One Win
       
                     
Director: Shin Yeon-shick
Year: 2023
Rating: 7.0
Country: Korea
Who are we? Pink Storm! Who are we? Pink Storm! Who are we? Pink Storm!

Sports movies are for suckers. More than romances or melodramas. They are like radio-controlled drones headed for the soft spot in your brain. Or that lump in your heart. They nearly all play out the same way whether it is the Bad News Bears or the Natural. Underdogs overcoming adversity to win, to show grit and determination. To show what you are made of. And they are a proven commodity. It has to be a pretty bad one not to get the audience cheering for the protagonists. None come to mind. Doesn't matter what the sport is, a good filmmaker will make you care about a sport that you would normally care less about. Roller Derby in Kansas City Bomber or cricket in Lagaan. This one has to do with woman's volleyball in South Korea. Not high on my list of sports that I follow. But it doesn't matter. Who are we? Pink Storm! By the end of this film, you will be rooting for this down and out team to win. One game.



That is the off-beat premise of the film. Pink Storm has hit bottom and the new whiz kid owner puts together a publicity campaign about how bad the team is and they will be lucky to win one game. He hires a coach who was teaching volleyball to five-year old's. Kim Woo-jin played by the common man working man touch of Song Kang-ho. He has never won anything and that is why the owner (Park Jeong-min) hires him - for his story of rising from the ashes. They only need to win one game. In a 30-game season. Like most sports films, the team is filled with misfits, troublemakers, over the hill players, inexperienced newcomers and a few gems to be discovered along the way. And the coach is just doing it so that he can have on his resume that he taught a team in the pros and then get a job for a major university. Clearly, this team has no chance.



And in a twist, they don't. But they slowly get better, he gets to understand each player's strengths and weaknesses and begins to mold the team into something competitive. The film spends very little time on the lives of the players, so you never really never get to know them. It is the team that matters. I understand that mixed in with the actors are some professional volleyball players. but through the magic of editing and some intensive training, they all look great to me. If you can make anyone look like a martial artist these days, why not a volleyball player. The footage of the games is great - spike after spike - the set up, the fakes, the wicked slicing serves. What was interesting is how analytical the game is. This is happening in all sports. With computers and video, you can break everything down. In baseball, they know that a hitter with two strikes will likely hit it to the left or a pitcher will use his curve in certain situations. The stats, man. Same in volleyball. Blocking the spikes is key and there is an art to it, enabled by stats. Good easy to watch film and it hits what it aims for.

From Google:

" South Korean female professional volleyball is a well-established and competitive field, with a professional league, a national team, and numerous talented players. The V-League is the top professional volleyball league in South Korea, featuring several teams. The South Korean women's national team is a long-standing force in international competitions."