It’s easy to make a bad film, and virtually impossible to make one that’s so bad it’s good. Miami Connection – the 1988 martial arts extravaganza that often threatens to become a musical – rides the line between cinematic perfection and borderline unwatchable flawlessly, making it a staple on all best-bad movie lists alongside The Room and Troll 2. As with those examples, what distinguishes Miami Connection from other awful films is the genuine sincerity everyone involved had toward the project. How anyone thought a film about a synth-wave rock band fighting a hoard of drug-dealing ninjas could be the basis for a serious message about the dangers of violence is a question beyond the capacity of the human mind, but seemingly Y.K. Kim thought otherwise. It’s terrible. It’s also amazing. It’s the kind of film that threatens to dismantle a hundred years of critical writing. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Miami Connection is one hell of an entertaining ride, and at the end of the day, isn’t that why we watch films?
But it’s also a film that was almost lost forever. The initial theatrical run was limited to just eight theatres in the state of Florida, after which it vanished into the myths of film obscurity. For over twenty years, Miami Connection was nothing more than a local legend that was unknown outside of the Orlando area… at least until a blind $50 bid on eBay by an employee of the famous Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain led to its revival as one of the great cult films of its generation. Kim might not have been thrilled to learn that this critically derided episode from his past was becoming ubiquitous with midnight screenings everywhere, but his thoughts on the matter have since become more positive – no doubt aided by the knowledge that opinions towards Miami Connection have shifted closer to that of unironic love in recent years. But how different things could have been…
What Was Y. K. Kim’s Filmmaking Experience Prior to ‘Miami Connection’?
Curiously, despite having all the makings of an egotistical-driven venture, Miami Connection wasn’t the brainchild of Y.K. Kim. Instead, that honor belongs to Korean filmmaker Woo-Sang Park (credited in the film as Richard Park) who conceived the idea of a Taekwondo-based action film after watching a 1985 interview with Kim on the South Korean talk show Meet at 11 p.m. At the time, Kim was something of a minor celebrity in both his native Korea and his new home of Central Florida – partly due to his jovial personality that couldn’t utter a negative word if he wanted to, but mostly thanks to his armada of self-built Taekwondo schools that had brought immense charitable and financial boosts to their communities. What had started as a single facility had grown into a regional empire – each operating independently, but each adhering to the core philosophies established by Kim. Eight years earlier, as an episode of Vice’s Outsider details, Kim had come to the United States in search of the elusive American Dream, and lo and behold he had found it. Not a bad result for someone who had crossed the border with nothing but the clothes on his back.
But succeeding in one field of business doesn’t mean that you will succeed in another, although Kim didn’t seem too concerned. When Park pitched his idea to Kim, he responded with unimaginable levels of enthusiasm, and they hastily returned to America to make their dream a reality. Sadly, as the Vice episode recounts, this passion was not one his friends or family shared, with everyone attempting to dissuade him from making the film. It’s easy to see why. Not only did Kim have no experience in filmmaking, he had no interest in cinema full stop, later admitting that he watched a film “maybe once a year” according to Entertainment Weekly. In addition, even with his successful business ventures, he certainly didn’t have the money to sustain a professional cast and crew for the duration of a feature film production. But when Kim set his mind to something, come hell or high water he would get it done, and thus he pressed on undeterred.
As expected, filming was a catastrophe. Kim, in addition to his duties as lead performer, also took it upon himself to serve as producer, all but ensuring that the process would be fraught with problems (a feeling exacerbated by the production team consisting primarily of students from Kim’s taekwondo schools). It didn’t take long for Kim’s inexperience to become known. Within ten days of filming, Vice details, Kim had burned through his entire budget, forcing him to sell some of his properties just to keep production afloat. It didn’t help that a screenplay – arguably the most important aspect of a film – was absent from the set according to Entertainment Weekly (“We didn’t have a screenplay… I did not know you are supposed to have a screenplay”), resulting in swathes of the film being decided in the moment. Under anyone else’s guidance, Miami Connection would have crumbled to dust, and that Kim still managed to get it over the finishing line is a testament to his ardent determination.
‘Miami Connection’ Initially Released in Only Eight Theatres
No one can excuse Kim for having a pessimistic outlook. When he finally completed Miami Connection, his aspirations extended all the way to box office domination and a place at the illustrious Academy Awards, but a harsh reality check soon came his way. As Entertainment Weekly reports, Kim took the film to over 100 distributors, all of whom came back with variations on the same opinion: the film was trash, and Kim should cut his losses while he could. But Kim continued on, first by renting a theatre at the Cannes Film Festival to attract potential buyers, and then by shooting new scenes himself (Park had returned to Korea by this time) in the hopes that a lighter tone would improve its commercial prospects. Nothing worked, leaving him with no choice but to distribute it himself. The scraps of money and goodwill he had left extended to eight cinemas in the local area and not an inch more, but that would suffice for now. One exhaustive marketing campaign later saw Kim advertising the film anywhere that would let him, and he was ready to unleash his opus upon the world. And it completely failed.
