“The Match” Theatrical Poster
Director: Kim Hyung-Joo
Cast: Lee Byung-Hun, Yoo Ah-In, Ko Chang-Seok, Hyun Bong-Sik, Moon Jeong-Hee, Jo Woo-Jin, Kim Kang-Hoon
Running Time: 115 min.
By Paul Bramhall
More than 10 years ago I reviewed a Korean movie called The Divine Move, which at one point I described as consisting of “an abundance of scenes with characters playing Go, and then beating the living daylights out of each other”, the implication being that the latter made the former scenes more palatable. While I’m now slightly older, it’s debatable if I’m any wiser, so when I heard there was going to be a movie about 2 of Koreas most famous Go players – Cho Hun-hyun, and his student turned rival Lee Chang-ho – it didn’t necessarily spark that much interest.
The movie in question was The Match, and my lack of interest quickly changed when it was revealed that Lee Byung-hun (The Man Standing Next, Ashfall) had been cast as Hun-hyun, an actor who’s remained someone I’ve religiously watched anything they appear in since the early 2000’s. The casting announcement was followed by Yoo Ah-in (Burning, Veteran) being attached to play Chang-ho, and suddenly my curiosity was piqued. As it was, it would stay piqued for a while, since its original release date of 2023 was ultimately pushed out to 2025, the result of Ah-in being charged with illegal drug usage in October 2023.
While similar activity in Hollywood would be frowned upon, in Korea it’s a whole other level, with such offences usually resulting in permanent banishment from the entertainment industry. Ah-in was recast for the 2nd season of Hellbound, his scenes in the drama Goodbye Earth were practically all removed, and both of the completed movies he starred in – Hi.5 and The Match – were placed indefinitely on the shelf. Thankfully, after being released from prison following completion of a five month sentence in February 2025, it seems like the studios are feeling a little more at ease to put the movies out there that have Ah-in’s name attached to them, with both Hi.5 and The Match finally given a release in May (albeit with a noticeable lack of any publicity). Of course if you’re reading this in 2035 rather than 2025 all of this will be completely superfluous, but reviews aren’t anything if not products of the time they’re written.
Indeed there’s a certain feeling of being displaced in time watching Ah-in on the screen in 2025. His last role was in 2022’s Seoul Vibe, one of the worst Korean movies of the 21st century, so to go back to a role that really left an impression you have to look to 2020’s Voice of Silence, a whole 5 years ago. Thankfully The Match is a production that knows how to utilize his talents, and if it does turn out to be his last role, it’s at least a worthy one. The plot is, by its nature, more compelling due to the fact it’s based on a true story. Cho Hun-hyun spent the 1970’s dominating the sport of Go, and in 1984 he took the 9-year-old Lee Chang-ho under his wing as a live-in student. The opportunity to learn from the best saw him become professional only a couple of years later, and in 1989 the then 14-year-old Chang-ho met his teacher in the final of the 29th Chaegowi, coming out the victor and launching a year’s long teacher-student rivalry.
The plot focuses on Byung-hun’s meeting with his to-be student when he’s still a boisterous and boastful kid growing up in Jeonju, played by Kim Kang-hoon (Metamorphosis, Exit), who the locals believe to be a Go prodigy. When Byun-hun sits down with Kang-hoon for a game he ultimately walks away unimpressed, but when the latter solves a question Byung-hun had posed before leaving, it leads him to rethink his decision. It’s a nuance in the world of Go that would be lost on those unfamiliar with the culture surrounding the game, but what made the decision for Hun-hyun to start teaching Chang-ho such an unusual one was that Hun-hyun was still at the top of his game, whereas normally a teacher would take on a student when they’ve already retired. Of course it’s also that same decision that led to one of the most unique rivalries in any sport, with teacher and student going head-to-head for close to 15 years.
The Match is the sophomore directorial feature of Kim Hyeong-joo, who debuted as a director with 2017’s The Sherrif in Town, and he already shows an assured hand through his ability to make the games of Go (and there’s a lot of them!) compelling enough for audiences to be invested. CGI is occasionally used to effectively present the stones being placed on the board one by one in quick succession, accelerating the outcome of the game, but without compromising the performance of the actors. Other times the camera finds unique ways to frame the players, such as filming from underneath a transparent board, so that it’s possible to see the players face between the stones. At the heart of it though, we’re still watching 2 people play a game of Go, and there are no acid spraying tables that douse the loser like in The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful to liven things up, so to that end audience mileage may well vary.
More than the game itself though, The Match feels like it belongs to Lee Byung-hun, his character being one who goes from having his world shattered, to one who’s able to pick himself back up and get back in the game. Like all of the best sporting dramas, it’s the story of human resilience, and even if a game of Go may not get the adrenaline pumping like a game of soccer (Dream), table tennis (As One), or even baseball (YMCA Baseball Team), the principle remains the same. Where Hyeong-joo gets it right is the mix of drama between the 2 leads, and the way it’s framed in such a way that allows for the games of Go to become extensions of that drama. There’s a tangible sense of awkwardness when Ah-in first beats Byung-hun, then they have to return to living under the same roof together, the live-in student having now beaten the very person who’s provided for them since they were a kid. The change in dynamic is tangible.
The plot structure isn’t flawless though, admittedly suffering from a common trait in Korean cinema, in which if it’s known a character is going to face adversity later on, the time spent portraying life prior comes across as overly saccharine. In the early scenes it feels like everyone is a little too cheerful and amicable, creating a somewhat detached feeling from reality, almost as if the future hardships are being foreshadowed with a sledgehammer because, really, can life feel this breezy and pleasant!? I’m not sure I have the answer of how to do it better (and I guess if I did, I’d be directing movies rather than reviewing them), but when the emotions don’t feel authentic, it makes it difficult to relate to the characters beyond two dimensional caricatures. I distinctly remember Lee Chung-hyun’s 2020 horror The Call suffering from the same issue when it had to portray scenes where essentially ‘life is good’.
Overall though this is a minor gripe in what feels like one of the most distinctively Korean movies to grace the screen for a while. From the smoke-filled Go rooms to the plastic tent pocha snack stalls, it’s perhaps by virtue of it being about the game of Go that The Match refuses to rush itself, instead adamantly sticking to its own good-natured lane. The supporting cast are also stellar, with Moon Jeong-hee (Hide and Seek, Deranged) as Byung-hun’s wife who finds herself in a tricky situation under her own roof, and Jo Woo-jin (Harbin, Kingmaker) as a fellow Go competitor who befriends both Byung-hun and Ah-in at different moments in their journeys.
The closing scenes reveal that both Cho Hun-hyun and Lee Chang-ho remain active in Go competitions to this day (as well as showing photos that reflect just how much the casting of Byung-hun and Ah-in nailed their appearances), a reassuring coda to know they’re still doing what they love. Quietly unassuming, The Match is one of those movies that gradually pulls you in without you even realising, but by the time the end credits roll, you’re glad it did.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10
