miracle in cell no 7 korean movie review

Movie Review: Miracle in Cell No. 7

By headsno2.

Out of last year’s biggest hits, perhaps none is as much of a household name as Miracle in Cell No. 7 , which was not only the highest-grossing film of the year but also the third highest-grossing domestic film of all time, trailed only by The Thieves and The Host . No small feat, that’s for sure.

To add to its long list of accolades, lead actor Ryu Seung-ryong took home the grand prize for film at the 49th Baeksang Arts Awards as well as a top acting award at the 50th Grand Bell Awards, though overall there wasn’t one solid sweep across the awards ceremonies where anyone was concerned. Which isn’t such a bad thing when the awards year that preceded it was positively dominated by Gwanghae, The Man Who Became King , so it’s good to see the love spread around a bit more evenly this time around.

With a budget much lower than most of its fellow box office winners and a cast devoid of the usual A-list suspects, Miracle in Cell No. 7 tells a much more intimate story that knows exactly which strings to pull in order to deliver both a heartwarming testament to the tenacity of the human spirit, as well as the saddest story ever told . Though its overall message is positive if not distinctly bittersweet, it seems a fair warning to potential audience members experiencing a rough patch or those with fluctuating views on the state of humanity that this may not be the right movie for you.

On the other hand, maybe this is the perfect movie for you, since it could very well restore your faith in your fellow man and/or give you the good cathartic cry you’ve been needing. Personally, I’m torn between loving everything about the film and feeling irrationally angry toward it for making me sob piteously for hours. To put that in perspective, at the time of writing this review (nearly a day later), my eyes are still puffy enough to suggest that there’s been a death in the family. Try seeing how sympathetic someone’s ear remains when you explain away your tear-streaked face as being the result of a sad movie and not a life-threatening and/or otherwise horrible situation. The result is not pleasant.

Note: There will be some spoilers. There’s no big twist in the end to preserve, but I’ll try to avoid the story’s biggest (only?) secret.

The story revolves around the relationship between a mentally challenged father and his daughter when he’s falsely accused of murder and incarcerated. During his time in prison he’s met with hatred and scorn for the perceived terribleness of his crime, which not only includes killing a little girl (who so happens to be the police commissioner’s daughter), but of cruelly kidnapping and molesting her as well.

Perhaps because the dead little girl is the daughter of such a prominent man does the case fly through the courts without anything resembling due process, and it’s as if no one realizes that the perpetrator lacks the mental faculties needed to represent or stand up for himself when everyone is against him from the start—even including the policemen and lawyers whose job it is to assume his innocence. Instead, they work only to prove his guilt, because there’s literally nothing to stop them. Especially not the law.

What follows is a story that takes place in two time periods. There’s the modern storyline, where the father’s grown-up daughter works as a lawyer to clear his name—though that takes up far less screen time than the flashback to 1997, the year that her father was accused and imprisoned in Cell No. 7. It was there that he met the cellmates who would become not only his friends but also family to him and his daughter after they devise an (admittedly improbable) plan to sneak her into the prison. Soon the entire prison population joins in the effort to try and save the innocent man from being executed, culminating in a heart-rending and revelatory masterpiece which manages to shine a spotlight on humanity at its best and at its unbelievable, infuriating worst.

Ryu Seung-ryong plays YONG-GU, a man with the intelligence of a child but whose world revolves around his young daughter. She, on the other hand, has been forced by circumstance and unconditional love into becoming the parent of their little family, no matter the fact that she’s only a child. She manages the household finances, pays the bills, and keeps her dad on track for the simple job he holds in order to keep the pair of them afloat. They’re poor but happy, and one of their daily activities is to visit a storefront with a coveted Sailor Moon backpack on display which he desperately wants to buy for his daughter, since she adores the series.

Then one day the backpack is bought, and Yong-gu is hit by the father of the little girl who bought it as Yong-gu innocently insists, through his stuttering, that the bag belongs to his daughter. Afterward, Yong-gu is no less intent on buying the bag for his daughter’s first day of school, so when the well-meaning and bag-owning little girl offers to take Yong-gu to another store which sells it, he follows her until he hears a sudden and short scream.

He ends up finding the girl lying in the street with a head wound, and doesn’t understand enough to know that she’s dead. He only knows the CPR routine that his employers trained him in, so in his efforts to revive the girl he looks as though he’s molesting her—which is exactly how he’s found. But since the dead girl was the police commissioner’s daughter, Yong-gu is unfairly put on the fast track through the justice system and is coerced, sometimes violently, into giving a false confession that he killed her. In truth, the poor man just doesn’t know any better, and doesn’t even know enough to understand his situation. He can’t defend himself, and worst of all, no one who should seems to care.

Enter Yong-gu’s daughter, YE-SUNG ( Kal So-won as a child, Park Shin-hye as an adult), whom we first meet as a grown-up lawyer trying to prove her father’s innocence in court. In the present, she’s able to look back on all the evidence and prove just how faulty and wrong it all was, but she’s unable to change the past. Yong-gu had no such defender then, which is why he went straight to jail to await sentencing.

In both incarnations, Ye-sung is nothing but devoted to her father, and gets the chance to see him in prison when his cellmates sneak her in from a Christian ministry event (there’s a recurring joke about how Ye-sung’s name is pronounced the same way as “Jesus” is in Korean) hosted by the orphanage she’s sent to. In saving the life of one of his gangster cellmates from getting shanked, Yong-gu earned the favor of getting to see her.

