K-Movie: Dream Big, You Only Get One Chance!

Dream | 드림 (2023)

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All I saw was that IU and Park Seo-joon were starring together in a film and I immediately had to watch! So you can guess how excited I was when I saw Dream was finally available to stream through Netflix. Having not even watched the trailer, I really went in with no expectations. Little did I know it was about the documentation of a sports team.  

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The movie gets straight into it with an intense national soccer match, a full crowd, referees and all. But when Yoon Hong-dae (Park Seo-Joon) starts running right next to his teammate, it leaves everyone (including me!) so confused 🤯 Just a side note, the teammate happens to be played by Kang Ha-neul! For those who loved their bromance in the movie Midnight Runner, this was a huge fangirl moment. Anyways, going back to the Dream film, it turns out Hong-dae can never run fast enough, ever, to get the winning shot. This scenario was so bizarre and funny to watch ‘cause during a game as intense as this soccer game, it is not at all what you would expect! Expectedly, Hong-dae immediately gets questioned by reporters after. This particularly nosy reporter keeps pressing him about his fraudulent mom and suddenly, Hong-dae straight up pokes his eyes out, which becomes a viral meme overnight. 

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Obviously, this uncalled for action means Hong-dae needs to be disciplined. So in an attempt to win back the public's favour, he has to coach a soccer team that is soon competing for the World Cup. Only to find out that this soccer team is a group of homeless people competing for the Homeless World Cup. To make matters worse, he meets Lee So-min (IU) who is tasked in filming a documentary about the soccer team's journey. It wouldn’t be a comedy film if they didn’t clash in personality, right? But they both desperately have to make it work; Hong-dae needs to win back the public favour and filming this documentary is the only way for So-min to not get fired.

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But what was interesting to me was that Dream’s director, Lee Byeong-heon, didn’t want Hong-dae and So-min to be the only stars of the film. In fact, he wanted a balance in all the characters featured, including the homeless soccer team. We learn more about their backgrounds and stories as we are introduced to each of them through So-min’s documentary. I think Byeong-heon’s intention was for the audience to get rid of the stereotype of homeless people and instead, to empathise more with them. The movie is actually inspired by the annual Homeless World Cup and some of the stories were based on homeless people that Byeong-heon interviewed himself. 

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Some of the most heartfelt stories come from Jeon Hyo-bong (Ko Chang-seok), a divorcee who’s wish is to see his daughter one last time before she moves to Australia. Kim In-sun (Lee Hyun-woo), an orphan, who has not given up on finding his first love who went missing. There's also Kim Hwan-dong (Kim Jong-soo) who wants to reconcile with his daughter. Their wishes to become a better father, lover, friend to each other leads them to becoming a pillar for each other. At first Hong-dae could care less and is honestly disappointed. After all, he went from being a professional football player to coaching a group of homeless people who have very little knowledge of how to even kick a ball. But after getting to know his team and each of their stories, he becomes more involved, even moving out of his home so that Hyo-bong and his daughter could spend time together.

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As we understand more about their character, the movie is also written unseriously. You'll even catch yourself smiling and laughing throughout the movie! Even when their stories tug at your heartstrings, each team member stays more optimistic than you would expect. This keeps the movie light-hearted and keeps it interesting by pulling out a variety of emotions. Plus a full star-studded cast makes this movie more perfect than it already is! Give the trailer a watch here or grab your popcorn and start your Netflix chillin’ here 🍿