''Miracle in Cell No. 7'' (; lit. "A Gift from Room 7") is a 2013 South Korean

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

starring

Ryu Seung-ryong Ryu Seung-ryong (born November 29, 1970) is a South Korean actor. Ryu began his acting career in theater, subsequently becoming one of the most versatile supporting actors in Korean film and television. In 2013, he headlined '' Miracle in Cell N ...

Kal So-won Kal So-won (; born 14 August 2006) is a South Korean child actress. She debuted with the television series '' Take Care of Us, Captain'' (2012) and is best known for starring in '' Miracle in Cell No. 7'' (2013), one of the best-selling Korean ...

and

Park Shin-hye Park Shin-hye (, born February 18, 1990) is a South Korean actress and singer. She gained recognition as a child on TV shows such as ''Stairway to Heaven'' (2003), and ''Tree of Heaven'' (2006). Later on, she would achieve further success when ...

. The film is about a mentally challenged man wrongfully imprisoned for murder, who builds friendships with the hardened criminals in his cell, who in return help him see his daughter again by smuggling her into the prison. The movie is based on the real-life story of a man who was tortured and pleaded guilty under duress to the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl on September 27, 1972 in Chuncheon before being finally exonerated in November 2008. Its early

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

was ''December 23'' ().

Plot

Ye-sung is a lawyer defending her late father for a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

he did not commit. While leaving the prison court after a successful trial, Ye-sung notices a balloon caught on barbed wire and reminisces about the past. Back in 1997, 6-year-old Ye-sung and her father, Yong-go (who is

mentally disabled Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

), stare into a store window admiring a Sailor Moon backpack. Yong-gu promises to buy Ye-sung the backpack when he gets paid. However, the police commissioner and his daughter purchased it before Yong-gu. When Yong-gu rushes in to grab the backpack, he is assaulted by the police commissioner and kicked out of the store. After the incident, the two return home without the bag, slightly battered, but in high spirits. The next day, after work, the commissioner’s daughter spots Yong-gu and tries to show him another store selling the same backpack. In an unfortunate accident, the little girl slips running on the market’s icy pavement and a brick drops on her head, killing her. Yong-gu is arrested for rape and murder after his futile attempts at CPR are misconstrued by a female bystander. Yong-gu is sent to prison, where he shares a jail cell (titled "Room 7") with five other inmates, all who initially dislike him for his falsely accused crime and mental disability. One day, Yong-gu saves the life of his cellmate and prison gang leader, So Yang-ho, from being stabbed by a rival prison gang leader. Touched at this, Yang-ho then offers to help Yong-gu in any way he can to return the favor. Yong-gu tells Yang-ho that he wants to see his daughter Ye-sung. The inmates successfully smuggle Ye-sung into the prison when her choir visits the prison for a performance. Ye-sung is introduced to her dad’s cell mates and manages to stay for a night, but is inadvertently found by the

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

. Eventually, the warden realises that Yong-gu is not the assailant of the girl after Yong-gu saves him from an attempted arson, and allows Ye-sung to visit Yong-gu everyday after school. Before the trial takes place, Yong-gu is trained by the Room 7 inmates on how to answer potential prosecution questions and he becomes proficient in answering them. Unfortunately, the commissioner beats Yong-gu before the trial in a fit of rage, threatening to kill his daughter if he does not confess. Left with no other choice, Yong-gu sacrifices himself by lying that he killed the commissioner's daughter to protect Ye-sung. Yong-gu is then

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and the execution date is scheduled for December 23, which happens to fall on Ye-sung's birthday. Feeling sorry for Yong-gu, the inmates decide to build a

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...

for Yong-gu to escape. During a prison concert, the inmates send Yong-gu and Ye-sung on the balloon while the guards pretend to be overwhelmed, but the balloon's rope is caught by barbed wire. On the day of Yong-gu's execution, the inmates and Yong-gu celebrate Ye-sung's birthday before he is executed. In court 16 years later (in the present), Ye-sung, the prison warden and the Room 7 inmates all attend Yong-gu's trial to prove his innocence. The judge exonerates Yong-gu by overturning the previous verdict and granting him a posthumous acquittal, as well as a court order to re-investigate the girl's death, to the joy of the former Room 7 inmates, the warden, and tearful Ye-sung. The scene then returns to the beginning of the film, where Ye-sung has a

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

of Yong-gu and her younger self on the hot air balloon waving goodbye. She tearfully says goodbye to her father as the balloon flies away.