What’s meant to only be a short visit turns into an extended stay, as Yong-gu’s cellmates realize that it’s much easier to sneak her into prison than it is to sneak her out. Unlike Yong-gu, each of his cellmates is an actual criminal, though they’re painted as big ole teddy bears who become little more than putty in Ye-sung’s small hands. Even when she colors in a Sailor Moon outfit over one of their naked centerfold girls (hah), they can’t even hold it against her.

They get a little family going, with all the cellmates acting like uncles to her and hiding her (since it’s their hides on the line too), but the charade only lasts for so long. They’re eventually discovered by the prison’s CHIEF JANG ( Jung Jin-young ), who harbors no good will toward Yong-gu, whom he assumes is guilty of his crimes. And while it’s not made explicitly clear, it’s hinted that the chief had a young son he lost, which is likely why he finds Yong-gu’s crime of killing a child so heinous.

But after a prison riot erupts upon discovering Ye-sung, Yong-gu doesn’t hesitate to save the chief from a burning room. Obviously, Yong-gu doesn’t save people with any other intention but saving them, so it’s not like he throws his life on the line to move the chief’s heart—he’s not aware enough to think that way, which only goes to prove how truly good-hearted Yong-gu is and how he’d never even hurt a fly, much less a human.

Chief Jang starts to suspect the same after his brush with death, and goes from being one of Yong-gu’s undeserved enemies to a worthy ally, even if the power he holds can’t match the police commissioner’s determination to see Yong-gu pay dearly for his crime. But like Yong-gu’s fellow prisoners, Chief Jang soon figures out that Yong-gu couldn’t have committed the crime he’s accused of, and joins in the effort to try and give him a fighting chance at his trial. He’s also so moved by the relationship between Ye-sung and her father—especially when she goes on a hunger strike as a form of protest—that he not only begins to allow Ye-sung to visit, he actually facilitates her visits by picking her up from school only to drop her off with her prison uncles.

Speaking of, the order of uncles from left to right goes: Leader SO YANG-HO ( Oh Dal-su ) doing time for smuggling, Elder SEO ( Kim Ki-cheon ) for insurance fraud, SHIN BONG-SHIK ( Jeong Man-shik ) for unknown crimes, KANG MAN-BUM ( Kim Jung-tae ) for adultery, and last but certainly not least, CHOI CHUN-HO ( Park Won-sang ), for swindling.

Little Ye-sung brings joy into each of their lives with understanding far beyond her years, as she does good deeds like teaching the illiterate Leader So how to read and smuggling a cell phone in so Bong-shik can call his pregnant wife. They’re as real a family as any.

And because they’re family, there comes a point where all the uncles band together to help Yong-gu for his upcoming trial, playing out the crime scene with all its possible results until they can glean what actually happened (since Yong-gu can’t paint a full picture for them). They finally come to the conclusion that the little girl he’s accused of killing merely slipped on ice and hit her head. It wasn’t even a murder, it was just a terrible accident.

Since they can’t accompany Yong-gu to his trial, they spend countless hours drilling him on what to say to the judge and just how to profess his innocence. They work around Yong-gu’s learning disability by drilling him at all times of the day to test his readiness, and by having him memorize a statement as best he can. Even Chief Jang gets a petition from the prisoners together to give to Yong-gu’s public defender, only to be disgusted when the lawyer proves he has no intentions of protecting Yong-gu or fighting for a fair trial.

What’s perhaps the hardest aspect of the story to swallow is how cruel the system is to Yong-gu, and how completely and willfully blind it is to his inability to stand trial. We’re aware that this is a personal issue to the police commissioner, but it becomes difficult not to hate him when he refuses to take Yong-gu’s state of mind into account and wants him declared guilty no matter what.

There are laws today that protect the mentally incompetent from this kind of treatment, especially if they’re unable to even understand what they’re being accused of—which seems to be the case with Yong-gu. I’m no expert on the Korean criminal system of the late 1990’s, but the way it’s painted here makes it seem like a literal Dark Age for CSI and due process, never mind that protections for the intellectually infirm have roots going all the way back to the Code of Hammurabi. But for whatever reason, we have to assume that the code of law was easy to manipulate before the year of our lord 2013, even if the injustice of it all is rage-inducing. No wonder why Ye-sung grew up to become a lawyer.

I went into this movie completely blind, knowing only that Ryu Seung-ryong was starring and that it would be about a group of men in prison. Looking back now, I can’t pinpoint which moment it was where I realized, truly realized, that this is the kind of movie that breaks people.

That’s not as negative as it sounds, though it certainly is something not every movie achieves or even aims for. It tells a story that has the power to move and transport its audience, even with all the improbabilities of having a little girl traipsing in and out of a prison or a justice system so skewed it can’t possibly be real. I had considered covering my behind by giving the disclaimer that you’re not a robot if you could watch this film and feel nothing, but I’d also be really curious to know if anyone who watched became disengaged because they felt manipulated.

Every emotional moment feels engineered to fill our hearts and take our tears, sure, but there’s no result or truth the movie comes to that feels disingenuous to its fully-realized world and characters. There’s nothing preventing us from following Yong-gu, little Ye-sung, all the prison uncles and even Chief Jang on their separate but connected journeys—even if the emotional wallop hits close to home. Like all the characters come to realize, Yong-gu is a wonderful man and an even better father, someone worthy of living a full and happy life. That’s what inherently makes the basic premise of this film so heartbreaking out of the starting gate: that we know Yong-gu is imprisoned for something he not only didn’t do, but couldn’t have done.

