Episode 12

Miami Connection (1987)

Published on: 15th October, 2021

A story about friendship, ninjas, Orlando, and chopping limbs off.

Listen in as me and my guest, Sean, talk through this rediscovered piece of magic.

Directed by Woo-sang Park under the pseudonym Richard Park (Kill the Ninja, L.A. Streetfighters, Gang Justice), and written by Joseph Diamand (The IBUR Connection) with story help from Park and Y.K. Kim, The A.V. Club accurately said the film has "a touching naïveté that gives it an odd distinction," while the Austin Chronicle blasphemed in calling it "a really bad, totally inept mess that reeks of more ambition than talent." You can tell whose side I'm on with this one.

It tells the story of a group of college students/martial artists who make up the band Dragon Sound in central Florida as they try to navigate the daily pitfalls of higher education and mixing it up with the local drug lord. Led by Mark (played with enthusiasm by Y.K. Kim), the group find themselves pulled into a war zone with motorcycle ninjas led by the vicious Yashito at one end, and coke-head anger troll Jeff and his band of methed-out fighters at the other. Will Dragon Sound stop the cocaine trafficking in Florida? Will they ever play "Friends" or "Against the Ninja" again? Will they find their dads? Watch and find out!

Best part is the soundtrack is on Apple iTunes! Get it, you won't regret it!

The film is currently available on Amazon Prime, DVD, and a few other outlets.

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About the Podcast

Subversive Cinema
The show about the weird, whacky, and downright wrong entries in cinema history.
There are a lot of films out there, so it's only natural that a decent amount of strange content exists. These are the films we examine.

Each week, I sit down with a guest and we take a look a one of these weird, whacky, or downright wrong cinematic entries. Each of them has something about it that makes it special — I call it the "Subversive Sauce" — and that is recipe we try to break down.

Is it scientific? Absolutely not. Will you learn things you didn't know? Maybe. Might you hear about films worth checking out? Most definitely.

Tune in and see what the subversion is all about!
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About your host

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Art Hall

Art started in the podcasting ecosphere back in 2007 with the outrageous, yet short lived, scripted variety show "WBKR: Buckwilde Radio," which claimed listeners from over 20 different countries. After hanging up his headphones and heading west to move to Los Angeles, he kept podcasting in his heart but only made appearances rather than producing or hosting. It only took a global pandemic, boredom, and the pleading from his buddy, Joe, to get back into the mic booth.