go (2001)

[autumnsoliloquy90]

I first discovered this film in 2006. Since then, whenever I'm feeling shit about some unchangeable things, I look this up on the internet again and feel better. Not in the "let me soothe you and massage your ego" kind of way, but in the PUNCH! SLAP! BLEED! GET YOUR FUCKING SELF TOGETHER MAN! kind of way.

GO! is a bildungsroman about a Zainichi Korean or a second-generation Korean residing in Japan. Basically, to cut the long crappy shit short, he is my dream guy. He is somewhat of a legend in the North Korean school he attended till junior high, because he's only one of the two who have ever completed the "Great Chicken Race", which involves meeting an oncoming train head-on then running madly for dear life at the last second. He also sees himself as a revolutionary when he becomes a 'traitor to the race' by transferring to a Japanese national high school, an idea viewed as somewhat unpatriotic and daunting at the same time by his community. He fights a lot, something he learned from his father, and their relationship is almost a stereotype of typical "violent" Korean families. He listens to an audiobook of a comedy in the middle of a friend's birthday party at a club. Oh, and he is played by Kubozuka Yosuke in this film. SUGIHARA Y U NO IN MAI LYFE???

*ahem* Anyway, what really makes this film very special to me is that it clearly deals with themes of teenage angst, rebellion, alienation, discrimination and - of course - love. Besides the fact that this movie is a total entertaining comedic adventure about growing up, it means a lot of me because I can really relate to it. The identity crisis is portrayed in almost every aspect of the film. Sugihara quotes Malcolm X, reads The Catcher in the Rye and understands Shakespeare. His friend Won-su keeps getting punished for speaking Japanese once in a while, because the North Korean school forbids it - his reasoning being that there is no other better way for him to express what he means sometimes for things like "get me a porno mag" than in Japanese. Which goes to show that the immigrants themselves are at fault for not integrating. It's a two-way thing. Then there is Sugihara's most respected friend, aptly named Jong-Il, who saves his ass at the nick of time by claiming that "we (North Koreans) never had a country to being with".

This feeling of displacement is a running theme throughout the film. His father ponders if "Heaven is a nice country", his parents visit Spain and Hawaii and adopt certain xenophilic habits. My favourite quotes would be "I'm a grass without roots" and "sometimes I wish my skin was green, so I'll always remember I'm korean and everyone would stay away from the alien."

However, as Sugihara tells us at the beginning of the film, this is about his love story. His first relationship with a Japanese girl, Sakurai is by itself sweet and endearing. It's clear to us that they honestly do love each other as first loves go, but just as they are to consummate it Sugihara felt compelled to own up to Sakurai about his real identity. This was precipitated by Jong-Il's untimely death, in which he was killed while protecting a Korean girl from harrassment from Japanese boys. Basically his confession and Sakurai's reaction to it made it clear that race is indeed an issue between them. Le sigh.

The scene with the policeman thereafter is pretty significant because firstly, we find out that permanent residents still have to carry alien cards around, otherwise they're punishable by law. Also, by seeing that it is possible for a random Japanese and a Zainichi to have a moment's connection, we are hindered from making the same mistake of generalising all Japanese as racist bigots.

I love the ending the most. I've always wondered all these years what the title meant, and now I've realised it's referring to the countdown "san-ni-ichi-GO!" (3-2-1-GO!) which sounds like Zainichi-GO! Running itself is also a recurring theme in the movie. I don't know what it's supposed to mean, but for me I guess it just means you gotta look forward and keep running.

But as Sugihara likes to remind us, his story is that of love rather than alienation. Despite his father's unorthodox method of showing affection through violence, the old man really truly loves him, when he himself makes the realisation that his parents try to be as open-minded as possible to other cultures in order to "free him from the shackles" that came with being displaced, even though his father was very much North Korean deep inside. In the end, we find that out that Sakurai has always known he was different and that was what attracted her to him: his Fuck-The-World, Fight-Me-If-You-Dare attitude. She kept her first name from him because it sounded extremely Japanese. In retrospect, we can't blame Tsubaki (her first name) for being shocked at finding out the truth from Sugihara, because he dropped the bombshell on her on their first time, which only increased her nervousness about her decision. I actually like her because she hates cliches.

This is one of my crappiest reviews and actually doesn't even do justice to what this film means to me. But I really loved Kubozuka Yosuke's performance in this. His mad, angry speech to Tsubaki at the end of the film really hit home with every word. Damn, I fell in love with his Sugihara and wish he existed in my periphery. Or at least, I hope I can be just like Sugihara.

8.5/10