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''Secretly, Greatly'' () is a 2013 South Korean
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comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film starring
Kim Soo-hyun Kim Soo-hyun (; born February 16, 1988) is a South Korean actor. He is the recipient of five Baeksang Arts Awards, two Grand Bell Awards and one Blue Dragon Film Award. Kim made his television debut in 2007 with the family sitcom ''Kimchi Che ...
, Park Ki-woong, and Lee Hyun-woo, who play North Korean spies who infiltrate South Korea as a village idiot, a rock musician, and a high school student, respectively. They assimilate to small-town life while awaiting their orders, until one day, due to a sudden power shift in the North, their mission turns out to be an order to commit suicide. The film is based on the 2010 spy
webtoon Webtoons () are a type of episodic digital comics that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allo ...
series ''Covertness'' by Hun, which has received over 40 million page hits. Upon its release on June 5, 2013, the film broke several box office records in South Korea: the highest single day opening for a domestic film, most tickets sold in one day for a domestic film, the biggest opening weekend, the highest-grossing webtoon-based film, and the fastest movie to reach the million, two million, three million, and four million marks in audience number. Movie pundits attribute its success to a large percentage of teen audience turnout.


Plot

A group of spies called the 5446 Corps were trained by North Korean elite special forces since their youth, ostensibly towards the lofty goal of unifying Korea. They are ambitiously dispatched to South Korea, where each disguises himself as a fool, an aspiring singer, and a high school student. Passing boring time without receiving any orders from the North, they gradually get used to life as ordinary neighbors in a small town until one day, their mundane lives are turned upside down when a "secret and great" mission is suddenly assigned to them. Due to the events of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, South Korea demands the names, location, and rank of 30 North Korean spies active in South Korea, promising financial aid to the North on the condition that
Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...
turns in their spies. To prevent the elites from falling into enemy hands, the North Korean government orders dozens of active duty spies to take their own lives. Meanwhile, their North Korean army instructor Kim Tae-won crosses the border to eliminate those who refuse to follow.


Cast


Principal

*
Kim Soo-hyun Kim Soo-hyun (; born February 16, 1988) is a South Korean actor. He is the recipient of five Baeksang Arts Awards, two Grand Bell Awards and one Blue Dragon Film Award. Kim made his television debut in 2007 with the family sitcom ''Kimchi Che ...
- Lieutenant Won Ryu-hwan / Bang Dong-gu :North Korean top agent who beat out 20,000 other competitors, is fluent in five languages and has an uncanny ability to read people. Disguised as a village idiot. * Park Ki-woong - Rhee Hae-rang / Kim Min-su :Son of a high ranking North Korean official Rhee Moo-Hyuk, and as an agent is almost as good as Ryu-hwan. Disguised as a singer-wannabe. * Lee Hyun-woo - Rhee Hae-jin :The youngest secret agent in North Korean history. Disguised as a high school student.


Supporting

* Son Hyun-joo - Colonel Kim Tae-won, 5446 Corps training chief *Park Hye-sook - Jeon Soon-im, "Market granny" * Kim Sung-kyun - Seo Soo-hyuk, NIS team leader * Go Chang-seok - 2nd Lieutenant Seo Sang-gu / Professor Seo Young-guk * Jang Gwang - Go Hwi-sun, "Old man Go" * Shin Jung-geun - Mr. Park, the barber *Hong Kyung-in - Jo Doo-seok, Soon-im's son * Lee Chae-young - Heo Jeom-ran, nicknamed "Ran" * Park Eun-bin - Yoon Yoo-ran *
Choi Woo-shik Choi Woo-shik (; born March 26, 1990) is a Canadian actor based in South Korea. He first gained recognition for starring in the film ''Set Me Free (2014 film), Set Me Free'' (2014) and the Korean drama, television series ''Hogu's Love'' (2015) ...
- Yoon Yoo-joo, Yoo-ran's younger brother * Joo Hyun - Rhee Moo-hyuk, 5446 Corps founder and Hae-rang's father * Goo Seung-hyun - Hwang Chi-woong *Jo Yong-jin - Hwang Se-woong, Chi-woong's Younger brother *Lee Yeon-kyung - Chi-woong and Se-woong's mother *Kim Young-jin - Kim Hee-kwan, former MPAF head * Uhm Tae-goo - Hwang Jae-oh * Moon Won-joo as Choi Wan-woo *Kim Beop-rae - NIS director *Lee Min - department head *Yoon Won-seok - Deong-chi *Park Jeong-gi - strike-force team leader * Lee Jae-woo as North Korea Military Officer *Go In-beom - Choi Jin-tak, NIS chief *Lee Bo-hyeon - NIS agent *Yook Se-jin - NIS agent * Kang Eun-tak - NIS agent *Park Jang-shik - NIS agent *Won Hyeon-jun - NIS agent *Heo Seok - NIS agent *Son Jun-young - young Ryu-hwan *Hong Tae-ui - young Hae-rang * Sung Yu-bin - young Hae-jin *Kim Do-gyun - audition judge *Park Hwi-sun


