Swing Kids

Well Go USA Entertainment | Release Date: December 21, 2018

8.6	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 5 Ratings

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setheelenAug 14, 2019

Based on the Korean musical Roh Gi-soo, Swing Kids is a war drama filled with lots of tap dancing directed by Kang Hyeong-Cheol. It's the 1950's, the Korean War is raging on and we take a look inside the Geoje prison camp in South Korea,Based on the Korean musical Roh Gi-soo, Swing Kids is a war drama filled with lots of tap dancing directed by Kang Hyeong-Cheol. It's the 1950's, the Korean War is raging on and we take a look inside the Geoje prison camp in South Korea, under command of the American army. The African-American Sergeant Jackson (Jared Grimes) gets constantly discriminated by caucasian soldier and feels less and less that he belongs here. What many also don't know is that he's a talented tap dancer who used to "Happy Feet" his way around Broadway. He's also of perfect use to the general, who wants him to create a dance group out of prisoners to show the public nothing is as bad as it seems.

Auditions start not soon after, and although Jackson isn't that confident he will succeed in finding a group of talented individuals. The successful applicants are more or less discovered when he least expects is. The few individuals he brings together, consist of Yang Pan-rae (Park Hye-soo) who's been helping Jackson translating, Kang Byung-sam (Oh Jung-Se), a man who accidentally got imprisoned when looking for his wife, Chinese soldier Xiao Fang (Kim Min-Ho) surprises with his moves but has acute angina which makes him not as strong as he could've been. The other main character, who later also joins our group of dancers, is Roh Gi-soo (Do Kyung-soo), a man so loyal he never knows what to do to make his country and family proud, but loves to dance. Swing Kids shifts genres multiple times and succeeds. It's very different from Western cinema, where genres tend to stick to one thing and don't divert. Having recently watched Parasite (who might just end up being the best film I've seen in 2019), I think genre bending can be done if done in the right way with a proper vision and script. The film is heavily influenced by music, a high dose of tap dancing and often funny too. The dancing is impressive and I found myself tapping my feet multiple times throughout the film - it is that infectious. Kyung-soo and Grimes coming from a professional dance background, are perfectly cast in their roles. On the other hand, the story does go very dark - especially in the second half - when Korean prisoners fight back in order for freedom.

The film gets a bit messier in the more action-filled scenes which are related to the raging war. I knew nothing about the film and I think that's for the better. It surprised me on multiple occasions, which is why I do recommend watching it, even just for the many talent you see on screen. Swing Kids taps its way into your heart.

Review by Seth Eelen:
Screened at KOFFIA (Korean Film Festival in Australia)… Expand

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