Brave Citizen
2023 South Korean film
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Brave Citizen (Korean: 용감한 시민) is a 2023 South Korean vigilante action comedy film directed by Park Jin-pyo, starring Shin Hye-sun and Lee Jun-young.[4][5][6] It is an adaptation of the webtoon of the same name.[7]
| Brave Citizen | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Hangul | 용감한 시민 |
| RR | Yonggamhan simin |
| MR | Yonggamhan simin |
| Directed by | Park Jin-pyo |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Based on | Brave Citizen (webtoon) by Kim Jung-Hyun |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Kim Yongseong |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Dalpalan[1] |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Mindmark (Korea) Kadokawa Plus (Japan) Moviecloud (Taiwan) Lumix Medi (Vietnam) Kairos Distribution (Inflight Rights) |
Release date |
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Running time | 112 minutes[2] |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
| Box office | ₩2,445,021,472 [3] |
The film follows an aspiring boxer and substitute teacher, Si-min (Shin Hye-sun), who covertly fights against a school bully, Soo-kang (Lee Jun-young), by using a mask to conceal her identity.
Cast
- Shin Hye-sun as So Si-min, a substitute teacher at Mooyoung High and former boxing prodigy.[8][9] "So Si-min" is a literal translation of "ordinary middle-class citizen" in Korean.[10]
- Lee Jun-young as Han Soo-kang, a "ruthless"[10][11][12] bully and student, who terrorizes students and faculty at Mooyoung High.[13][14]
- Park Jung-woo as Go Jin-hyeong, Soo-kang's classmate who becomes his main victim to protect his grandmother.[13][15]
- Park Hyuk-kwon as So Yeong-taek, Si-min's father, a former boxer and part-time deliveryman at a chicken restaurant.[16]
- Cha Chung-hwa as Lee Jae-kyeong, the head teacher at Mooyoung High who helps Si-min.[17][18][19]
- Lee Chan-hyeong as Lee Kwon-joong, a police officer and Si-min's neighborhood friend.[20][21]
- Bae Hyeon-Jun as Lee Byeong-jin, a student at Mooyoung High.[21]
- Cha Woo-min as Lee Moon-ki, a student member of Soo-kang's gang who takes part in the bullying.[22]
- Lee Joong-ok as Seo Sang-woo, the owner of the chicken restaurant where Yeong-taek works, and a former boxer.[16][23]
- Son Sook as Jin-hyeong's grandmother who is tormented by Soo-kang and his gang.[15][24]
- Kang Anna as Song Eun-gyo, a member of Soo-kang's gang who films the bullying.[25]
- Lee Kyu-hoe as vice principal.
Production
Background
In April 2019, Studio N (the production company subsidiary of Naver Webtoon),[26] confirmed that a film adaptation of the Brave Citizen webtoon was going to be made.[27]
The webtoon's creator, Kim Jung-Hyun, was inspired to create the concept for the story from an article he read about a teacher who ignored school violence. The article prompted him to think about how a teacher in that situation would react if they themselves became the victim of bullying.[28]
The film's director, Park Jin-pyo, stated that he worked on developing the theme of school violence from the webtoon into the film two and a half years prior to the phenomenon's renewed attention in South Korea,[29] which occurred prior to the film's release in 2023.[30][31][32]
Casting
On October 9, 2021, Shin Hye-sun was reported to be positively responding to the script after having been offered a role in the film.[33] On November 12, 2021, Studio N announced that Shin and Lee Jun-young had been cast in the leading roles.[34][35][36][37]
Shin trained for 6 months[38] with a martial arts instructor for her character, and confirmed she performed all the action scenes in the film herself.[39] The film is Shin's first action film.[29][40]
Filming
In August 2021, it was reported that filming would begin in November of that year.[41][42] However, later reports in November 2021 indicated that filming would begin in December 2021.[35][36] Principal photography officially began on December 30, 2021, and concluded on April 5, 2022.[43]
Heo Myeong-haeng, known for being an action direction master[44][45] choreographed the action sequences for the film.[29][46]
Post-production
Deadline reported that South Korean sales company Finecut had acquired the international rights to the adaptation at Busan International Film Festival's Asian Film & Contents Market that took place in October 2022.[46]
Release
Brave Citizen premiered on October 25, 2023, in South Korea.[47] Its North American debut took place at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 20, 2024.[9] The film was later featured at the 12th Korean Film Festival in Belgium on October 2, 2024.[48]
Its release marked Cha Woo-min's film debut.[49]
Reception
Box office
The film opened at number two at the local box office, as it sold over 36,000 tickets and grossed approximately 281.8 million ₩ (around US$206,978).[43]
Critical response
Brave Citizen holds an audience rating of 6.87 on the Korean review aggregator Naver Movie Database,[50] and has a Letterboxd rating of 3.3/5.[51] Expert critics at Cine21 gave it 5 out of 10 stars, while audiences rated it 8/10.[52]
Audiences and critics alike praised Lee Jun-young's villainous portrayal of Han Soo-kang.[13][53][54][47][55][56]
Critics applauded the film's exploration of school violence.[15][18][13][47][57] Yoo Seon-ah from Cine21 added that the school violence theme combined with the masked vigilante narrative offers viewers an emotional satisfaction.[18] Cho Kyung-Geon, a journalist from Busan Ilbo, similarly complimented the well-timed theme of school violence, although he noted that the film felt "predictable" at times.[13] Fantasia International Film Festival's Steven Lee remarked that the theme was "explored in a very interesting way."[9]
Scott Phillips from Forbes called Brave Citizen an "action gem" and his favorite film from the Fantasia International Film Festival 2024's first week.[14] David Chew and Golden Lee highlighted the "well choreographed"[15] action scenes as what made viewing Brave Citizen enjoyable.[58] On the other hand, Yoo Seon-ah criticized the multi-angled action sequences, and questioned whether their inclusion fully capitalizes on the strengths of the action genre.[18] Film critic Maxance Vincent expressed a similar attitude to Yoo, stating that while there were a few great action fight moves present, a majority of the action photography looked "more janky than sweeping," and noted that he was unimpressed by the lack of "visual flourish" in the film's final boxing match.[59]