Posted by: Shi Ronglang
Geochilmaru - 10/21/10 08:18 AM
Yesterday, as I was tidying my closet, I stumbled upon that movie and decided to watch it again. An overlooked little gem of a movie, in my opinion... 
The plot revolves around a martial arts forum board, not unlike this one. One of its members, who goes by the screen-name "Geochilmaru", is particularly noted for his (or could it be her?) seemingly immense martial knowledge, even though some people challenge his personal claims...
It seems Geochilmaru is not totally insensitive to the doubts cast over his abilities: some among the board's most respected posters, coming from various arts, receive PM's in order to finally organise some kind of "East Coast Get Together" event. They're all pretty excited to finally meet the almost-legendary Geochilmaru. Things turn a bit "Ten Little Indians meets Battle Royale" when the driver of the van that's meant to lead them to the one they've been wating for pops a tape in the cassette-player... Geochilmaru's voice informs the members that only one of them will actually get a chance to meet and spar with him. And naturally, that's an honour they'll have to fight one another for...
Several things make this little-known korean MA-flick interesting. I like the way each fight that takes place in it illustrates one particular point of debate in the MA community, such as "what happens when a striker fights a grappler", "traditional dojo training VS streetfighting experience", "taking advantage of one's surroundings to overcome physical disadvantage", "VTG's", "code of honour VS playing dirty", etc.
It should also be noted that all the people who play in the movie, I hear, are national-level top-performers in their respective arts, which is always a good thing
. The fights are very decent, and could easily ashame those of films with much higher budgets in my humble opinion.
Has anyone seen it?
If someone has, I'd be interested to know what you guys thought of it.
The plot revolves around a martial arts forum board, not unlike this one. One of its members, who goes by the screen-name "Geochilmaru", is particularly noted for his (or could it be her?) seemingly immense martial knowledge, even though some people challenge his personal claims...
It seems Geochilmaru is not totally insensitive to the doubts cast over his abilities: some among the board's most respected posters, coming from various arts, receive PM's in order to finally organise some kind of "East Coast Get Together" event. They're all pretty excited to finally meet the almost-legendary Geochilmaru. Things turn a bit "Ten Little Indians meets Battle Royale" when the driver of the van that's meant to lead them to the one they've been wating for pops a tape in the cassette-player... Geochilmaru's voice informs the members that only one of them will actually get a chance to meet and spar with him. And naturally, that's an honour they'll have to fight one another for...
Several things make this little-known korean MA-flick interesting. I like the way each fight that takes place in it illustrates one particular point of debate in the MA community, such as "what happens when a striker fights a grappler", "traditional dojo training VS streetfighting experience", "taking advantage of one's surroundings to overcome physical disadvantage", "VTG's", "code of honour VS playing dirty", etc.
It should also be noted that all the people who play in the movie, I hear, are national-level top-performers in their respective arts, which is always a good thing
. The fights are very decent, and could easily ashame those of films with much higher budgets in my humble opinion.Has anyone seen it?
If someone has, I'd be interested to know what you guys thought of it.