![]() But it has that tang of people who lacked even the slightest conception of how movies get made or how stories get told. It's not quite right to call it outsider art, since unlike other films that earn that title, Miami Connection was obviously made by people who'd seen plenty of movies and knew exactly what kind of commercial niche they expected to fill. It is a bad movie - it is a very bad movie - it is a bad movie for which the phrase "bad movie" is as woefully insufficient as the phrase "kind of like a ditch" describes the Grand Canyon. Miami Connection is a treasure, there's no other way to put it. Maybe it's not the uncut version of The Magnificent Ambersons, but it was still a lost film that was found and revitalised and that makes my cinephile's heart fit to burst. ![]() And that is how, 24 years after it flopped, Miami Connection found its worshipful cult, at the end of one of the happiest stories about some old film reels that were stashed away and forgotten ever told. The film's first one-off showing to Drafthouse patrons was such a huge success that the company was able to secure the rights to distribute it around the country and even release it on DVD and Blu-Ray. Zack Carlson of Alamo Drafthouse bought a print the film on eBay for $50, years after its dismal theatrical release in a few Florida theaters in 1988 consigned it to oblivion. The second part of story starts in 2009, and it is about the miracles that can happen when lost films are found. And despite everything, they made a film - a celebratory, cheerful film, a film which it is nearly impossible to watch with a cynical heart, since the sheer enthusiasm of the filmmakers bursts through every incompetent shot or inexplicable narrative detour. ![]() So the men, one who had absolutely no knowledge of English and one who had absolutely no knowledge of anything involved in making a movie, threw themselves into production. The two men hitched a plan to take advantage of the 1980s explosion in popularity of martial arts-themed movies in the U.S., producing a feature film extolling the virtues of taekwondo. It was while he was back in Korea expounding on this very philosophy that he crossed paths with Park Woo-sang, a film director looking to increase his international viability. As such, he viewed the spread of taekwondo as much of a philosophical mission as a business. He believed (and still does he has a career as a motivational speaker, or at least he did at the start of the 2010s) in martial arts as a vessel for greater self-control that would lead ineffably to greater peace between individuals and thereafter throughout the world. With this little bit of celebrity, Kim wanted to save humanity from itself. ![]() From Orlando, he opened a chain of taekwondo schools that spread across the region, and gave him some small measure of celebrity. Kim, a taekwondo artist who became the youngest black belt in Korean history at the age of 13, and later traveled to Florida (by way of New York (by way of Argentina)) in 1977 as part of his mission to spread taewkondo around the world. The story of how Miami Connection came into the world warms my heart and provide me with hope. A review requested by Salim Garami, with thanks to supporting Alternate Ending as a donor through Patreon.ĭo you have a movie you'd like to see reviewed? This and other perks can be found on our Patreon page!
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