Citizen Deok Hee (2024)

A plot written by real life.

Brilliant. I can go into rhapsodies about “Citizen of a Kind.” About the well made KMovie. About the authentic and stirringly positive energy that the film conveys. (And this despite the fact that the issue dealt with is shocking, cruel and profoundly mean right up to the end.) About the wonderful heroine, who is convincingly portrayed by Ra Mi-ran. About the true heroine in real life, who actually made this story come to life. About the haunting production, which, despite the captivating story and many touching, even quite brutal scenes, still has the touch of a lively road movie.

A plot written by real life.
Womanpower and sisterhood included.
Awesome.

















PS:

There might be a growing amount among the audience who probably by now has someone in their wider circle of acquaintances who has become - or almost became - a victim of a voice phishing fraud ring. The personal material damage is only one (very painful) side of the ugly coin. Almost worse is the side with psychological injuries, all centered about shame and guilt, which run deep.

In the case of "Citizen of a Kind", the victim out of sheer desperation chooses a rather extreme offensive path of coming to terms with it. However, most victims remain stuck in their trauma. On the one hand, they remain emotionally exposed to the tormenting feeling of the helpless loss of control they have suffered. On the other hand, they torment themselves with persistent feelings of guilt because (in the eyes of themselves and of others, too) they “fell for it themselves” and therefore “made themselves responsible” for their loss. The emotional dilemma is fatal. What makes things even more difficult is that the real perpetrators usually remain in the dark, are difficult to pin down and therefore rarely can be actually dealt with as a real counterpart.

In "Citizen of a Kind" the victim searches for the perpetrator on her own, finds him, and at the same time becomes the savior of potential further victims (of this perpetrator). That feels so good.

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"I'm not a step behind, you're always a step ahead!"

Inspired by a true story of a mom working in a laundromat who fell victim to phishing, Citizen of a Kind showed that bad guys really should avoid ticking off the wrong ahjumma. Especially if she has equally tenacious friends.

Single mom Kim Deok Hui is in dire straits financially after her house burned. Initially denied a loan, a bank manager calls her suggesting a special loan for low-income applicants. In order to qualify she has to borrow money from loan sharks to meet all the requirements. Then the bottom falls out when Kim discovers it was all a scam. The police are no help and without the money she and her kids are left homeless. Misfortune continues to fall. When a Korean worker at the call center phones her asking for help to escape, Kim sees this as her chance to bring down the criminals and get her money back.

Ra Mi Ran was perfect for the role of Kim Deok Hui, the loving mom who was determined to find the people responsible for stealing her money. Kim fearlessly tracked down every lead, despite the police and Detective Park being fairly feckless. Yeom Hye Ran as the bilingual Bong Rim as usual gave a strong performance. Gong Myung as Kwon Jae Min acquitted himself well as the imprisoned caller desperately wanting to escape. Jang Yoon Ju was the weak link for me. Perhaps she was supposed to be the comic relief but her vocal intonation was set on shriek for most of the film.

Knowing it was based on a real woman who lost so much made the stakes high for the film. The film itself may have not broken new ground but the ahjumma posse tracking the criminal organization across two countries was entertaining to watch, largely due to the actresses’ performances. The film had comedy and thrilling moments with some violence and everything held together by Ra as the justice seeking ahjumma. Worth a try.

21 September 2025
7.75 bumped up to an 8.0

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