It seems that the 2019 film “Baseball Girl” might have started a small trend in Korean cinema regarding movies about the particular sport, as the shooting of “Not Out” highlights. At the same time, however, and although essentially being about the same topic, the two films could not have been more different than each other.
“Not Out” is screening at Florence Korea Film Festival
Gwang-ho is a young man who plays baseball for his highschool team, although his dreams are much bigger, as he expects to be drafted to the professional league at the upcoming draft. However, his decision not to participate in training sessions for a professional team he was invited to, despite his coach's protests, ends up in disaster, with him ending up not being picked by any team, and his sole path being to attend college and play baseball there. However, going to college demands money, and his father, since his mother had died, does not seem able to afford it by himself with the small diner he keeps. To make more money, Gwang-ho decides to start selling counterfeit gasoline with his friend Min-cheol. During his endeavor, he also meets a girl, Soo-hyeon, who seems to be much more realistic about what they are doing. As Gwang-ho makes one bad decision after the other, the tension among him and his teammates, his father and his coach also rises, while the last two seem to have some shady endeavors between them.
Lee Jung-gon uses baseball as his base in order to present a distinct indie drama, whose purpose is to show how teenage dreams can crash, particularly when the guidance from the grownups is nowhere to be found. This last aspect becomes evident early on in the movie, since his father seems to have no idea about his son's thoughts, or even actions for that matter, while the coach, although somewhat trying to help, seems to be more interested in his own gain. In that setting, and including the lack of a mother, it comes by no surprise that Gwang-ho makes one mistake after the other, with the fact that his hope still carries on essentially being the result of just luck and nothing else.
Furthermore, it does not help at all that he is not exactly the communicative type, being rather silent, only talking when he erupts out of anger, with his interactions with his father highlighting the fact in the most eloquent fashion. At the same time, that he is utterly naive and does not even have a clue about the fact, emerges as one of the main sources of drama here, with his ignorance frequently being painful to look at. Jung Jae-gwang gives a great performance in the part, exhibiting all the aforementioned characteristics in a very fittingly measured fashion, with the Newcomer Award he received from the Blue Dragon Awards being utterly justified.
Some issues with the narrative do exist however. For starters, some knowledge about Korean baseball and particularly how the draft works is a must here, since a number of things that happen in the story are not easy to understand without. This concept actually expands to a number of characters, whose purpose and logic behind their actions are not exactly clear, even outside baseball, an aspect that also faults the acting of the secondary characters. The last option Jung-gon resorts to is also not exactly convincing, and kind of disconnected from the rest of the narrative, essentially justified only as a product of his naivety.
On the other hand, the atmosphere here, as dictated by Kim Young-Kook's rather bleak cinematography, is quite fitting to the story, with the lack of any kind of joy for the majority of the characters being mirrored through a realistic approach to the visuals, where darkness seems to dominate. The slow burning pace is also nicely implemented by the editing, in a fashion that suits the overall aesthetics to perfection.
“Not Out” is a very interesting indie drama, that also shows the reality behind the glamor of the professional baseball league in Korea; it seems, though, that Lee Jung-gon focused too much on his protagonist, a tactic that eventually faulted the movie, even if not to a point to ruin it completely.
