Victory

Park Beom-su's 2024 Korean film is set on Geoje island in 1999. Two high school students who love to dance decide to start a cheerleading club and begin supporting the school's football team, which loses every match. The island's shipyard economy is the film's ground. Most of the students' parents work in the same place and layoffs continue in the background; that sits underneath the cheer sequences. The narrative does not stress it but does not erase it either. Korean pop music of the period is the backbone; the songs carry both the choreography and the nostalgia. Lee Hye-ri leads. The narrative follows the template and the outcome is predictable from the start. Who it's for: those who like Korean youth comedy and nineties nostalgia. Who it's not for: viewers looking for an unpredictable story; the film stays inside the template.