Brave Citizen

A former boxer, thrown out of the ring for a temper she could not hold, now works as a substitute teacher. Nobody touches the violence a rich student runs at the school; the teachers stay quiet, the administration buries it. At a certain point she puts on a mask and decides to settle it with her fists. Park Jin-pyo directed. Shin Hye-sun leads, with Lee Jun-young opposite her. It is Shin's first action film. The source is the webtoon of the same name. Its creator Kim Jung-hyun took the idea from an article about a teacher who ignored school violence; his real question was what that teacher would do if she became the victim. The tonal balance is odd and deliberate, sliding between comedy and heavy beatings, with the character's own anger as the hinge. It opened in Korea on 25 October 2023. Who it is for: viewers who like vigilante stories and fight choreography. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a realistic treatment of bullying; the film locates the answer in personal revenge.