Switch on a TV in South Korea and chances are you’ll stumble across a competitive Go/Baduk tournament. Go is a simple looking but incredibly complex game in which players with black and white stones battle for area on a 19×19 board. Although originating in China, the game has become phenomenally popular in the likes of Japan and South Korea, as well as forming a following across the globe.
The latest film from director Cho Beom Gu, responsible for 2011’s QUICK, takes the board game into a seedy world of underground gambling where the stakes are often more than monetary and battles on the board can result in the flying of fists. Here’s the official synopsis!
Professional GO (a.k.a. baduk) player Tae-seok loses a high-stakes game to infamous underground gambler Sal-soo, and ends up framed for the murder of his own brother and locked up in prison. He vows revenge and trains ferociously. After serving his seven-year sentence, he gets in touch with his brother’s former associate “Tricks,” hermit and blind master player “The Lord,” and skillful junkyard owner Mok-su; together, they begin formulating a plan to get back at Sal-soo and his men. Tae-seok slowly penetrates Sal-soo’s inner circle and his gambling joint, and eliminates Sal-soo’s men one by one. But Sal-soo discovers Tae-seok’s true identity and engages him in one final game that will seal the fates of the two men involved.
THE DIVINE MOVE will be released in over 13 North American cinemas this Friday, 25th July. It stars Jung Woo Sung, Lee Beom Soo, Ahn Sung Ki, Kim In Kwon, and Lee Si Young.