Ryu Seung-ryong has been a versatile staple of many recent successful films like Gwanghae, The Man Who Became King , Bow, The Ultimate Weapon , and The Front Line , but his masterful performance as an intellectually-disabled, goodhearted father is perhaps his most defining role to date. He injects such sensitivity and warmth into a character who’s barely able to voice his own thoughts beyond a single, stuttered sentence at best—and muted, dense silence at worst.

Perhaps most striking about Yong-gu as a character was watching how hard he tried to understand and comprehend, since the moments which really stayed with me after the movie ended were his moments of clarity. The very look in his eyes would shift and change when he could grasp just enough of any given situation to make decisions based on the person he loved more than anything and would give anything for: his daughter.

In that sense, this is a love story, pure and simple. Whether it’s the deep and palpable love keenly felt between father and daughter or between Yong-gu and his cellmates and prison guards, each of these different kinds of love are explored in beautiful and unabashedly human detail. If I had to name only one reason why this movie was such a complete success, it’s that the act of watching it becomes more than just a spectator sport. To watch it is to experience it. And I can think of no better reason to go to the movies than that.

Bottom line: Deeply moving and emotionally heartfelt, Miracle in Cell No. 7 boasts fantastic performances from a quirky set of characters in circumstances that are perhaps a little too fanciful at times, but no less compelling for it. A rare gem that will truly make you laugh and cry before making you do it all over again backward and six times over. 9/10.

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Tags: featured , Jung Jin-young , Kim Jung-tae , Park Shin-hye , Ryu Seung-ryong

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1 shadowbunny

March 10, 2014 at 4:07 am.

omg, finally!! thank you so much HeadsNo2! i've been waiting to hear Dramabeans' thoughts on this movie for aaaaaages ;)

janzel nga pla

August 18, 2014 at 6:32 pm, august 29, 2014 at 3:52 pm.

Hey, nothing great in men here admitting to crying during all the emotionally charged, tearjerker scenes. Only dumb weak females feel proud of saying how much they cried and hugged each other during the movie. All emotion aside, was the Father really guilty at the end? The way he broke down on the walk to being executed, saying sorry repeatedly after hugging his daughter. Saying ''Please, I'll never do it again I was wrong. Forgive me, I'm sorry''. Was this actually an admission of guilt?

Could it be he did actually molest and kill the innocent child, the daughter of the commissioner? Did anyone here even consider that possibility instead of talking about how they cried during the end. Use some damn logic.

September 20, 2014 at 12:44 PM

He didn't kill her, he was just saying the "I'll never do it again" thing because of the threat he received. He had to act like he was the one who did it, otherwise the father of the victim would kill Yong-Gu's daughter.

October 29, 2014 at 5:25 PM

That damn logic youre referring should you be needing that now?

Because as far as a father's concern, and for the love of his daughter he admitted a terrible accusation which will imprison him maybe for life if he was not aware that he was about to be executed?

To his perspective, unknowingly aware of the consequences, the only thing he can do for his daughter is protection.

Assuming that maybe he did molested and killed her, our instinct would tell us that he should bear the same consequence, but his mental incapability to comprehend what was happening, and maybe his right to defend himself has been strip off from him due to injustice system of law manipulation.

But this is not the case the story was to prove that he was innocent. And dude thats the reason "why those dumb females hug each other and cry buckets".

October 10, 2015 at 3:07 AM

hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 23, 2016 at 11:31 PM

You noob!How could you say he was guilty?He was intellectually impared!

October 10, 2015 at 3:06 AM

March 10, 2014 at 4:10 am.

It's been long since I watched heartwarming family movie. Wacthing Miracle in Cell no. 7 makes me want to re-watch a 2002 movie The Way Home (and facing the fact that now the kid in that movie (Yoo Seung Ho) is doing a military service).

3 Oppa lover

March 10, 2014 at 4:16 am.

You know, I saw Ryu Seung-ryong in Personal Taste, and when I watched this movie, I was like, is he the same actor?? This dude has got some real acting chops. I am normally very picky about actors'/actresses' acting but I could not find a single crack in his acting. Kudos!

Apart from Ryu Seung-ryong's FANTASTIC performance, I love the plot. When his grown daughter tries to appeal for him in the court, his absence really heightens the sense of tragedy. I say tragedy because despite the few comedic moments in this movie, Yong-gu is ultimately let down by the biased and cruel justice system. The last few scenes of the movie released a torrent of tears that I had been trying very hard to withhold.

March 10, 2014 at 7:14 AM

The last part of this movie did me in too, especially when that hot air balloon went over the prison walls! I thought it had turned into a fantasy movie, and father and daughter floated away to safety. It was so cruel to come back to reality. I felt a lump in my throat and chest for days after. But Ryu SR's performance was priceless.

I'd watch it and cry all over again, in a heartbeat!

March 11, 2014 at 7:35 AM

Yeah..me too. I was crying for almost last one hour as soon as I realized Young-gu is not gonna be joining his daughter in the present. Suddenly, I was given n opportunity to see positiveness when his jail-mates started planning for his escape, what's with all the energetic music and happiness and their eagerness..... I was in for roller coaster ALL over again.. AND I was watching this at the middle of the saturday night when people around me were SLEEPING PEACEFULLY! I was hard-pressed not to bawl out loud. Oof. I heard in all reviews that this was a good movie, so I wished to watch it. On saturday, I watched God's Gift and thought, okay, let's relax a bit and started watching this.. I was in for ONE HELL OF A SURPRISE!!

