Review: Road to Boston (2023) dir. Kang Je-kyu

After liberation from the Japanese following World War II, South Korea’s athletic associations confronted the extraneous bureaucracies of global colonialism. Their athletic achievements in international competitions in occupation belonged, as far as the international community cared, to Japan. The relevant international authorities required South Korea to have an official record at international competitions before allowing them to compete in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Road to Boston tells the story of marathoner Suh Yun-bok (Im Si-wan) and his senior coach turned surprise teammate Sohn Kee-chung (Ha Jung-woo) as they compete in the 1947 Boston International Marathon.

Incredibly, the athletic drama — including a stray dog that causes the five-foot one-inch Suh to fall while in first place(!) — stays close to real life. Director Kang Je-kyu (Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War) has one of the greatest benefits a sports filmmaker can be blessed with: the subject material of one of history’s great sporting events. Since I’d wager non-Korean Americans know absolutely nothing of the 1948 marathon, I will refrain from spoiling the details of the outcomes. I do so not because of any genre trope subversion or anything of that sort but only because the magnitude of the victory feels so outstanding that it will dumbfound the viewer as to how Suh’s race is not more common knowledge amongst sporters. In the marathon, which is, regrettably, the only outstanding athletic action in the film, the scales rhythmically tip back and forth between victory and defeat while still staying true to the facts of the event. Road to Boston succeeds exactly where King Richard failed: by actually having swings of momentum.

Continue reading at the Boston Hassle.