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By Dean Crawford KOREAN DVD CORNER THE SMALL SCREEN 73 Mr. Go (미스터 고) Directed by Kim yong-hwa There are moments in every critic’s career when doing the thing you love becomes a real chore. I found this to be the case with the DVD release of the Chinese-Korean co-production “Mr. Go” (2013), which is about a gorilla that gets scouted to play professional baseball in Korea. Nope, you read that correctly. Now do you see my predicament? Why on earth would I want to watch a film about baseball? “Mr. Go” is the story of Wei Wei (Xu Jiao), a 15-year-old circus trainer who has spent prac- tically every moment of her life with star gorilla Ling Ling. Wei Wei’s grandfather was an avid baseball fan who passed his love of baseball on to both Wei Wei and Ling Ling. However, when he dies in the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, he also passes on a huge gambling debt that loan sharks have come to collect. To cover the debt, they decide they want Ling Ling, but Wei Wei refuses. Instead, renowned Korean baseball agent Seong Chung-su (Seong Dong-il) signs Ling Ling for the Doo- san Bears, offering Wei Wei enough money to save her circus. Despite the protestations of the league’s commissioner, Ling Ling is a hit, scoring home runs for fun. How does the next-best team combat this home-run-hitting beast? By signing their own gorilla, of course! So not only do Ling Ling and Wei Wei have to deal with double-crossing agents and league commissioners who want Ling Ling removed from the game, they also have to contend with a more vicious, wild goril- la that happens to have one hell of a pitch and is owned by the Chinese loan sharks Wei Wei and Ling Ling have been trying to escape. In the pantheon of great “animals playing sport” movies, this is right up there with “Air Bud” (1997), or possibly even “Air Bud 5: Air Bud Spikes Back.” Bear in mind, however, that I never saw Bud one-shot an entire bottle of makgeolli, so I think this just might top it! Defi- nitely one for the whole family. PG Drama / Comedy 132 minutes secretly, Greatly (은밀하게 위대하게) Directed by Jang Cheol-su It’s no secret that I love the “Fast & Furious” films, so you can probably imagine how excit- ed I was to see “Fast 6” on opening night last May. However, my hopes were dashed as I got stuck behind 62 people, mostly giddy school- girls, waiting to buy tickets for Jang Cheol-su’s “Secretly, Greatly.” I was so angry that I couldn’t wait for it to be released on DVD so I could tear it apart! “Secretly, Greatly” follows the lives of three North Korean soldiers who have been sent south of the border to assimilate into a sleepy village whilst awaiting further instructions: Won Ryu-hwan (Kim Su-hyeon) is a brilliant and brutal soldier who has taken on the role of village idiot, Ri Hae-rang (Park Ki-woong) is assigned to become a rock star and infil- trate the music industry and Ri Hae-jin (Lee Hyeon-woo), the youngest of the three, is to pose as a high school student. As time passes with no word from the North, Ryu-hwan’s feel- ings toward some of the village people begin to change, but his love for the republic does not. However, when his orders finally come through, he and his fellow spies are not sure if they can carry out a command that could spell the end for the trio. As much as I wanted to hate the film, it’s actually pretty good. If “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) invented the “rom-com-zom,” then “Secretly, Greatly” must be a “dram-act-com.” It doesn’t have the same ring, but it’s true. The story starts off with Ryu-hwan acting a fool by pooping in the street or falling over every two seconds just to keep up appearances. We watch as he starts to develop feelings for some of the villagers before he finally battles hordes of North Korean soldiers in an action-packed finale. “Secretly, Greatly” really does have something for everyone. There perhaps isn’t enough Vin Diesel for my liking, but on this occasion I’ll make an exception. PG 13 Action / Comedy / Drama 123 minutes