[HanCinema's Film Review] "Count"

Last year, "Count" passed by without making much of an impact at the South Korean box office- only 398,642 admissions. This is quite a shame, in my opinion. Having recently seen the similarly themed inspirational sports movies "Dream - 2020" and "Victory" it's quite clear to me that "Count" is by far the superior title to these successors. It's a fictionalized version of the real life boxer Park Si-heon (played by Jin Sun-kyu) who lived in infamy having earned a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics he obviously didn't deserve.

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To be a little more specific, "Count" details the time of his life when Park Si-heon got back into boxing as a high school coach, having spent over a decade retired from the sports and working as a regular teacher. The Si-heon of the film is a surprisingly human figure- he resents what happened at the Olympics, and struggles to avoid wallowing in self-pity. It's the high school roughneck Hwan-joo (played by Jang Dong-joo) who breaks Si-heon out of this funk, demanding that his teacher either teach him how to box or expel him.

The mostly unpleasant Si-heon is amenable to the idea in part because he witnessed the talented teen boxer Yoon-woo (played by Sung Yoo-bin) obviously throw a fight for petty political reasons. Si-heon is inspired to do better for Yoon-woo because he resents that noone ever tried to do better for him. A surprisingly cogent theme of "Count" is that unearned victories damage the winner as much as the loser, because they can never live down the idea that they're a cheater even if what happened wasn't their fault.

One character did try to do better for Si-heon though- his wife Il-seon (played by Oh Na-ra), with whom he has remarkable forty-something marital chemistry. Their flirting is hard to distinguish from their arguing, and she's always supportive. Boxing, in terms of a philosophy as espoused in this film, is a form of discipline and self-improvement. Si-heon enjoys training because it's a constructive use of his time, and he's a genuinely good coach.

The boxing scenes, notably, do not center entirely around Yoon-woo despite his being the obvious ace of the team. Other boys also get their moments whether they're learning to accept being hit or to avoid being provoked. Director Kwon Hyeok-jae has an excellent eye for boxing strategy. There's more to the sport, after all, then just hitting hard and avoiding being hit in turn.

A consummate professional, this is, indeed, the whole reason why Si-heon has trouble letting go of how unfair his gold medal was. But he's able to prevent that from defining him, and starts to really appreciate the people in his life. It's a well-worn narrative, without too many real flourishes aside from the specific sport under discussion and the late nineties aesthetic. Nevertheless, that story is quite well done, and never feels overlong even when discussing its more extraneous plot points or gags.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Count" is directed by Kwon Hyeok-jae, and features Jin Sun-kyu, Sung Yoo-bin, Ko Chang-seok, Oh Na-ra, Jang Dong-joo, Ko Kyu-pil. Release date in Korea: 2023/02/22.

Available on DVD from YESASIA

DVD (English Subtitled)