Yes, EVERYTHING was good about the movie. But, it made my CRY like something which is WHY I HATE IT. bad, bad movie..

May 13, 2014 at 9:07 AM

I am confuse of the movie, I like to ask if the father died already because he is not with his daughter in the end. Please clarify me if you know. thank you .

June 20, 2014 at 6:26 AM

the father died. He is sentenced to death, dec 27 1997, the day her daughter left.

July 6, 2014 at 4:23 AM

his father was sentenced with death penalty and on christmas eve the sentence was served.. few years forward the girl plead to reverse the sentence in court though her father has long gone.... to clean her father's name and she was successful...that's the difficult part to watch.. why.. why only then?

August 29, 2014 at 3:35 PM

That's reality bitch, you can't float away to safety on a balloon. Even if you should or deserve to......

September 1, 2014 at 11:26 AM

And in the movie All About My Wife. He's a ladies man there and did very well. And the movie was hilarious.

March 10, 2014 at 4:23 AM

I watched it last year on a flight to Korea, and cried a bucket of tears. Loved it. Kal So Won was amazing.

March 10, 2014 at 5:59 AM

Same here! I watched it on a flight and cried truck loads of tears. It was rather embarrassing since I was actually sobbing really badly. I had to muffle it with the blanket. LOL

March 10, 2014 at 8:07 AM

OMG, me too. i watched it on the plane and i was sobbing uncontrollably. People next to me was staring at me and i didnt even bother to explain to him why i was crying because i was so engrossed in watching the movie.

Reading the review makes my heart aches again,hehe. Sorry for my bad english.

March 10, 2014 at 7:10 PM

I watched it last year on a flight from Korea. And also cried a bucket of tears. My mom sitting next to me thought I was being the big ol' softy that I am until she finished watching it herself. Sadly, my attempt to recap the movie for my friends was no where close to Head's recap...I ought to share this recap with them....

5 daebakdramas

March 10, 2014 at 4:42 am.

I watched it in a cinema half filled with teenage boys and the other filled with teenage girls and a few adults. Everyone cried including the boys (could hear them trying to stifle their sobs across the aisle) and I held it in until the haraboji next to me broke down.

Such an amazing film - great acting, great story. Probably the most heart-warming Korean film I've seen (and the one that emptied my tear ducts).

March 10, 2014 at 4:53 AM

Heads, just reading your recap makes me cry again...sobs sobs... I love this movie! sobs again

March 10, 2014 at 5:06 AM

Thanks for the review =)

I went into the movie without knowing much but when you have names like Ryu Seung-ryong, Oh Dal Su, Jeong Man Shik etc. you can't really do any wrong.

And damn this movie ... After one hour the waterfall started and it didn't end until like 1 hour after I finsihed he movie^^

RSR gave an amazing performance and Kal So Won is one of the child actresses to look out for!

March 10, 2014 at 5:08 AM

I was lucky I watched it all alone in my room. Completely did not expect the amount of tears I shed for this movie! And I was in such a low mood the rest of the evening, complete with random bouts of crying when I recalled certain parts that were especially moving.

March 10, 2014 at 12:43 PM

keke, totally get you that happened to me when i watched Blood Diamond.haven't watched this yet though i feel i need a good cry i'm saving it for the weekend.

March 10, 2014 at 5:09 AM

Saw this on the plane. It broke me! I had about 20 minutes of film left with only 5 minutes to landing. Luckily BA let it keep playing after they took away headsets. I just let other people get off the plane.I got a little panicked and forwarded a little. I'm not Korean (I used subtitles but I got the gist) My family couldn't understand why I wasn't my usual bubbly, happy self when they pick me up. I was just too sad to explain.

10 RockPaperScissors

March 10, 2014 at 5:41 am.

Absolutely a gem of a movie. I skipped right past the crying stage and got angry because of the injustice.

Kal So Won is amazing. Take Care of Us Captain is a train wreck drama, but this young girl shone in that one. She will always be Bo Song (Fluffy) to me.

Ryu Seung Ryong is nothing short of amazing in this one. Highly recommended!

March 10, 2014 at 5:43 AM

To me, it's a shameless tearjerker where I feel the writing veers towards manipulation to get those tears, with all the stereotypical characterizations. But Ryu Seong Ryong is great as usual.

amen. I watched my fair share of tearjerkers but Miracle No7 was too manipulative. it was too obvious even for me.I cried ofc but I was also angry at the writers. I cried angry tears^^

12 buckdawna

March 10, 2014 at 5:50 am.

I DID feel manipulated by this movie, but its heart was its saving grace, and I allowed myself to indulge in the torrent of tears it induced. I usually avoid that type of movie, but Miracle in Cell No. 7 was a beautiful exception to my rule. (I'll add A Werewolf Boy and My Sister's Keeper to the list of beautiful exceptions.)

March 10, 2014 at 5:51 AM

i love Gal So Won in this! she's not your typical child actor who is so obviously reciting memorized lines. and, daddy-daughter stuff just always gets me right there.

March 10, 2014 at 6:08 AM

Saw this movie last summer and i sobbed and sobbed (really embarrassing.. lol). Its like i saved up all of my tears to let it out for this movie

All the actors did an amazing job (love the inmates), but the father-daughter pair really deserved all the awards, especially Ryu Seung Ryong, he is so versatile as an actor!

March 10, 2014 at 6:12 AM

This movie made me cry and all, but had many things that bothered me.

