West 32nd
| West 32nd | |
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US theatrical poster
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| Hangul | 웨스트 32번가 |
| Revised Romanization | Weseuteu 32beonga |
| McCune–Reischauer | Wesŭt‘ŭ 32bŏnga |
| Directed by | Michael Kang |
| Produced by | Teddy Zee |
| Written by | Michael Kang Edmund Lee |
| Starring |
John Cho Jun-seong Kim, Grace Park |
| Music by | Nathan Larson |
| Cinematography | Simon Coull |
| Edited by | David Leonard |
| Distributed by | CJ Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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86 minutes |
| Country | United States South Korea |
| Language | English Korean |
| Budget | USD 2.5 million |
West 32nd is a 2007 film and the second feature film by Michael Kang. The film stars John Cho, Jun-seong Kim, Grace Park, Jane Kim and Jeong Jun-ho. The film revolves around John Kim, an ambitious young lawyer in New York, who takes on a pro-bono case involving a fourteen-year-old Korean boy accused of murder. Upon investigating the case, he meets Mike Juhn, a street level Mobster from Flushing. The two try to use each other to climb their respective ladders.
The film starts by showing the city streets of Korea-Town in New York, then goes straight into a room salon, one of the most common places in Korean Culture. Korean Mobster Jin Ho Chun (Jun-ho Jeong) runs the place as a money launderer for the Korean mafia. Chun makes sure the room salon is running smoothly by taking care of customers. His mistress, Sook Hee (Jane Kim), makes her first appearance while entertaining some VIP customers. Chun then grabs a bag full of cash and makes his way into his car. As Chun begins to drive off, another car blocks his way, and he gets shot to death while still in his car.
An ambitious young lawyer is introduced, John Kim (John Cho) who has just taken on a case that could push him up the ladder to becoming partner at his law firm. The case revolves around a young teenager, misfit youth Kevin Lee who is accused of murdering Mobster Chun. Kim takes on the case pro-bono for the Lee family. Kim is discussing the case with Kevin's older sister Lila Lee (Grace Park), who is still in shock over her brother's case.
Kim assures Lee that they will win the case and there's nothing to worry about. During investigating the case Kim comes upon a name, Mike Juhn (Jun-seoung Kim) by a low level street thug Danny who on occasion plays basketball with Kim and runs with Juhn's Crew. Kim sees this as an opportunity to learn more about the case and approaches Juhn. Juhn who has now taken Chun's old position in running the Room salon meets Kim. Juhn is hesitant at first when approached by Kim but then starts opening up to him, when he sees Kim as a way for him to become a legitimate business man. The Two men start using each other to get to the top of their profession. Juhn takes Kim to the Room salon he's running to show Kim the Korean culture. At the room salon Juhn's hyung ("older brother", a respectful form of address for a "boss"). Detective Park approaches him and asks him who the outsider is. Juhn lies but Det. Park catches him in it and lectures Juhn about bringing outsiders. Juhn disobeys, saying that Kim could be good for the organization. For this, Juhn is demoted back to is old position.
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