Cast

as Lee Yong-gu *

as young Lee Ye-sung *

as adult Lee Ye-sung *

Oh Dal-su Oh Dal-su (born 15 June 1968) is a South Korean actor. Career Oh Dal-su began his acting career in theater in Busan, and since 2001 has been the head of theater company ''Singiru Manhwagyeong'' ("Mirage and Kaleidoscope"). His rich experience ...

as So Yang-ho *

Jung Jin-young Jung Jin-young may refer to: * Jung Jin-young (actor) (born 1964), South Korean actor * Jung Jin-young (singer) Jung Jin-young (; born November 18, 1991), professionally known as Jinyoung, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, record producer ...

as Jang Min-hwan *

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 ...

as Choi Chun-ho *

Kim Jung-tae Kim Jung-tae (born Kim Tae-wook on December 13, 1972) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his supporting roles on film and television. Career He made his acting debut in 1999 with the film ''The Uprising'' under his birth name Kim Tae ...

as Kang Man-beom *

Jung Man-sik Jung Man-sik (; born December 11, 1974) is a South Korean actor. His name is also romanized as ''Jeong Man-sik'' or ''Joung Man-sik''. Filmography Film Television series * '' Jungle Fish 2'' (KBS2, 2010) * '' Athena: Goddess of War'' (SBS, ...

as Shin Bong-shik * Kim Ki-cheon as Old man Da-do *

Kang Ye-seo Kang Ye-seo (; born August 22, 2005), better known mononymously as Yeseo, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known for competing on the Mnet survival competition show '' Girls Planet 999'' and ranking 6th in the final episode, m ...

as Choi Ji-yeon (cameo)

Box office

The film took 4.6 million admissions (the equivalent of more than ) in its first two weeks due to strong

word of mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

. Despite the release of ''

The Berlin File ''The Berlin File'' (; lit. "Berlin") is a 2013 South Korean action thriller 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 ...

'', it drew in 15% more audience members on its third week, with seat booking at 75.8%. 32 days after its release, it became only the eighth film in Korean cinema history to break the 10 million mark in ticket sales. This was especially notable since ''Miracle in Cell No. 7'' had a modest budget with a break-even point of 1.7 million admissions, making its eventual profit the highest among the films that reached 10 million. The film exceeded 12 million viewers 46 days after its release. On March 15, 2013, 52 days after its release, ticket sales reached 12.32 million, making it the seventh highest grossing Korean film of all time. Analysts say among the reasons for its success was the long lunar new year holiday and families going to see the film in groups. The film proved to be especially popular among middle-aged and elderly Koreans.

Awards and nominations

Remakes

The film was adapted into a Kannada movie in 2017 titled ''

Pushpaka Vimana Vimāna are mythological flying palaces or chariots described in Hindu texts and Sanskrit epics. The "Pushpaka Vimana" of Ravana (who took it from Kubera; Rama returned it to Kubera) is the most quoted example of a vimana. Vimanas are also menti ...

''. Kross Pictures to produce the official Hindi remake of the movie in collaboration with Indian Film Studios and was directed by Umesh Shukla. It was also adapted in 2019 in Turkey as '' 7. Koğuştaki Mucize'' starring Aras Bulut İynemli in the lead role. This is an entirely dramatic interpretation and adds several story elements and characters. The film was also adapted in the Philippines with the same title, starring

Aga Muhlach Ariel Aquino Muhlach"Aga Muchlach biography"
''IMDB''. Retrieved June 13, 2014. (; born August ...

Bela Padilla Krista Elyse Hidalgo Sullivan (born May 3, 1991), better known by her stage name Bela Padilla (), is a Filipino-British actress, film producer, film director, screenwriter, television host, and brand ambassador. She is best known for Televisi ...

and Xia Vigor. Indonesia adapted the film with the same title in 2022, while remakes are being planned in Spain, and the United States.

References

External links

* * * * {{Blue Dragon Film Award Audience Choice 2013 films 2013 comedy-drama films South Korean comedy-drama films South Korean courtroom films South Korean prison films Films shot in Seoul Films shot in Daejeon Next Entertainment World films 2010s Korean-language films Films directed by Lee Hwan-kyung Films about miscarriage of justice South Korean legal films South Korean films remade in other languages 2013 comedy films Films about father–daughter relationships 2010s South Korean films