Reception

With 498,282 tickets sold on the day of its release, ''Secretly, Greatly'' recorded the highest single day opening of all time (by a domestic film) in South Korea, surpassing the record previously held by '' The Host'', which opened with about 450,000 tickets sold in 2006. Within just 36 hours after its release, the film drew 1,011,025 viewers, becoming the fastest movie to reach the million mark in audience number, in the nation. For its second day (which coincided with Korea's Memorial Day holiday), it recorded the largest admissions total for a single day (by a domestic film) with 919,035 viewers. 72 hours after its release, the number of tickets sold for ''Secretly, Greatly'' crossed the 2 million border, making it the fastest film to do so. On its fifth day of release, the total ticket sales broke the 3 million mark, as the fastest record of all time. The film recorded the biggest opening weekend with a total of 3,491,294 viewers, beating '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'' which opened with 3,356,316 viewers in 2011. It also became the highest-grossing webtoon-based movie in the nation, surpassing 2010 film ''
Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...
'' with 3,408,144 tickets sold. On its eighth day of release, the film became the fastest movie to reach the 4 million mark in audience number, tied with '' The Host'', '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'', '' The Thieves'', and ''
Iron Man 3 ''Iron Man 3'' is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Iron Man (2008 film), Iron Man'' (2008) an ...
''. By the twelfth day, it drew 5 million viewers. In nineteen days, it became the fourth highest-grossing film of 2013 in the nation, behind '' Miracle in Cell No. 7'' (12.32 million), ''
Iron Man 3 ''Iron Man 3'' is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Iron Man (2008 film), Iron Man'' (2008) an ...
'' (8.99 million), and ''
The Berlin File ''The Berlin File'' (; lit. "Berlin") is a 2013 South Korean action spy film written and directed by Ryoo Seung-wan. Ha Jung-woo stars as a North Korean agent in Berlin who is betrayed and cut loose when a weapons deal is exposed. Together with ...
'' (7.16 million), garnering over 6.96 million in audience.


International release

The film was released in multiple territories across Asia and North America. In North America, it was the centerpiece presentation of the 12th
New York Asian Film Festival The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is a film festival held in New York City dedicated to the display of Asian film and culture. The New York Asian Film Festival generally features contemporary premieres and classic titles from Eastern Asia ...
held on 11 July 2013. Following its festival date, it opened in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
on 19 July before rolling out to 10-15 US cities throughout the summer. The 2nd Atlanta Korean Film Festival also screened the film along with several other South Korean films. In addition, the 17th
Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...
in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
screened the film in mid-July ahead of its 26 July Canadian release date. In Asia, the film was first screened in
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
starting on 18 July before opening in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
on 26 July 2013. It then expanded across the region during the season with runs in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
,
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and
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, where Kim made his appearance for the local premiere in late July. Deals were also brokered with
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. The film was also screened at the 17th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and won the NH Nonghyup Citizen's Choice Award. In Europe, the film was included at the ''Signals: How to Survive'' program section of the 43rd
International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...
held from 22 January to 2 February 2014.


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * * *
''Covertness'' webtoon
at Daum {{Kakao Webtoon 2013 films 2010s spy comedy-drama films 2010s action comedy-drama films South Korean spy films South Korean action comedy-drama films Live-action films based on comics Films based on South Korean webtoons Films directed by Jang Cheol-soo Showbox films 2013 comedy-drama films 2010s South Korean films 2010s Korean-language films