- Director: Park Jin-Pyo
- Writer: Ji Na Yeo
- Stars: Shin Hye-sun, Lee Jun-Young
REVIEW
Director Park Jin-Pyo has a history of crafting films that are inspired by real life stories (Too Young to Die, You Are My Sunshine) and while his latest film Brave Citizen, playing at The Fantasia International Film Festival, isn’t based on a specific person, it does grapple with an issue that is currently plaguing South Korea: school bullying.
It is immediately established that the no name high school in which our film takes place advertises itself as a “Anti Bullying School,” but that is definitely not the case. Student Han Soo-Kang is THE bully at the school, and he never faces any consequences because his family members hold jobs within the legal system and police departments. He and his gang terrorize students and faculty because they find it fun. After one teacher dies by suicide because of this bullying, a new substitute position opens up, and So Si-min is eager to fill the slot. Of course, she is unaware of the secret bullying issue at the school and when this former boxing champion sees it happening first hand, she must decide if she can turn a blind eye or use her fighting skills to take down the school bully.
Shin Hye-sun is magnetic in her performance as So Si-min, bouncing back and forth between playing a bubbly girl and being the Olympic level fighter, her father trained her to be, she is a supremely likable lead. Lee Jun-Young also excels in his role as Han Soo-Kang: in fact, so much so that I don’t remember the last time I hated a character this much. Unfortunately, the film has an overlong running time that drags out a lot of unnecessary exposition. It’s a simple story that we all know: a bully must be taken down publicly, and it must be done by the most unlikely of people. Ultimately, So Si-min tries to exact some street justice while wearing a cat mask, and in the wildest third act ever, the bully and the cat will fight to the death at a school fair. Brave Citizen manages to balance some comedic moments with the heavy subject matter and the fact that the Vice Principal has OK’d an event that sees a student fighting to the death with a masked street vigilante is an excellent example of that. While a taut 90-minute film would be an awesome, fun filled revenge story, the charisma of all of the actors does make the extra minutes forgivable and the stinger at the end credits definitely gives the fans of fighter So Si-min something to look forward to.
Brave Citizen played at Fantasia International Film Festival
Lisa Fremont
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