In this movie the guy was arrested just because of superficial evidence based on witness. There was not real evidence he hanged her, sexually harassment or the murder weapon with his fingerprints to prove he killed the girl. It was all based on what the witness said and police said.

Also bothered me how every prisoner was portrayed later as a nice and kind guy.

How they let a little girl live inside prison for days- something bad/dangerous could always happen - but of course it wouldn't in this movie.

(sorry being too sensitive but in my country had some scandals involving little girls inside the prison - and it isn't because there is a loving father there - plus they just find out months later)

Btw, why in every drama about murder they always give the mentally challenged people the blame and no one investigate it? Really now?

There is 14 days with the same topic, this drama, and another dramas I can't remember right now.

Maybe I didn't enjoy this drama so much since I'm a law student lol sorry guys, it just bothered me a lot.

thanks for recapping Heads!

16 Genie in Can

March 10, 2014 at 6:19 am.

This movie made me cry buckets of tears... I was so much affected by the story line and I really loved IT!!!

Congratulations to all of the cast and the crew of this movie!! love lots!!! ;) <3 <3 <3

17 #pray for MH370

March 10, 2014 at 6:38 am.

I love this movie!.. cried my eyeballs out and love all the main characters (well.. the good guys or.. the "bad" guys. Thank you for doing the review of this wonderful movie..

18 CaroleMcDonnell

March 10, 2014 at 6:56 am.

Oh Dang, I wonder if I could sit through this. But I do need to cry buckets..so maybe I can endure. Suffering disabled people just break my heart, add the kid factor and I'll be blubbering.

Thanks, HeadsNo2.

March 10, 2014 at 6:59 AM

OMG... I hardly found a copy of this mid last year and luckily I watched this drama on my way home, guess what on the PLANE... 3 hours of my 9 hours flight i was crying and crying and crying.

March 10, 2014 at 7:18 AM

I cried buckets while watching this movie. I recommended my friend to watch it & she told me she cried like crazy as well. My mum watched it too and complained to me why I let her watch such a sad movie while crying (she's an easy crier which is why she doesn't really like watching sad movies lol)

21 wednesdays

March 10, 2014 at 7:24 am.

I was alternating between crying and laughing althrough out watching this movie.... and still cant get myself to watch it again... no matter how much i enjoyed it, i dont wanna cry that hard again....

22 DayDreamer

March 10, 2014 at 7:27 am.

What a beautifully written review. It made my heart ache just reading it…imagine what would happen while watching. Heartwarming and heartrending…..I am definitely going to hunt this down with english subs. Seriously, thanks for such an eloquent review. I'll come back to put in my thoughts about the movie itself after I've watched it.

23 DramaDevourer

March 10, 2014 at 8:05 am.

I cried buckets, surrounded by people, many of whom had already seen the film, who were also crying. Gah, I was completely not expecting the sad turn of the end.

To me, the police comissioner, while the driving villian, didn't horrify me as much as the apathetic defense lawyer, who stood aside (for money, favor?) despite knowing the truth and his moral/ethical obligations.

March 10, 2014 at 8:06 AM

I've wanted to see this movie since the EXO boys watched it on one of their X'Mas episode of Showtime! Many of the members cried while watching it even the ones who rarely show tears. Thanks for recapping this movie I'll be looking forward to it and will be ready with a huge box of tissues...

i watched this movie very recently as well, fully expecting it to be a simple heart-warming comedy. DAMN was i wrong. did laugh quite a bit but the laughter was soon drowned by my tears, tears, and more tears.

26 ilikemangos

March 10, 2014 at 8:16 am.

Ryu Seung-ryong is really one of the most versatile actors in the film industry today, and all the cast members put in strong performances.. I'd cried like nobody's business, but like a few others in the minority (it seems), i felt like i was being emotionally manipulated and that things happened just to forcefully wring out the tears..which made me angry at times. Definitely a good movie for families to gather and watch, can see why it was such a box office hit.

March 10, 2014 at 9:30 AM

So where can we watch this online with Subs?

March 10, 2014 at 11:27 AM

http://www.drama.net/miracle-in-cell-no7-2013-movie

March 11, 2014 at 4:24 AM

Now it is also available in youtube

28 Daebakmusic

March 10, 2014 at 1:47 pm.

My Cousion and I had watched this just a few moth ago, it was really good and we cried like crazy. It was so sweet and great to watch with family. Ryu seung ryong is a great actor, the way he acted in this movie made me love him more!

29 Fun-Lugha

March 10, 2014 at 1:51 pm.

Geez thanks for that, cue the waterworks ;)

30 Starrynights

March 10, 2014 at 3:31 pm.

LOOOL like most, I ended up watching this movie on the plane ride back to Canada and I cried like a baby. I was sitting in between a relative and a stranger and thankfully were both sleeping. I was trying to muffle the tears but I swear it was hard. Such a great movie and the acting was brilliant.

31 Net-chan

March 10, 2014 at 5:10 pm.

Brilliant acting from Ryu Seung-Ryong, great scenario, really heartwarming camaraderie among the inmates... I cried like a little baby, with tears all over my face and my nose running. Really. Watched the film twice, cried the same way twice. lol

It kind of reminded me of The Green Line, with Tom Hanks. Which is also an awesome film. Miracle in Cell no 7 was a tiny bit better because there was more space for warm feelings and great humour...

Defo a must-watch! It is so much better than The Thieves!

March 11, 2014 at 12:19 AM

Green Mile or Green Line?

March 11, 2014 at 2:26 PM

My bad, The Green Mile, thanks rham ^^.

