State of Play

This film deserves a better rating here on IMDB. This film tells three stories really well. One of a young a korean boy with the goal of becoming a professional gamer in the highly competitive world of StarCraft esports. The second of a new recruit for a pro team and the third featured character is the legendary veteran Jaedong. All three of these stories intertwine to give the viewer a whole view of the scene of Starcraft and professional esports in its birthplace, South Korea. The cinematic pacing and treatment of the subjects is fascinating. This is the first time esports has been approached by a gifted storyteller and is one of the first docs to watch in the esports space.

Being a huge fan of eSports I enjoyed this thoroughly and thus gave it a 10 rating. If you have followed the competitive scene of Starcraft Brood War or SC2 you will also probably enjoy it.

It follows the story of three players on different levels of competition in the Korean scene of Starcraft around 2011-2012. First player is the superstar, second is a semi-professional and the third an amateur.

The film has a professional feel and it does a very good job showing how important the game was in Korean culture and how it affected the lives of the youth involved with it.

It doesn't have the best pacing but that's to be expected since it realistically shows how cut throat the competition was.

In my opinion it's not for everyone and I'd recommend it to people who are interested in Starcraft, eSports or Korean culture.