• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

Korean director Kang je-Kyu makes his first major international presence with his film My Way, an enthralling and absorbing exposition of the lives of two marathon runners’. Set within Japan’s occupation of Korea during the Second World War, a Japanese Aristocrat, Tatsuo Hasagewa, and a Korean country boy, Jun-shik Kim, spark a competitive relationship that follows them for the rest of their lives. The two young men first face each other off in 1938 with their aspirations to become Olympic marathon runners despite coming from diametrically opposed social classes. Fate eventually brings the two men together again, with Tatsuo, as a high ranking colonel and Jun-Shik being forced to serve, in the Japanese Imperial army, during the fight against the Soviet Union. The rivalry between Jun-Shik and Tatsuo spills into the ranks, and is magnified by the Koreans’ resentment against Japanese oppression. Soon, the two men find themselves in a perpetual nightmare of war, conscripted to fight in one national army after another, from the Soviets to Nazi Germany, stripped of their ranks, and fighting just to survive. A film of epic proportions, My Way offers a refreshing alternative to typical World War II films that are generally presented through a Western lens.

GUEST: Angela Killoren, Senior Vice President of CJ Entertainment, formerly the Associate Director at the University of Southern California’s Center for Asian-Pacific Leadership

My Way opens at the Arclight Hollywood, Laemmle Noho7, Santa Monica, Norwalk 7, and Pasadena Playhouse on Friday April 20th.