| Break Through! | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Poster | |||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kana | パッチギ! | ||||
| |||||
| Directed by | Kazuyuki Izutsu | ||||
| Starring | Erika Sawajiri Shun Shioya Yōko Maki | ||||
| Cinematography | Hideo Yamamoto | ||||
Release date |
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| Country | Japan | ||||
| Language | Japanese | ||||
Break Through! (パッチギ!, Pacchigi!) is a 2005 Japanese film directed by Kazuyuki Izutsu.
Romeo, A.K.A. Kosuke Matsuyama (Shun Shioya), is a second-year high school student. He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a rampaging crowd of Korean boys, outraged by insults perpetrated by several of his idiotic classmates on two Korean girls. He makes a narrow escape, but soon after, he and his best friend Yoshio (Keisuke Koide) are sent by their homeroom teacher to invite the Korean students to a friendly soccer game as a way of restoring the peace.
Trembling like black-uniformed leaves, they enter enemy territory, where Kosuke encounters a doll-faced but serious-looking girl, Lee Kyung-ja (Erika Sawajiri), playing a Korean folk song, "Rimjin River," on a flute. He and Yoshio are also nearly lynched by her older brother Lee An-sung (Sosuke Takaoka) and his gang, but he is already smitten—and eager to learn that haunting tune.
The narrative focuses on the protagonist Kosuke's endeavor to both master a musical composition and earn the affection of a young woman who appears to inhabit a foreign and inhospitable environment. Concurrently, Ang Son and his group engage in street skirmishes with Japanese delinquents, adopting a confrontational approach akin to a competitive sport, with alternating victories. Ang Son, excessively adhering to notions of masculinity, confronts a pivotal decision when he discovers that his romantic partner, Kyoko Yanagihara, is expecting a child and resolute in keeping it, compelling him to confront a daunting dilemma: to mature or evade responsibility.
27th Yokohama Film Festival[2]