69. BTS World Tour: Love Yourself in Seoul; movie review

BTS WORLD TOUR - LOVE YOURSELF IN SEOUL
Cert U
114 mins
BBFC advice: Contains no material likely to harm or offend

Yes, on Saturday afternoon, as my football team hung on for a rare away win, I was watching a recording of a South Korean boy band with about 40 teenage girls.
To be fair, there was also a dad who seemed to be pleased to have taken his daughter along and a be-capped youth who agreed to go along with his girlfriend.
This took me back 15 years or so when I regularly accompanied Miss W to see boy bands who played in Nottingham.
I have particularly vivid memories of being one of very few men at a Westlife concert and being adopted for 90 minutes by mums who lavished praise on me for, in their words being "such a kind dad".
I digress.
BTS or The Bagtan Boys are a seven-member group whose Love Yourself album hit number one on America's Billboard chart.
Their single "MIC Drop" became the first track by a Korean group certified platinum in the United States. In Korea they have sold over ten million albums, with five million sold in 2018.
Kim Seok-jin (better known as Jin), Min Yoon-gi (Suga), Jung Ho-seok (J-Hope), Kim Nam-joon (RM), Park Ji-min (Jimin), Kim Tae-hyung (V) and Jeon Jung-kook (Jungkook) play a catchy cross between rap and pop.
They also dance feverishly and sweat rather profusely. And the young girls love it.
I couldn't understand the Korean lyrics apart fron the occasional 'love' and the like and was surprised there were no subtitles even for the sporadic interaction with the enraptured Seoul audience.
But the girls in Nottingham Cineworld didn't seem to care, applauding each track enthusiastically.
I have to say that I was impressed that all the lads sang (there was no Victoria Beckham-alike who was pushed to the back) and with the dazzling light show which included all of the Seoul audience who had been given illuminated discs.
But I was surprised at the band's lack of interaction with the crowd.
Do I remember a single song from those I heard only yesterday. Nope?
But have I ticked off another movie towards the everyfilm quest? Yes.
PS my team won 1-0, in case you were wondering.

Reasons to watch: The world's most popular boy band, innit?
Reasons to avoid: Needs subtitling

Laughs: None
Jumps: Only from those on screen
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10 (I'm not the one who should be rating it).

Did you know? The rise in popularity of BTS has been exponential thanks to social media. In 2018, they had the world's top tweet which was liked by 1,742,333 people.

The final word. Suga: "We want people to see and become inspired and understand that it's possible to go from nothing." Reuters

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