The limited release of Miami Connection meant that it was never going to be competing with Beverly Hills Cop II to be the action blockbuster of the summer, but even with tapered expectations, it still failed to reach anything that could be considered a positive result. Everyone involved knew what was coming when the flagship newspaper for Central Florida, the Orlando Weekly, dubbed it the worst film of 1988, but even that was tame compared to what lay ahead. Box office numbers were so dire that it was pulled from theatres after just three weeks, pushing Kim to the edge of bankruptcy. His experiment in moviemaking had failed, and the best he could wish for was that the shadow of this disaster wouldn’t haunt him as he returned to his previous life as a martial arts instructor and motivational speaker. For twenty-four years, Kim got his wish, but nothing as endearingly rubbish as Miami Connection stays gone forever.
How Was ‘Miami Connection’ Rediscovered?
In the time between the film’s debut and its revival as a cult classic in 2012, Miami Connection was largely ignored in cinephile circles. Its meager release in one specific community before disappearing off the face of the earth had inadvertently thwarted the usual route a so bad it’s good film would have taken to become famous, while Kim’s refusal to discuss the project had prevented him from becoming an ironic favorite akin to what Tommy Wiseau would later achieve. He was content to let it fade away, but a surprise phone call in 2010 resurrected this forgotten nightmare with the fury of a lightning storm. Evan Husney, the creative director of Drafthouse Films (the distribution wing of the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain), wanted to re-release the film. Kim, understandably, thought it was a joke and hung up, but Husney was able to convince him onboard their expedition eventually (the power of incessant calling continuing to be the unbeatable way of getting someone to listen to you). At long last, Miami Connection was getting the widespread release Kim had dreamed about. Talk about luck.
The origins of this phone call are just as unbelievable as anything in the film. Zack Carlson, a programmer at the Austin branch of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, had stumbled upon a 35mm print of Miami Connection the previous year whilst combing through the depths of eBay (the irrefutable goldmine for undiscovered “masterpieces”). Despite having never heard of the film, Carlson made a blind bid of $50, and shortly afterward found himself in possession of the most important find of his career. A preview of the opening twenty minutes a few months later had the attendees enraptured by its beautiful awfulness, and word-of-mouth led to the first screening of the full experience being completely sold out. The response was unbelievable: “immense, almost transcendent”, to quote Slant Magazine. Carlson had accidentally discovered the motherlode, in the process setting the stage for one of the greatest comebacks in the history of cinema.
It wasn’t an easy task, but Husney prevailed in striking a deal with Kim to re-release Miami Connection under the Drafthouse Films banner. It was a monumental event for Kim, and one that he no doubt took with a certain degree of trepidation, but the results were beyond anything he could have expected. Screenings at the New York Asian Film Festival and Los Angeles Everything Is Festival were overwhelmingly positive. At the same time, the national launch in November 2012 elevated it to the ranks of the best worst films overnight. The most shocking twist of all was how much Kim embraced the film’s newfound popularity: attending multiple screenings, providing taekwondo lessons to audience members, and even reforming Dragon Sound – the synthpop band at the core of the film’s narrative – to perform their devilish collection of earworm songs for a one-off concert (all of whom were clearly miming their instruments, but really, no hardcore Miami Connection fan would want anything different). It’s a stunning turnaround for something he had once hated, but if there’s one lesson the Miami Connection endeavor should have taught him, it would be that the unexpected always found a way to cross his path.
Of course, much of this praise comes with a hefty dose of asterisks. Saying Miami Connection has flaws is like saying the Titanic let in a bit too much water, but there is something about the film that draws people in. As Carlson put it, “Bad movies that people respond to aren’t actually bad”, and it’s a fair point. It’s hard to imagine anyone watching Miami Connection with the indifference one might bring to the deluge of mindless summer blockbusters we all forget existed a week after they’ve been released – it’s too hopelessly amateur for that. But it’s also a film made with such good intentions that it’s impossible not to find some pleasure in watching it, and learning how the cinephile community has come to embrace it makes for one of the most strangely affecting rags-to-riches tales of its era. There was a time when Miami Connection appeared lost to obscurity, but as is often said, good things come to those who wait. In Y.K. Kim’s case, they really did.
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