March 10, 2014 at 6:42 PM

Anyone know where to watch this with English subtitles?

I've wanted to see it since I heard about it, and the review makes it seem even more like my kind of movie. I love movies that break people.

March 10, 2014 at 8:27 PM

I watched this movie a month ago and sobbed for hours after it ended. Just seeing the pictures and reading just a paragraph the tears sprung *sniffles* I both love and hate this film for the feels it makes me feel. WHHHHHYYY *swallows lump*

March 10, 2014 at 9:28 PM

i remember watching this movie with my bestfriends in class where my teacher was actually there and we totally didnt give a d*amn abt her existance and just kept watching it. we were completely absorbed to it that when it was abt to end we cried legit ugly tears that our assignments got wet. haha, good times

35 chrissy96

March 11, 2014 at 4:13 am.

I cried reading this review ;_____;

March 11, 2014 at 4:23 AM

I was moved by this film.main characters father and little daughter were great. The one who dissapointed me was park shin hye. Although she had less than 15 min screentime I could tell how awful actress she is. the way she was presenting herself as lawyer in court was awful. Her dialogue delivery and emotional expression were so bad. Except her all the actors were great. I had tears watching father and daughter's relationship

March 11, 2014 at 6:23 AM

people say PSH is a good actress, however I saw most of her works and her crying scenes are all the same: mouth a little open, eyes a bit teary, with a frown and a pouty. And that is it.

She is overated

37 shin mi rae

March 11, 2014 at 5:14 am.

I saw this movie and I cried buckets. It was so unexpected because the review said its a comedy. I went in ready to laugh... and laugh I did. Then things started happening and then I am crying heart wrenching sobs. I love this movie. I love the actor and the little girl, the uncle and the jail chief. I'll give this a 10.

March 12, 2014 at 9:29 PM

I kid you not,I haven't cried like a child outwardly in such a long time until watching this...

I hold this film dear to my heart.

I was so moved that it left me thinking about the meaning of life..

39 otchosais

March 13, 2014 at 9:31 am.

omg! I cried a river watching this..

and I had colds after because of tooooooo muuuccchhhhh CRYING :(

This is a good example that being good has no exemptions... you don't have to be perfect to show that..

March 20, 2014 at 6:47 AM

I did'nt expect to watch this movie when my brother dwnload it and give copy to me....when i try to watch it on late night..and got hooked with dis movie..really love it...so sad the ending....;(

March 24, 2014 at 1:59 PM

I have just one correction. That prison uncle SHIN BONG-SHIK (Jeong Man-shik)'s case was pick-pocketing, if I am not mistaken.

So for an unpopular opinion, I honestly don't understand why Park Shin Hye was given a huge credit for this movie. She was just on the first part and at the last. Yes, she's the adult Ye-seung but I actually don't find her acting in the movie that 'awesome'.

Don't get me wrong, I adore PSH. However, she didn't give me the 'feels' the way I felt with Ryu Seung-yong and the talented girl, Kal So-won. I watched the movie because of her TBH so I had some expectations and it's sad to see that it was disappointing. :(

42 xiadfreaky

March 25, 2014 at 6:54 am.

Oh thanks for this review! Watched this movie with a group of friends and we all ended up with puffy eyes, all red and bloodshot. It was soooo heartbreaking I find myself sleepless after its run.

April 13, 2014 at 9:31 AM

One of the best movies ever! You can literally feel your heart clench. It makes you want to treasure everyone around you. The movie can really set you to that particular mood that makes you reflect about your life. This is really an all time favorite kind of movie. So funny and sweet. It was really sad and unfair how he died. T_T

ITS REALLY ASJDIAKJA. MY FEEEEEEEELS.

44 dj_philippines

April 26, 2014 at 8:02 am.

This movie is a hit in the Philippines, mostly accessed through the internet. i learned about this movie from facebook post and when i watched it, it simply took my breath away! a superb movie, indeed! Kal So-wun is great!

May 23, 2014 at 7:45 PM

OMG! I watched this with my mom. She usually doesn't cry when it comes to sad movies. She even teases when I cry. But when we watched this movie, she was bawling and I saw this an opportunity to tease her but I only ended up crying harder than she was. I had hiccups and I couldn't control them.

This movie, is the BEST! I love it so much, i would re-watch it again and again. AWESOME . And I actually still crying right now. :'(

46 Mika Ceferina Salvador

May 27, 2014 at 12:53 am.

This movie is the most amazing drama movie I have ever watched. When my friends told me that this one made them cry a lot, I tried my best to find a copy. At first, I was sad because the copy that I have downloaded doesn't have a subtitle. But even if there's no subtitle, and that I watched it with pure Korean language, I still watched it and bravo! It's true that action speaks louder than words, 'cause it was still able to make me cry A LOT. I have never cried that much.I never thought I would find a movie as touching as this! Awesome! I want drama movies to be as touching as Miracle in Cell No.7! 100 thumbs up!

June 9, 2014 at 12:51 PM

I cried so hard when i first watched this, then i cried some more when i brother and i watched it, and now i'm crying while i'm reading this review. An unforgettable masterpiece, that is what this movie is. Sniff! :'(

48 mary ivee

June 24, 2014 at 8:10 am.

My friends in FB are talking and posting miracle in cell no.7 movie so i warched it. It made me laugh and cry, Beautiful movie. Literally beautiful movie. 9.85 for me ?

Im from the Philippines by the way.

49 Infinity_Lei

July 2, 2014 at 9:07 pm.

