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Brave Citizen

Brave Citizen is a 2023 South Korean action comedy film directed by Park Jin-pyo. It is an adaptation of the webtoon of the same name. The film follows an aspiring boxer and substitute teacher, Si-min, who covertly fights against a school bully, Su-gang, by using a mask to conceal her identity.

Synopsis
So Si-min is a passionate teacher who cannot tolerate injustice, yet chooses to live quietly as a contract teacher after running into the harsh walls of reality. However, among the students in her class is Han Su-gang, the ultimate embodiment of arrogance. Taking advantage of Somin's restraint and the neglect of other teachers, he ruthlessly bullies the students and even the staff he considers easy targets. As his cruelty escalates further and crosses the line, Si-min can no longer stand by. By day, she remains a teacher but by night, she transforms into a vigilante, determined to deliver true justice to Su-gang. == Cast ==
Cast
Shin Hye-sun as So Si-min, a substitute teacher at Mooyoung High and former boxing prodigy. "So Si-min" is a literal translation of "ordinary middle-class citizen" in Korean. • Lee Jun-young as Han Su-gang, a "ruthless" bully and student, who terrorizes students and faculty at Mooyoung High. • Park Jung-woo as Go Jin-hyeong, Su-gang's classmate who becomes his main victim to protect his grandmother. • Park Hyuk-kwon as So Yeong-taek, Si-min's father, a former boxer and part-time deliveryman at a chicken restaurant. • Lee Chan-hyeong as Lee Kwon-joong, a police officer and Si-min's neighborhood friend. • Bae Hyeon-Jun as Lee Byeong-jin, a student at Mooyoung High. • Lee Joong-ok as Seo Sang-woo, the owner of the chicken restaurant where Yeong-taek works, and a former boxer. • Son Sook as Jin-hyeong's grandmother who is tormented by Su-gang and his gang. • Kang Anna as Song Eun-gyo, a member of Su-gang's gang who films the bullying. • Lee Kyu-hoe as vice principal. == Production ==
Production
Background In April 2019, Studio N (the production company subsidiary of Naver Webtoon), confirmed that a film adaptation of the Brave Citizen webtoon was going to be made. 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. 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, which occurred prior to the film's release in 2023. 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. On November 12, 2021, Studio N announced that Shin and Lee Jun-young had been cast in the leading roles. Shin trained for 6 months with a martial arts instructor for her character, and confirmed she performed all the action scenes in the film herself. The film is Shin's first action film. Filming In August 2021, it was reported that filming would begin in November of that year. However, later reports in November 2021 indicated that filming would begin in December 2021. Heo Myeong-haeng, known for being an action direction master choreographed the action sequences for the film. 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. == Release ==
Release
Brave Citizen premiered on October 25, 2023, in South Korea. Its North American debut took place at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 20, 2024. Its release marked Cha Woo-min's film debut. == Reception ==
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). and has a Letterboxd rating of 3.3/5. Expert critics at Cine21 gave it 5 out of 10 stars, while audiences rated it 8/10. Audiences and critics alike praised Lee Jun-young's villainous portrayal of Han Su-gang. Critics applauded the film's exploration of school violence. Yoo Seon-ah from Cine21 added that the school violence theme combined with the masked vigilante narrative offers viewers an emotional satisfaction. 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. == References ==
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