# A Day (하루)
**A Day** (하루; also romanized *Haroo* or *Ha-roo*, and marketed as *One Day* or *원데이*) is a 2017 South Korean time-loop thriller directed by Jo Sun-ho (조선호), in which a surgeon trapped in a repeating day tries to stop his daughter's death and joins forces with another man caught in the same loop.[1](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=A_Day_%28Movie%29) • [2](https://tv.apple.com/kr/movie/%E1%84%92%E1%85%A1%E1%84%85%E1%85%AE/umc.cmc.5mobqb2lv0tvfiidd0sgb97fc) It was Jo's feature directorial debut, produced by Line Film and distributed by CGV Arthouse, and it opened at number one at the Korean box office.[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) • [4](https://v.daum.net/v/20170616064433678)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | June 15, 2017, South Korea; 90 minutes; rated 15 and older[1](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=A_Day_%28Movie%29) • [3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) |
| Director and writers | Jo Sun-ho (director and co-writer, with Lee Sang-hak); his feature debut[1](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=A_Day_%28Movie%29) • [5](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=87455) |
| Main cast | Kim Myung-min (Jun-young), Byun Yo-han (Min-chul), Yoo Jae-myung (Kang-sik), Jo Eun-hyung (Eun-jung), Shin Hye-sun (Mi-kyung)[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) |
| Box office | Opened first place with 77,974 admissions on day one; 1,129,609 total admissions and $6,733,515 gross on 781 screens[4](https://v.daum.net/v/20170616064433678) • [6](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20166384) |
| Budget | About 6.2 billion won, with a break-even point of 1.9 million admissions[7](https://v.daum.net/v/20170617115009533) |
| Filming | June 29 to September 29, 2016, beginning at Songdo Central Park in Incheon[1](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=A_Day_%28Movie%29) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Kim Ji-yong; music Mowg; editing Shin Min-kyeong[8](https://www.moviebuff.com/a-day) • [9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-day-macao-review/5124955.article) |
| Reception | 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 7 reviews, average 8.5; screenplay award from the Korean Association of Film Critics[2](https://tv.apple.com/kr/movie/%E1%84%92%E1%85%A1%E1%84%85%E1%85%AE/umc.cmc.5mobqb2lv0tvfiidd0sgb97fc) • [10](https://www.cinematheque.co.kr/cinema/20166384) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
[Kim Jun](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-jun)-young ([Kim Myung-min](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-myung-min)) is a celebrated thoracic surgeon, called a "saint of war" for his humanitarian medical work, who has spent little time with his daughter Eun-jung (Jo Eun-hyung).[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) • [11](https://www.xportsnews.com/article/863838) On the day he returns to Korea to keep a birthday promise to her, he comes on the scene of a large traffic accident and finds his daughter dead among the victims.[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) He then wakes to find himself two hours before the accident, and the same day repeats: however he intervenes, the outcome does not change, and he is forced to watch his daughter die again each day.[2](https://tv.apple.com/kr/movie/%E1%84%92%E1%85%A1%E1%84%85%E1%85%AE/umc.cmc.5mobqb2lv0tvfiidd0sgb97fc)
Into his despair appears Lee Min-chul ([Byun Yo-han](https://www.edgepedia.org/byun-yo-han)), a private ambulance driver who lost his pregnant partner Mi-kyung ([Shin Hye-sun](https://www.edgepedia.org/shin-hye-sun)) in the same crash and is living the identical repeating day.[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) • [12](https://cfile225.uf.daum.net/attach/99F799435B343483312DD0) The two men, not the only people aware of the repeating day, join forces to alter its ending, but the deaths cannot be prevented.[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) • [26](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20166384) A mysterious third figure, the taxi driver Kang-sik (Yoo Jae-myung), whose son Haru died in an accident three years earlier, connects the men's pasts, and the film unfolds the secret of the loop through their intertwined histories.[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) • [12](https://cfile225.uf.daum.net/attach/99F799435B343483312DD0) • [13](https://star.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/OhmyStar/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002333011)
## Development and production
**Origin of the story.** Jo Sun-ho worked for years as an assistant director on genre films including *The Descendant of Hong Gil-dong* (2009) and *The Webtoon: Predicted Murder* (2013) before directing.[14](https://www.kmediarods.com/fileUpload/bulletins/bulletin_2024-12-02.pdf) In 2012, while preparing his debut, he found an old memo reading "an endless day, a hellish day repeats," and began building a story from it.[5](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=87455) He said the starting point was the pairing of a man who loses a loved one every day with a man who must kill someone every day, and that the differentiating device was having a second person trapped in the loop alongside the protagonist.[5](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=87455) • [15](https://sports.khan.co.kr/article/201706191803003) He spent about two years writing the screenplay with Lee Sang-hak.