My mom asked me to drop by in her house for a movie bonding session with my sisters. I thought we are about to laugh all night and to burst some air, little did we know that this night will be one of the nights we are really going to shed our bucket of tears.

The movie really moved us. i appreciate my mom and dad more than ever about sending us to school and to study harder.

The present system should be aware of this kind of situation to prevent from occurring. Life is still life after all, and justice can not raise a dead man from the grave.

50 Divine Love Agraviador

July 5, 2014 at 8:34 pm.

Is the father died on last?

August 15, 2014 at 8:42 AM

YES the father died

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Miracle in Cell No. 7

Critics reviews, audience reviews, cast & crew.

Lee Hwan-gyung

Ryu Seung-ryong

Park Shin-hye

Ye-Seung (Adult)

Ye-Seung (Child)

Screenwriter

The Fangirl Verdict

Completely biased reviews and fangirling.

Flash Review: Miracle In Cell No. 7 [Movie]

This is one of those movies that I’ve only ever heard good things about, and have always wanted to watch.

The reason it’s taken me this long to actually get to it, is that I just.. got distracted by other things and forgot to look for it, until I chanced on it the other day, while browsing movie titles.

The moment I saw this one, it jumped to the top of my watch list immediately .

And now that I’ve seen it, I must say, it really is as excellent as everyone says it is.

Psst: Links to watch are at the end of the review!

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Lee Yong Gu (Ryu Seung Ryong) is an intellectually impaired man who has a close relationship with his 6-year-old daughter Ye Seung (Gal So Won). One day, Yong Gu finds himself wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.

This movie is inspired by a true story.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are a few things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. This isn’t always easy to watch.

I mean, yes, it’s heartwarming and full of feels, but the circumstances are difficult and unfair, and Yong Gu suffers a great deal, because people and the system take advantage of his disability.

This can feel particularly hard to swallow in this day and age, but remembering that the actual true events took place in 1972, when there was a lot more ignorance about intellectual disabilities, and a lot more corruption within the system, does help.

As in, it doesn’t make it any more right, but it becomes easier to understand how things happened the way they did, in context.

2. Our story leans bittersweet.

This might be important to you, particularly if you’re especially predisposed to happy endings.

[SPOILER ALERT]

Yong Gu doesn’t get a happy ending, but he does get exonerated posthumously, by his daughter, working together with his cell mates and the prison warden at the time, so there is a bittersweet sense of justice.

[END SPOILER]

That said..

3. I would strongly suggest giving this one a go, despite its bittersweet leanings.

This really is the kind of movie that makes you laugh, and make you cry, and then makes you grateful, for being allowed to serve up your heart on a plate.

Don’t miss it, is my advice.

STUFF I LIKED

Ryu Seung Ryong as Yong Gu

Ryu Seung Ryong is, in a word, amazing, as Yong Gu.

My goodness, Ryu Seung Ryong, whom I’ve seen look much more serious and charismatic, like in 2012’s Masquerade, simply disappears into the character of Yong Gu. I couldn’t even spot Ryu Seung Ryong in Yong Gu, when I watched the trailer, until I looked up the cast list.

As a character, I just loved how pure Yong Gu is.

[MINOR SPOILER ALERT]

It’s little surprise that he systematically wins over not only his cellmates, but even the prison guards and prison warden as well, such that everyone actively works to help him prove his innocence &/or escape from prison.

I was very quickly in Yong Gu’s corner as well, rooting for him to overcome.

Gal So Won as Ye Seung

Gal So Won does very decently as Ye Seung, Yong Gu’s bright and warmhearted daughter.

I was startled to realize that I’ve actually seen her, much more grown up (though still on the tiny side), in Scripting Your Destiny , where she plays a teenaged-looking Sam Shin.

I will say that for a child actor, Gal So Won does a very solid job of delivering Ye Seung, particularly Ye Seung’s more difficult emotional scenes.

The father-daughter bond

The was the relationship that grounds the entire story, and I must say, the father-daughter bond between Yong Gu and Ye Seung is very touching indeed.

From the cheerful happy times, where they have that silly little dance that they do for each other when saying goodbye, to the harder times, when they desperately don’t want to be separated from each other, I totally believed the strength and depth of this relationship.

And, I was firmly in their camp, from beginning to end, happy for them when they got to be together, and crying along with them, when they had to be apart.

The feels from this relationship were real. ❤️

The cellmates of Cell No. 7

The way Yong Gu ingratiates himself with his cellmates, and the way his presence causes the entire cell to become like one big reluctant family, does remind me of Prison Playbook , somewhat, so if you loved Prison Playbook, I do think you’d like this show too.

I love how the cellmates put their heads and their resources together, to grant Yong Gu his only wish, which is to be reunited with Ye Seung.

The fact that they succeed in smuggling Ye Seung into their cell, is a coup in itself.

And the fact that they end up living with her like that for a while, all doting on her and brightening up from the sunshine that she brings, is even more amazing. I love it.

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

I guess I kinda knew, from our story set-up, where our narrative is framed by adult Ye Seung (played by Park Shin Hye) working to clear her father’s name, that it was unlikely that Yong Gu survived to the present day.

But, I still had hope, because it really almost felt like anything was possible, in Cell No. 7, after they managed to smuggle Ye Seung in like that.

I felt so moved and inspired, when all the cellmates figure out that Yong Gu is innocent, and then decide that they’ll help him clear his name at the retrial.

The way they coach him, day and night, grilling him with questions that he’s likely to be asked during the trial, is really touching. It’s just so selfless, the way they pour themselves into the common goal, of helping Yong Gu regain his freedom.

