in school, effortlessly cool, and respected by his peers. Park Young-Jun on the other hand was the class swot, derided by the others, and regularly sidelined and ignored. During a class trip to Gyeong-ju City, a rival school decided to pick a fight, and Choi led the whole school in a knock down, drag out rumble that would become legendary in the area. Only Park was left at the sidelines once more…


Two decades on, and Choi is now a schoolteacher himself, passing on his hard earned wisdom at a school in Gyeong-ju. Park on the other hand has moved up in the world, he's a high-ranking mafia member, and it's his talents that have led to his organisation becoming one of the biggest in the land. All that's left is to take over Gyeong-ju, and when he counsels restraint, his boss thanks him by sending him personally to complete the job. It's an awkward enough reunion when the two meet, but things get more troublesome when the teacher and the gangster meet a beautiful restaurant owner named Min Ju-Ran, and both fall for her. Meanwhile, Choi has his hands full beating some education into Ju-Ran's kid brother, while Park has the local gangsters to try and deal with.

The Disc

A 2.35:1 anamorphic picture that is quite pleasant, given that it is an NTSC-PAL standards conversion, there is a hint of softness at times, some moiré and some minor print damage.

You just get the DD 2.0 Korean track here, with annoying burnt in subtitles. The dialogue is clear, and there is a rampant burst of eighties music at the start of the film, otherwise it's a fairly Spartan soundtrack.

The extras on the disc amount to 12 trailers for other Third Window Product, the Theatrical Trailer for Kick The Moon, and an 12-minute Making Of featurette, which just amounts to b-roll footage without voiceover, or context.

Conclusion

Kick The Moon was a delight, a quirky comedy that was wholly unexpected, and surprisingly charming. In this case, it's all down to the characters, brilliantly realised with some strong performances, and perfectly cast. I've long had this whimsical thought, wondering what the characters of Ferris Bueller's Day Off would be like 20 years down the line. Kick The Moon offers something approaching an answer, especially with Choi, the leather clad rebel and most popular guy in school, winding up becoming part of the establishment as a teacher, dealing with the next generation just as his old teachers dealt with him. On the other hand, the class wimp, the swot, the guy who always got picked on in school, winds up as a mafia hotshot, able to send chills down the spines of his rivals with just a look. The charming thing is, that when they do run into each other, they initially slip into their original dynamic, the teacher still swaggering, and the gangster a little introverted.


Choi is now a teacher in Gyeong-ju, the town where he had that legendary rumble, while Park is there to expand his organisation's influence. Park's immediate problem is with the local gangsters, who his group will be supplanting, while Choi has issues with a gang of school kids, who he tries repeatedly to keep in line, but who continue to go off the rails. The two friends encounter one another in a hotel, where Park is meeting the local boss, and where the students are working illegally as waiters, hoping to work their ways into organised crime themselves. These threads continue through the film, but it's when both Choi and Park meet Ju-Ran that the threads intertwine. They wind up competing for her affections, with Choi recalling his bad boy swagger, while Park isn't beyond using a little mafia muscle. At the same time, Ju-Ran's little brother is one of the students who Choi regularly terrorises, and who's trying to get in good with Park's organisation.


The back and forth continues through the film, as they both try and impress Ju-Ran, while trying to keep each other down, and the pace and the energy keeps building, while the comedy gets more and more absurd. If there is a nit to pick, it's that Kick The Moon is a little slow off the marks. It's just 6 minutes shy of a full two hours, and the first half lacks pace. It takes a little too long in building up the characters and getting to the central focus of the story, but I wound up appreciating that rambling build up in the second half, where it all came together to produce a rousing climax, full of pace, vigour and humour.


Kick The Moon is a breath of fresh air, an unexpected comedy with plenty of laugh out loud moments. It's absurd, it's bizarre and ridiculous, but it's also populated with such well observed characters that it comes off as refreshingly heartfelt. If you want more from your film comedy than the usual Hollywood routine, then Kick The Moon should be on your shopping list.