A soccer ball solves racism? This chaotic Japanese-Korean high school brawl says 'hold my soju.'
Romeo, A.K.A. Kosuke Matsuyama, is a second-year high school student. A nice, normal, nonviolent type, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a rampaging crowd of Korean boys, outraged by insults perpetrated by several of his idiotic class-mates on two Korean girls. He makes a narrow escape, but soon after, he and his best bud Yoshio are sent by their home-room teacher to invite the Korean students to a friendly soccer game as a way of restoring the peace.
Acting
Shun Shioya's deer-in-headlights everyman anchors the chaos perfectly.
Direction
Izutsu shoots fight scenes like music videos—messy, loud, weirdly beautiful.
Writing
Slurs become jokes become gut-punches; the tonal whiplash is deliberate.
Director
Kazuyuki Izutsu
Shun Shioya
Kousuke Matsuyama
Erika Sawajiri
Kyung-ja Lee
Sousuke Takaoka
An-sung Lee
Hiroyuki Onoue
Jae-dok Park
Yoko Maki
Gang-ja Chun
Joe Odagiri
Sakazaki
Keisuke Koide
Norio Yoshida
Kazuki Namioka
Bang-ho Motoki
Ryo Kase
Hideto Noguchi
Ken Mitsuishi
Fukawa Sensei
Yōsuke Asari
Noriko Eguchi
Houka Kinoshita
Shoka Oshima
Yoko Maki
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
'Zainichi' refers to ethnic Koreans in Japan, a marginalized group rarely centered in mainstream cinema; this film sparked controversy for both highlighting and sensationalizing their struggles.
Erika Sawajiri's breakthrough role—she reportedly hated the production so much she barely promoted it, yet became Japan's biggest teen star anyway.
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