The Match

Story: Cho Hoon-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) is an outstanding Go player who won every championship in the late 80s and singlehandedly brought Korea to the top of the world. He is the pride of the country and therefore does not want to teach the son of a rich industrialist for money. When one of his acquaintances invites him to a small town, he plays against the little boy Lee Chang-ho. Everyone thinks he's a child prodigy and Cho is also quite impressed by him. After the boy gets destroyed by Cho, he asks the master for another game. Cho presents him with a problem in Go and promises him another game if he solves it. Some time later, Cho receives a letter from the boy, who has actually found a way out of the predicament given to him. So, Cho takes Chang-ho under his wing. From then on, the boy lives with him and his wife in Seoul, and Cho teaches him everything about Go. However, it soon becomes clear that the master's aggressive playing style is not suitable for the boy. Chang-ho wants to go his own way, but the master insists that he at least masters the basics of the game. Now, Chang-ho (Yoo Ah-in) is an adult, but he still can't claim to have won against anyone. Just when he begins to doubt that he is in fact a prodigy of Go, he finds his own style and his triumphal march takes its course. Until he eventually even has to compete against his master ...

Review: Most of you will probably feel the same as I did and might find it hard to consider watching a movie about the more than 2000-year-old strategy game "Go". However, Lee Byung-hun in the lead is always a good reason to take a look, you could argue. In addition, the drama focuses on two real personalities and gives the typical sports drama an interesting twist, because this time, it's about the skill of the mind. In addition, there are other deviations from the standard repertoire of a sports film. After all, it's about a master who has to fear being surpassed by his student. Whether this will destroy the relationship between the two Go players and figuring out which of the lessons of the game of Go can also be transferred to life in general are topics that the director looks at with pleasant sensitivity. Furthermore, despite the game of Go being in the foreground, the drama is also able to build up suspense even for those who hardly understand anything about the game. In addition, you have to give the director credit for the fact that even though 115 minutes of runtime is obviously a rather long-winded undertaking for the audience, the movie is actually surprisingly entertaining and doesn't pay for it with a lack of depth.

The period in which the movie is set also seemed rather unappealing to me. The 80s and 90s are mainly backdrops for political events as was the case in "Hunt" or "The Attorney", but this movie undoubtedly proves that this period of time can be interesting enough for a story with a completely different topic. Director Kim Hyeong-joo (who already was assistant director for "Kundo: Age of the Rampant") captures the period wonderfully: the sets work, and the atmosphere, including smoke-filled rooms, also fits the time portrayed. Above all else, it is particularly praiseworthy that he always manages to capture the actors perfectly. Same goes for every Go match, as they are always quite captivating, and we are never forced to watch a round longer than necessary. In the end, the movie is primarily about the characters and how the relationship between master and student changes over time. Unlike most sports films, here the "underdog" is not actually the sympathetic figure you can't wait to see defeating the unbeatable champion. Instead, it is the other way around. Very early on, we realize that the student makes incredibly fast progress and makes his master sweat.

Cho is a very proud and also quite strict master. Lee Byung-hun ("Concrete Utopia") does a particularly good job portraying the complex feelings of a man who is proud of his student, but at the same time is plagued by feelings of inferiority because of him. His student, on the other hand, is so ingenious that he might actually be on the spectrum, although he essentially plays like an elderly gentleman, as people constantly joke. Chang-ho calculates all the probabilities for different outcomes in his head (which is also fittingly visualized by a few nice special effects) and plays it safe, which doesn't bring him much success at the beginning, but by refining this strategy he becomes more and more of an invincible opponent. Thanks to Cho's warm-hearted wife, Chang-ho also experiences care and love in the family he is taken into, but he actually only lives for Go. You hardly see him smile and so it is sometimes difficult to root for him. Every now and then, though, there are a few subtle moments that let you get a glimpse into his innermost feelings, which gives him a human touch again. It would have been nice to see more of that, but since the story depicts two real people here, and his real personality does not necessarily come across as charismatic either, that probably wasn't possible for the sake of authenticity.

The fact that Chang-ho's dry manner does not harm the movie is actually thanks to actor Yoo Ah-in, who confidently works his way through a complex, but at first glance boring character. However, Yoo is also responsible for the fact that "The Match" did not hit theaters in 2023, but had a delay of almost two years. His drug use was punished harshly in Korea and cost him a few roles. So, it's nice to see that "The Match" came out after all, without his role being recast and the whole thing reshot. After all, there is no way of knowing if the chemistry between the two protagonists would still have worked. Now, however, master and student can sit opposite each other after a game without saying a word, and there is still enough happening between the lines. Chang-ho also has to struggle with the question whether he should intentionally lose a game he could actually win in order not to offend his master, but this would do exactly that, as Lee has always taught him winning is the most important thing - no matter who the opponent is. But there are even more profound lessons that Chang-ho has to learn. With Go things are similar to martial arts or other sports: Only when you have mastered the basics can you find your own style. But in his head Chang-ho already skips a few steps ahead, which causes him problems.

Since the story is about a master and a student, the analogy to martial arts also works when we learn that, above all, Go is a fight against yourself. There are some nice moments around the subject of respect and a few pieces of wisdom that you might not necessarily expect. The game of Go itself is full of details that connoisseurs will probably appreciate, but for everyone else there are always short explanations - also through captions - so that you are never completely lost. And as already mentioned before, the various confrontations in front of the Go board are surprisingly exciting. At the same time, "The Match" is also characterized by a certain kind of tranquility, which was especially common in dramas of the 2000s, the heyday of Korean movies. You can't help but be overcome by a nice wave of peace at the end. Until the finale, however, there is still enough happening on a dramatic level that the movie manages to touch you, but without cheaply pulling at your heartstrings. "The Match" never loses sight of what is really important for the story, and so all that's left is to give the movie an appreciative recommendation here.

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