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''Hello, Brother'' (), also known as ''Little Brother'', is a 2005
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n drama film directed by Lim Tai-hyung. The film starred
Bae Jong-ok Bae Jong-ok (born May 13, 1964) is a South Korean actress. She debuted as a TV actress after she was recruited by KBS, and has since been active in both film and television. While concurrently maintaining an acting career, Bae completed a doct ...
,
Park Won-sang Park Won-sang (born January 20, 1970) is a South Korean actor. Filmography Film Television Theater Ambassadorship *Ambassador for 1st Democratization Movement Memorial Park Joint Memorial Cultural Festival (2022) References External ...
, and
Park Ji-bin Park Ji-bin (; born March 14, 1995) is a South Korean actor. He began his career as a child actor, notably in '' Hello, Brother'' (2005) and ''Boys Over Flowers , is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Yoko ...
.


Plot

''Hello, Brother'' is a family drama which portrays a mischievous young boy's reaction to his older brother's battle with
childhood cancer Childhood cancer is cancer in a child. About 80% of childhood cancer cases can be successfully treated thanks to modern medical treatments and optimal patient care. However, only about 10% of children diagnosed with cancer reside in high-income cou ...
. It is based on the true story of siblings Seol-hwi and Chang-hwi.


Cast

*
Bae Jong-ok Bae Jong-ok (born May 13, 1964) is a South Korean actress. She debuted as a TV actress after she was recruited by KBS, and has since been active in both film and television. While concurrently maintaining an acting career, Bae completed a doct ...
: the mother *
Park Won-sang Park Won-sang (born January 20, 1970) is a South Korean actor. Filmography Film Television Theater Ambassadorship *Ambassador for 1st Democratization Movement Memorial Park Joint Memorial Cultural Festival (2022) References External ...
: the father *
Park Ji-bin Park Ji-bin (; born March 14, 1995) is a South Korean actor. He began his career as a child actor, notably in '' Hello, Brother'' (2005) and ''Boys Over Flowers , is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Yoko ...
: Han-yi, the younger brother * Seo Dae-han: Han-byeol, the older brother suffering from cancer * Choi Woo-hyuk: Wook-yi, another young patient in the pediatric ward * Jeon Hye-jin: Han-yi's homeroom teacher * Oh Ji-hye: Wook-yi's mother * Choi Jin-ho: Dr. Na Yeong-soo * Yang Hyeon-woo


Production

Entertainment company MK Buffalo; . announced in August 2004 that it would invest 3.2 billion into the film, with ₩1.8 billion budgeted for production costs and ₩1.4 billion for marketing. In early September, the company began raising funds for production by public
subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...
over the internet, promising 80% minimum capital preservation and distribution of additional profits if domestic viewership exceeded 1.15 million. It was believed to be the first South Korean film to attempt to raise 100% of production funds from the public prior to beginning production; the 1999 film '' Happy End'' had raised a portion of its production funds in a similar way, while the 2003 film ''
A Good Lawyer's Wife ''A Good Lawyer's Wife'' () is a 2003 South Korean film written and directed by Im Sang-soo. The film is about the various affairs of members of a dysfunctional South Korean family. Plot Ju Yeong-jak (Hwang Jung-min) is a successful lawyer who wo ...
'' had previously raised funds from internet users after production was complete. However, on 8 September, South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) intervened and ordered MK Buffalo to cease public fundraising, stating that the company had violated the Indirect Asset Management Business Act. For an English translation of the law, see with its attempt to raise funds from the public without an asset management license, and possibly with its promise of capital preservation. The company announced the following day that it would comply with the order but that it did not agree that its activities violated the law. In November, MK Buffalo announced that it would restructure the internet fund as an anonymous partnership, a kind of contract similar to the German ''Stille Gesellschaft'' or the Japanese '' tokumei kumiai''. in a second attempt to raise funds for the production from the public without violating securities regulations. Regulation of anonymous partnerships was not under the jurisdiction of the FSS; the Ministry of Finance and Economy regarded this as a loophole in investor protection laws but had no authority to intervene. MK Buffalo raised its increased target of ₩1.95 billion from 430 investors. Filming began on 11 October, while the funding controversy was still ongoing, and by 15 November the company stated it was roughly halfway complete. By early January, filming had not yet ended, though it was said to be 90% complete, with a target release date in late April. One particularly difficult scene was the one in which character Han-byeol first received cancer treatment, filmed at
Chung-Ang University Chung-Ang University (CAU; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is widely regarded as one of the best universities in South Korea. The university operates two campuses: main campus located in Dongjak District, Seoul, and ...
Medical Center. It was difficult to take smooth shots in the highly public setting, and work even had to be stopped temporarily due to complaints from patients and their visiting family members; combined with the emotional nature of the scene, this took its toll on the actors. Filming was completed on 20 January. The trailer was released on 6 February, and the
poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...
on 1 April. Soundtrack work continued in March, with veteran singer Kim Jang-hoon and child actor
Park Ji-bin Park Ji-bin (; born March 14, 1995) is a South Korean actor. He began his career as a child actor, notably in '' Hello, Brother'' (2005) and ''Boys Over Flowers , is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Yoko ...
recording a duet for release as a promotional music video. On 12 April, the release date was officially announced as 27 May.


Release and reception

An early screening of the film was held on 2 May for 600 people, including 80 of the 430 investors from whom MK Buffalo had raised funds. Investors had extremely optimistic expectations for their
rate of return In finance, return is a profit on an investment. It comprises any change in value of the investment, and/or cash flows (or securities, or other investments) which the investor receives from that investment, such as interest payments, coupons ...
. Another special screening was held on 5 May for young patients at
Asan Medical Center Asan Medical Center () is a hospital in Seoul, South Korea. It was established to put into practice the founding principles of Asan Foundation founder Chung Ju-yung. It opened on June 23, 1989, under the name Seoul Jungang (Central) Hospital, an ...
. Distribution rights for Japan, China (including
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
), and
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
were sold to Japanese company
Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not ...
for US$300,000 just prior to the film's South Korean release. ''Hello, Brother'' was expected to face stiff competition on its release date from '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'', which was released the previous day in South Korea. By 25 May, ''Star Wars III'' had sold 88.8% of its release day tickets through advance reservation, as compared to just 4.88% for ''Hello, Brother''. It came in second place behind ''Star Wars III'' at the box office on its release weekend, with 316,705 viewers in 194 cinemas. Word-of-mouth contributed to the film's popularity and gave it a strong second week, including 219 thousand viewers during the
long weekend A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or preceding Friday. Many countries also have four-day weekends, in which ...
for
Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
. The week after that it received another 122,881 viewers, breaking the one-million mark, though still short of the
break-even point The break-even point (BEP) in economics, business—and specifically cost accounting—is the point at which total cost and total revenue are equal, i.e. "even". There is no net loss or gain, and one has "broken even", though opportunity costs h ...
of 1.2 million viewers. By 19 June, after the fourth weekend, the film had received a total of 1,089,276 viewers, giving it enough revenue to cover the minimum guarantee of returning 80% of the initial capital to investors, but still short of returning profit. Prospects for future viewership were not bright; although it was not facing competition from other
family film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are ...
s at the time, it had already been moved to the smallest screening hall in many cinemas.


Notes


References


External links

* *
''Hello, Brother''
at the Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze
''Hello, Brother''
at filmweb.pl {{DEFAULTSORT:Hello, Brother 2000s Korean-language films 2005 films 2005 drama films Films shot in South Korea South Korean drama films 2000s South Korean films