Basketball is not exactly a sport movies are frequently made about in Korean cinema. However, the true story of coach Kang Yang-hyeon and the Busan Jungang High School's 2012 run to the national championship final despite having only six players on its roster, definitely had some cinematic value, and after a decade of pondering, due to the efforts of BA Entertainment and scriptwriters Kim Eun-hee and Kwon Sung-hui, the story became a film. “Rebound” was rather successful in the local box office, opening up in the second place and currently holding the sixth for 2023.
Rebound is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
Once a renowned basketball school, Jungang High School had been on the verge of shutting down the basketball program after years of poor performance and stagnation, a stark contrast with Seoul powerhouse Yongsan High School, who has “poaching” local players for years. Alumnus and former star Kang Yang-hyeon is brought in as the new head coach, but his appointment sparks many players to walk out as they refuse to play under a still-relatively unknown coach. Eventually, he manages to retain a rather tall player who is about to be a star, Jun-young, and his search for whatever player is available in the open courts in the area, has him with a team of six players. The problems, however, are still there, as the two star peripherals, Gyoo-hyeok, a seemingly delinquent with a bad ankle, and Gi-beom, the leader of the team are at each other's throats from the beginning.
Furthermore, the faculty is on the verge of disbanding the team, while their first match is a total disaster, with them losing from Yongsan, who also “steal” Jun-young just before the game, and even the whole team being punished for assaulting the referee, with a six month ban from any match. Kang's insistence, however, brings the team back together, along two new players, Jordan-enthusiast Jin-wook and Jae-yoon, who claims he can shoot the ball but does not seem like it. The team then proceeds on playing in the preliminaries for the National Championship, against all odds.
Check also this interview
Chang Hang-jun shoots a film that reminds of the underdog sport stories from Hollywood that were so popular in the 80s and 90s, adding, though, the Korean-favorite element of drama and the internationally favorite of the “based on true events” in order to present a movie that actually works on most of its axes. Granted, the comedy is a bit off, but the reality of the situation of the school and the drama it emits, even if in a relatively light fashion, is handled rather nicely, in two axes for the most part. The first is the hemorrhage of talent from Busan to Seoul, a concept that seems to extends beyond the particular theme of the movie, and the second is Goo-hyeok's life, with the hardships he faces both off and on the court being quite intense, in one of the most appealing aspects of the whole movie.
The aforementioned are all presented in the first part of the movie, with the exception of the latter which continues on the second, which focuses almost exclusively on the game and the matches the team gives. The actors portraying Kang and the Jungang High School players spent several months learning to play basketball and were filmed on location at the school's basketball court. The production notably received support from the Korean Basketball League and the domestic basketball community. The KBL allowed its referees to serve as technical consultants and portray the referees and match officials. Former men's national team coach Cho Sang-hyun oversaw the auditions for extras to portray players from the opposing teams. Jo Hyun-il, one of the two narrators, is a veteran basketball commentator. All the aforementioned give “Rebound” an intensely realistic sense, with the games essentially looking as actual ones between high school teams, without any excessive dramatization or over-the-top performances, in an element that definitely adds to the quality of the movie.
Moon Yong-gun and Kang Joo-sin's cinematography finds its apogee in the games, even if their presentation of lower neighbors of Busan is also well done. The same applies to Heo Sun-mi's editing, which induces the movie with a mid-tempo during the first part, and a much faster tempo during the second, both fitting the narrative style to perfection. The information of the basics of the game on screen shows that Chang did not expect his audience to know much about basketball, but even this element is well embedded in the visuals of the movie.
Ahn Jae-hong as Coach Kang is definitely the star of the movie, with him also being the main source of comedy here. However, the ones who steal the show are definitely Jeong Jinwoon as Gyoo-hyeok and Lee Sin-young as Gi-beom, with both their background and “rivalry” and the way they overcome it being among the most appealing aspects of the movie.
“Rebound” is a great feel-good movie and one that will definitely find appeal among fans of sports movies and basketball in particular, but also among the ones who like real-life underdog stories.
