Program Note
A rare chance to experience a live-action children’s movie made in Korea. An elementary student name Jingu can no longer stay with his parents and comes to live in a temple of young monks, but he is shy and does not get along with the others. Then one day someone breaks in and steals a statue and the altar portrait. As the only one who witnessed the crime, Jingu sets off with the other young monks to catch the thieves.
Although their peers make fun of their robes and buzz cuts, the young monks are in fact martial arts masters who are trained by the Great Monks every day. The ensuing group battle of young monks breaking into the thieves’ hideout is real slapstick action that children will be drawn into. As a martial arts action movie, scenes such as the young monks shopping in a department store for trendy clothes as a disguise and ordering kid’s favorite foods complete its charm as a children’s movie. (Gina KANG)