Cruel Winter Blues (Korean: 열혈남아; RR: Yeol-hyeol-nam-a; lit. "A Hot-blooded Man") is a 2006 South Korean film written and directed by Lee Jeong-beom. It stars Sol Kyung-gu, Jo Han-sun and Na Moon-hee in the lead roles. The narrative centers around a small-time crook who partners with a retired taekwondo practitioner to seek revenge on the man who killed his mentor, and ends up befriending the killer's mother who reminds him of his hometown.
Cruel Winter Blues | |
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![]() Poster for Cruel Winter Blues (2006) | |
Hangul | 열혈남아 |
Hanja | 熱血男兒 |
Revised Romanization | Yeolhyeolnama |
McCune–Reischauer | Yŏrhyŏlnama |
Directed by | Lee Jeong-beom |
Written by | Lee Jeong-beom |
Produced by | Cha Seung-jae Kim Mi-hee |
Starring | Sol Kyung-gu Jo Han-sun Na Moon-hee |
Cinematography | Kim Dong-cheon |
Edited by | Shin Min-kyung |
Music by | Kim Jun-seok |
Distributed by | CJ Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 118 minutes |
Country | South Korea |
Language | Korean |
Budget | US$4 million |
Box office | US$2.5 million[1] |
The film released on 9 November 2006.
A mob captain, Jae-mun (Sol Kyung-gu)[2] is the seasoned veteran of a mob family. He decides to go after rival mobster Dae-sik, the man who killed his boss and childhood friend a few years earlier. He takes Chi-guk with him as his partner in the assassination. Although a physically imposing black belt in taekwondo, Chi-guk (Jo Han-sun) is a soft-spoken newcomer to gang life, who is quietly offended by Jae-mun's arbitrary and random acts of cruelty and rudeness against him and others. Together, they travel to Dae-sik's hometown, a remote rural village called Bulgyo in South Jeolla Province.
While waiting for an opportunity to perform the hit, Jae-mun coincidentally befriends Dae-sik's mother Jeon-sim (Na Moon-hee) and spends some time with her. She comes to lovingly treat him as another son, and Jae-mun begins to feel conflicted. A tragic plot develops, culminating in a bloody showdown between Jae-mun and Dae-sik.