I’ve been wanting to see Slam Dunk for a while, but I thought that if I put it off any longer, I’d have to leave the theater, so I rushed to Dongtan Megabox to see it.
I wasn’t really expecting to be moved by it. I enjoyed the original comic, but it was just one of the many comics I read at the time. It was fun, but beyond that, my memory of it is hazy. I don’t remember much of the story.
But I thought it was a well-made movie that exceeded my expectations. It’s not just a movie adaptation of the comic, but a new story with the main storyline. The story of the original comic isn’t mentioned much, and the movie only focuses on the match with the San-wang from the beginning to the end. Instead, the story of each character’s past is intercut with the movie, and it was quite interesting to see how each character’s past frustrations and experiences of overcoming them all came together to lead to each pass, each shot, and each game.
In fact, life is like that. Every day, small experiences, memories, and emotions accumulate to build your own personality and history, and it’s the chunks that eventually determine your future course. From this perspective, Kang Baek-ho’s line, “When is your time of glory? I am now.” Previously, I understood it to mean, “The present is more important than any future moment, so I will give it my all right now,” but now I hear it as, “I will build a better tomorrow by accumulating today’s experiences and victories.”
If we consider life in terms of winning and fulfillment, the small victories of everyday life cannot be neglected. It’s important to build a “winning habit,” as they say. Slam Dunk may be just a sports comic on the surface, but deeper down, it’s a story about the struggles and trials that make us who we are, and how we build habits to overcome them. Even a genius like Jung Woo-sung, who is already a complete genius, will have small scars and become stronger in the process of healing them. A hard worker like Song Tae-sub approaches his goal by practicing the habit of reading the writing on his palm, which helps him erase his worries and find a relaxed mind.
Most of life is probably not about the ten sweaty players on the court, but more about the substitutes watching them from the bench, or the random person cheering them on. Special moments in life don’t come around very often. Nevertheless, everyone has a hero moment. Those moments that stand out when you look back at your life’s path from a distance, that make you stronger today. If we easily forget those memories, we might not be us.