Director: Park Bum-soo
Starring: Lee Hye-ri, Park Se-wan, Lee Jung-ha, Jo Aram, Hyun Bong-sik
Country of Origin: South Korea
Running time: 1hr 59m
Cheerleading is a curiously American phenomenon.
From harsh try-outs, jealous competition, bitter in-fighting and comical tumbles the dancers with pom-poms have been depicted in limited stereotypes on the Hollywood big screen.
Cheerleading teams – and a select few female participants – enjoy a modicum of popularity in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) league, yet it’s still a relatively low-key endeavour.
While Victory is the first Korean film to feature a cheering squad in main roles, it dances to a different rhythm than its US counterparts.
Set in 1999 on the scenic island of Geoje – south of the country’s second largest city of Busan – high school friends Chu Pil-sun (Lee Hye-ri) and Jang Mi-na (Park Se-wan) want nothing more than a free space to practice their hip-hop moves.
It’s not enough to dazzle their classmates as they effortlessly claim the top score on the local arcade dance machine.
When transfer student and cheerleader Kim Se-hyeon (Jo Aram) arrives from Seoul the school’s strict teachers give them a room to work on their dance routines.
The only catch is that they must recruit six other members to form a full cheering squad to support the hopeless boy’s football (soccer) team.
Se-hyeon’s brother Kim Dong-hyun (Lee Chan-hyeong), a star striker with a big reputation, also joins the school with the aim of transforming their losing side.
The formidable duo of Pil-sun and Mi-na clash with experienced cheerleader Se-hyeon as differences arise about the direction of the cheering group. Beleaguered team goalkeeper Yoon Chi-hyung (Lee Jung-ha), who has a long-standing crush on Pil-sun, immediately resents Dong-Hyun as the goalscoring attacker emerges as a rival for the apple of his eye.
In the background, Pil-sun’s father Chu Woo-yong (Hyun Bong-sik), a manager at Sangwoo shipping, struggles to deal with protesting workers who campaign for better conditions.
Propelled by a stellar ensemble cast, everyone makes an uplifting contribution in what is an energizing tale of small-town teenage transition.
The hysterical highlight comes as the judgemental trio of Pil-sun, Mi-na and Se-hyeon hold an audition to complete the cheering squad for the ‘Millennium Girls.’
An eclectic number of student hopefuls strut their stuff in a hilarious casting call which features a dodgy magician, hanbok wearing traditionalist, body popper in sunglasses and an X-rated dance which forces the judges to cover their eyes.
Only bitter cynics would be unmoved by the ebullience and camaraderie of the group led by mouthy protagonists Pil-sun and Mi-na.
Director Park Bum-soo spreads the best lines throughout the entire nine strong team, although Lee Hye-ri in the lead role frequently delivers the most damning put downs alongside her fearsome hip-hop partner Park Se-wan (who coins a profane motivational chant for the cheerleaders).
As a former member of K-Pop group Girl’s Day, the veteran drama actor Hye-ri is perfectly placed as an aspiring dancer with big ambitions in a sparse community with few opportunities.
None of the actors are of school age – Hye-ri is actually 30 and Se-wan 29 – but it barely shows. A big win for Korean genetics and rigorous skin care regimes.
Another ex-girl group (Gugudan) member Jo Aram does not take a step out of place as the cheerleader from the big city.
Park shines the spotlight on everyone as he strikes the janggu to an upbeat tempo.
Choi Ji-su is excellent as the cheer trainer who bleakly forecasts the end of the world is nigh as the year 2000 approaches. The high kicking Yeom Ji-young hits the mark as a protective Tae kwon-do expert, while Lee Han-joo adds a touch of Korean culture as the seamstress in a hanbok.
For sheer spectacle body popper Park Hyo-eun is coolness personified and Kwon Yoo-na takes inspiration from Beyonce along with her adorable puppy. Top of the class Baek Ha-i plays an introvert with organizational expertise to round out the group.
It is also worth hanging around as the final credits roll for a cameo from a very well-known current K-Pop star (if that is not too much of a spoiler).
As the tension between the girls, and the besotted goalie and leading striker rise and subside there is the genuine issue of a shipping company battling to survive after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
In a time of outdoor phone booths, pagers, and Tamagotchi’s (all well placed period details), there is a subplot about the daily grind of holding down a job in a volatile economy.
The unlikely and understated star of the entire film is a dad that acts as a cheerleader for his moody daughter.
Even feeding the temperamental Pil-sun evokes humour as the marvellous Hyun Bong-sik excels as an exhausted father with problems at home and in a demanding role as a manager at the shipping company. The background players also make their minutes count from the substitute’s bench.
Joo Jin-mo is brilliant as the football obsessed school principal who wears boots inside his office. Lee Si-hoon has a minor but memorable part as the worn out school football coach that repeats a mantra that it’s ok to lose.
Although the football scenes are unrealistic and heavily stylised it’s the action on the sidelines that’s more important.
Surprisingly based on a real story, yet set in a completely different time, the action in Victory plays mostly for laughs.
Playfully funny and full of irrepressible zest, it’s a boisterous tale about togetherness which happens to revolve around the odd and jovial world of cheerleading.
Stephen Kasiewicz 