San Diego Asian Film Festival 2025
An in-depth documentary chronicling the rise of The Rose, from a group busking in the South Korean streets, to a global Indie band sensation.
Movie Moxie is a Blink, a big fan of the K-Pop girl group Blackpink, and other South Korean bands besides, but honestly I had only ever heard of The Rose in passing. There was a big scandal a few years ago involving one of The Rose members, which the film addresses, if briefly. But nothing prepared us for the love that laces every single last shot of this new documentary of the Indie gorgeousness that is The Rose, most of all, a love for the absolute healing power of music. Make sure your lightstick is fully charged, and let’s get into this!
Meet the fellows of the band called The Rose – Woosung ‘Sammy’ Kim, vocalist and guitar; Dojoon ‘Leo’ Park, vocals, guitar and keyboard; Hajoon ‘Dylan’ Lee, drums and sub-vocals; and Taegyeom ‘Jeff’ Lee, bass and sub-vocals. Each of them appear to be quite talented from a young age, determined to get into music as they grew older, despite quite a few setbacks.
Jeff and Leo both began their journeys to music through busking, which is to say, performing live music and singing on the streets for funds, and this was how they met, on the streets of Hongdae. Though Leo at this point had a management company who frowned upon his busking and so he quit for a while. While Jeff met Dylan a bit later recording in the same studio, and they began busking together. By the end of 2015, Jeff convinced Leo to leave his company and return to the forming group. And the trio went in search of a fourth and final member, eventually Leo convincing Sammy, who he had met through a mutual friend, to join them. The boys all moved in together and spent a year practicing at a rehearsal studio, where they would do music and then go off to play video games together too, mostly Overwatch and things like that. And finally, in 2016, the boys as the mutually-agreed-upon band name The Rose, were signed with J&Star Company.
Now, all they needed was a song to open up with. The film shows all four of the guys talking about their first big debut song, the one they would introduce themselves to the world with, and how they got pushback from everyone but especially their agency, over the song called, “Sorry”.
Here, enjoy the single and the video :
Sadly almost immediately after signing with the agency, there were burgeoning tensions amidst the boys and their managers, who seemed to live for creating drama, even amongst the bandmates themselves. The decision to make a video for ‘Sorry’ but only upload it to Youtube and barely advertise the thing was a strange one, and indeed didn’t cause much of a reaction initially here in America – but over in Europe, suddenly The Rose is practically an overnight sensation. Which means it’s time for a concert tour, y’all!
Things take off at a breathless pace, first a European and then American concert tour. And just when the boys were really taking off, the Covid shutdown worldwide happened. It was at this time the boys decided to file for contract termination with their agency, citing financial and managerial misconduct under dangerous conditions, and a few of the bandmates chose to use this time to do their mandatory military service time required of all South Korean men between the ages of 18 to 35.
As the world opened back up after Covid, the boys’ lawsuit was settled and The Rose experienced a significant upsurge in popularity, after signing with Far East Movement’s Transparent Arts as their new label. A collaboration with Suga of the mega K-pop boyband BTS proved very popular, and the band went on to do a North American Dawn to Dusk concert tour, which culminated in playing at the landmark Kia Forum in Los Angeles to a packed house. Throughout 2023, the boys continued to tour and do notable music festivals to full forums, including Lollapalooza, Mad Cool, and CONquest in Manila and others, but the film concludes with an absolute dream The Rose has had since before their inception – playing the outdoor stage of Coachella!
Despite their differences and various setbacks the boys have endured, they began as a group come together over the wondrous healing power of music, and so they continue on as a mega-star band that way, buoyed by the love of their beloved Black Roses – the name chosen for die-hard The Rose fans.
Reviewed by Alicia Glass