Marathon

Marathon is a 2005 South Korean film directed by Jeong Yoon-cheol, and starring Cho Seung-woo and Kim Mi-sook. It received 5,148,022 admissions, making it the 4th most attended Korean film of 2005. Based on the true story of Bae Hyeong-jin, an autistic marathon runner, the film popularized the South Korean term for autism which can be translated as "self-closed syndrome." Plot A young man with autism, named Cho-won, finds release only in running. As a child, Cho-won regularly had meltdowns, bit himself, and struggled to communicate with others—finding solace only in zebras and the Korean snack, choco pie. His mother never gave up on him and was determined to prove to the world that her child can achieve. As Cho-won gets older, he begins to find a passion for running and his mother is there to encourage and support him. Even though their family suffers from financial difficulties, they find a former marathon champion, Jung-wook — now a lethargic older man with an alcohol problem. Jung-wook, who is serving community service hours as a physical education teacher for a DUI, grudgingly accepts the offer to train Cho-won in marathon running, but eventually becomes lazy with him. The coach often takes Cho-won's snack, and takes Cho-won to a jjimjilbang to relax. Even though Jung-wook slacks off most of the time, Cho-won's determination for running is firm (he accidentally runs 100 laps around a soccer field when the coach told him to without literally meaning it).