Take Off

Kim Yong-hwa's 2009 South Korean film covers the formation of the country's first national ski jumping team. The team is assembled hastily to support Korea's Olympic bid; the members are inexperienced, the equipment inadequate and the federation's interest entirely political. Heon-tae, a Korean adopted in America, returns to the country to look for his mother and joins the team. That search is the film's emotional axis, with the sports story running around it. The jumping sequences were technically ambitious for Korean cinema at the time and contributed to the film's box office success. The narrative follows the known template of sports films: a mocked team, preparation, competition. Against that, the outcome does not fit the mould exactly and the film promises no victory. Who it's for: those who like mainstream Korean cinema and sports drama. Who it's not for: viewers who dislike emotional manipulation; the film uses it heavily in the final section.