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Rikidzan (film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Rikidzan
| image = Yeokdosan_film.jpg
| caption = Movie poster
| director = Song Hae-sung
| producer = Kim Sun-ah
Haruo Umekawa
| writer = Song Hae-sung
| starring = Sol Kyung-gu
Miki Nakatani
Tatsuya Fuji
Masato Hagiwara
Masakatsu Funaki
| music = Lee Jae-jin
| cinematography = Kim Hyung-koo
| editing = Park Gok-ji
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 137 minutes
| country = South Korea
Japan
| language = Japanese
Korean
| budget =
| native_name =
}}
'Rikidzan' is a 2004 South Korean-Japanese film written and directed by Song Hae-sung. The film is based on the life of Rikidzan, a legendary ethnic Korean professional wrestler who became a national hero in Japan in the 1950s. It stars Sol Kyung-gu in the titular role, with Miki Nakatani, Tatsuya Fuji, and actual Japanese wrestlers Keiji Mutoh and Masakatsu Funaki in the cast.
Cast
*Rikidzan/Kim Sin-rak: Sol Kyung-gu
*Aya: Miki Nakatani
*Yuzuru Yoshimachi: Masato Hagiwara
*Keiko Oki: Sawa Suzuki
*Kichi Kasai: Tar Yamamoto
*Masahiko Imura: Masakatsu Funaki
*Kim Myon-gil: Park Chul-min
*Kim Il: No Jun-ho
*Kkichi End: Jun Akiyama
*Toyonobori: Muhammad Yone
*Harold Sakata: Keiji Mutoh
*Azumanami: Shinya Hashimoto
*Ben Sharpe: Mike Polchlopek
*Mike Sharpe: Jim Steele
*Mr. Atomic (Clyde Steeves): Rick Steiner
*Wrestler: Makoto Hashi
*Wrestler: Go Shiozaki
*Wrestler: Koji Yoshida
*Wrestler: Chikara Momota
*Announcer: Shigeru Kajiwara
*Interviewer: Masami Ogishima
*NTV President: Shinji Nomura
*Nishonoyama Oyakata: Kazuyuki Senba
*Kenichi Tamura: Munenori Iwamoto
*New Havana Club M.C.: Magy
*Middle-Aged Woman: Rei Okamoto
*Takeo Kanno: Tatsuya Fuji
denotes an actual professional wrestler
Reception
Sol Kyung-gu gained 20 kilograms (44 lbs.) for the role and also delivered 95% of his lines in Japanese. Despite winning great praise for his performance, however, the film vastly underperformed in the box office on its local release, with total admissions at 1,249,794.
Nevertheless, 'Rikidozan' was recognized at the 42nd Grand Bell Awards, winning Best Director for Song Hae-sung, and Best Cinematography for Kim Hyung-koo.
References
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