And, for a while, it even looks like they will succeed, with Yong Gu doing so well during the coaching sessions.

Which is why it’s so gutting to see everything get overturned, when the Police Commissioner (Jo Duk Hyun), whose daughter Yong Gu had allegedly killed, threatens Yong Gu into confessing his crime, or risk having Ye Seung suffer the same fate as his daughter.

Gah. That’s horrible.

But credit to Show, for framing the Police Commissioner as not being in his right mind, as a grieving father, than say, as a corrupt official who just wants to put innocent people in jail for the heck of it.

GUH. Of course Yong Gu would rather die, than risk Ye Seung’s safety in any way.

It’s just so absolutely gutting though, to know that he knowingly pleads guilty, and receives that death sentence, so that his daughter might live safely. Sob. 😭

The fact that Yong Gu’s execution day is on Ye Seung’s birthday feels especially like a cruel twist of fate.

That final birthday party is so poignant; full of smiles on the surface, but with so much heartbreak underneath.

And yet, in either form, it’s threaded through with so much love.

The love from the cellmates to Yong Gu, with all their scrawled messages on the back of his prison uniform, is so sweet to see.

And the love between Yong Gu and Ye Seung is so clear as well, from the way Ye Seung thanks Yong Gu for being her dad, and the way Yong Gu thanks her in return, for being his daughter.

GUH. And then there’s the goodbye, where they try to be brave, but then bawl in each other’s arms, when it gets too hard to actually let go.

That line, where Ye Seung begs Yong Gu to not go to a better place, and just live there in the prison for a long time, is so gutting. It tells me that she’s been told that this is the last time she’s going to see Yong Gu, because he’s going to a better place. SOB. Gurgle. It’s so hard. 😭

I’m relieved that Yong Gu’s execution happens off-screen, because I don’t think I could’ve handled it, if they’d chosen to show it to us.

The flash-forward to the present day trial, where adult Ye Seung is fighting for her father’s innocence, is much more palatable, to me.

It feels cathartic, though long overdue, when the judge pronounces Yong Gu innocent; finally, Yong Gu’s name is officially cleared of that terrible crime.

And, as Ye Seung sees that vision of the hot air balloon that she’d once ridden with Yong Gu, this feels like her finally letting Yong Gu go – not from her heart (never!), but into the freedom and liberty that he deserves. 🥲

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Poignant, heartwarming and bittersweet. Utterly and profoundly affecting.

FINAL GRADE: A+

WHERE TO WATCH:

You can check out the show on Viki  and Amazon Prime .

GETTING AROUND GEO-RESTRICTIONS

If you’re geo-restricted, a VPN service would help you get around that. Not only does it provide online safety, it also gives you access to lots of great geo-restricted content.

I personally use  NordVPN.  You can find my review of NordVPN  here .

You can use my affiliate link ( here !) to enjoy  up to 60% * off , with prices starting as low as  US$3.29 per month .

* This used to say 73%, but because NordVPN’s changed the way it calculates the discount, it now says 60%. BUT, it’s the same great price, starting from US$3.29 a month!

An article on why it’s not illegal to use a VPN to access legal streaming content can be found  here .

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This movie made me cry ugly tears..

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Miracle in Cell No. 7

A story about the love between a mentally-ill father and his lovingly adorable daughter. A story about the love between a mentally-ill father and his lovingly adorable daughter. A story about the love between a mentally-ill father and his lovingly adorable daughter.

• Hwan-kyung Lee
• Yoo Yeong-ah
• Hwang-seong Kim
• Ryu Seung-ryong
• 126 User reviews
• 20 Critic reviews
• 12 wins & 18 nominations

Top cast 30

• Ye-Seung (child)

• Sin Bong-sik

• Choi Choon-Ho

• Ye-Seung (adult)
• Chief of police
• (as Deok-hyeon Jo)
• Detective 3

• Prison guard Kim
• Detective squad chief

• Jang Min Hwan
• Ye-seung's Homeroom Teacher
• Detective 4
• Ye-seung's classmate

• Old man Seo

• prison guard Jung
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Filming finished October 10, in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea. The last scene filmed took place at a prison in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do. The scene involved Yong-Goo (Ryoo Seung-Ryong) and the other prisoners carrying out a mission to get a chance for a temporary release.
• Connections Referenced in Miracle in Cell No. 7 (Arabic Language Remake)

User reviews 126

• aminifatimaaa
• Dec 9, 2018
• How long is Miracle in Cell No. 7? Powered by Alexa
• March 8, 2013 (United States)
• South Korea
• Official Facebook
• Official site (Japan)
• A Gift from Room 7
• Iksan, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea
• CL Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $82,101,723

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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[HanCinema's Film Review] "Miracle in Cell No.7"

The main characters are retarded father Yong-goo (played by Ryu Seung-ryong ) and his adorable seven year old daughter Ye-seung (played by Kal So-won ). Circumstances conspire to keep them apart, but through sheer determination and the help of other prison inmates, they're able to find time to be happy together. This family changes the hardened people around them for better. But inevitably, for all these attempts at happiness, tragedy strikes and people left my theater crying. "Miracle in Cell No.7" is an extremely manipulative movie emotionally, and oftentimes feel like it's cheating by forcing the audience to identify with these overwrought situations.

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Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea from 2011 to 2021. He is currently located in the Southern Illinois. William Schwartz can be contacted via [email protected] , and is open to requests for content in future articles.

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