[5](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=87455)
**Casting.** Kim Myung-min, who plays Jun-young, recommended Byun Yo-han for Min-chul after the two worked together on the television drama *Six Flying Dragons*; Kim handed Byun the scenario himself.[16](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20170622145128663) • [17](https://v.daum.net/v/20170611152932840) Kim described the role as difficult because the subtle emotional shifts across each loop iteration had to be performed out of sequence, with scenes grouped by location within a fixed shooting period.[7](https://v.daum.net/v/20170617115009533)
**Shooting.** Filming began on June 29, 2016 at Songdo Central Park in Incheon and finished on September 29, 2016, after three months.[1](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=A_Day_%28Movie%29) • [18](https://enews.imbc.com/News/RetrieveNewsInfo/191766) Jo deliberately set the tragedy on a bright, cloudless summer day, reasoning that a peaceful everyday setting would make the catastrophe more painful; the crew worked through heat above 35 degrees Celsius.[19](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/aday/aday_2-1.htm) To keep the loop's causality consistent, the director and staff calculated each character's movements minute by minute.[15](https://sports.khan.co.kr/article/201706191803003) The score by Mowg runs against thriller convention, using bright, light music to heighten the contrast with the film's grim events.[20](https://sports.donga.com/ent/article/all/20170623/85024367/1)
## Release and box office
A Day opened in South Korea on June 15, 2017 on 781 screens.[6](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20166384) It took first place at the daily box office on its opening day with 77,974 admissions, ending the nine-day run of *The Mummy* at number one, a result Korean media noted as an uncommon win for a domestic film against Hollywood releases.[4](https://v.daum.net/v/20170616064433678) It went on to 1,129,609 total admissions and a gross of $6,733,515, against a production budget of about 6.2 billion won.[6](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20166384) • [7](https://v.daum.net/v/20170617115009533)
The film circulated widely on the festival circuit in 2017: it premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and later screened at Sitges, Fantasia in Montreal, and L'Étrange Festival in Paris, where it was described as a thriller take on *Groundhog Day* that plays with the genre's rules.[10](https://www.cinematheque.co.kr/cinema/20166384) • [21](https://brunch.co.kr/%40slist/639) • [22](https://www.etrangefestival.com//2017/en/film/ha_roo) It was later made available on streaming services including Netflix, Apple TV, and Viu in various markets.[23](https://www.netflix.com/kr/title/81131736) • [24](https://www.viu.com/ott/id/articles/sinopsis-a-day/)
## Reception
**Critical response.** On the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer the film holds 100% from 7 reviews with an average rating of 8.5.[2](https://tv.apple.com/kr/movie/%E1%84%92%E1%85%A1%E1%84%85%E1%85%AE/umc.cmc.5mobqb2lv0tvfiidd0sgb97fc) Wendy Ide, senior international critic for *Screen*, reviewing at the Macao festival, called it an "ambitiously high concept thriller" with a baffling timeline that deft editing mostly keeps coherent, praising the action sequences while criticizing an overbearing score and some strident performances.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-day-macao-review/5124955.article) Korean critics were more divided: Cine21's three reviewers scored it between 4 and 5 out of 10, and a Star News review found the mystery resolved by showing rather than letting the audience deduce.[3](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484) • [25](https://www.starnewskorea.com/movie/2017/06/16/2017061608181688953) The Korean Association of Film Critics gave the film its screenplay award that year.[10](https://www.cinematheque.co.kr/cinema/20166384)
**The time-loop device.** Korean coverage emphasized how rarely the loop structure had been used in domestic cinema, citing precedents such as *Groundhog Day*, *Source Code*, and *Edge of Tomorrow*.[25](https://www.starnewskorea.com/movie/2017/06/16/2017061608181688953) • [13](https://star.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/OhmyStar/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002333011) Jo argued that the loop is a tool rather than the point: the film's core, in his account and in Kim Myung-min's, is family love, the story of three men trying to save the people they lost.[15](https://sports.khan.co.kr/article/201706191803003) • [7](https://v.daum.net/v/20170617115009533) The two leads embody contrasting responses to the same trap, Jun-young working the problem intellectually while Min-chul throws himself bodily at it, a contrast the director used to drive the film's pace.[7](https://v.daum.net/v/20170617115009533) • [16](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20170622145128663)
## References
1. [A Day (Movie), AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=A_Day_%28Movie%29)
2. [하루, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/kr/movie/%E1%84%92%E1%85%A1%E1%84%85%E1%85%AE/umc.cmc.5mobqb2lv0tvfiidd0sgb97fc)
3. [하루 (A Day) 상세정보, Cine21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=48484)
4. ['하루', 개봉 첫날 '미이라' 잡고 박스오피스 1위, Star News via Daum](https://v.daum.net/v/20170616064433678)
5. [[people] <하루> 조선호 감독, Cine21](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=87455)
6. [A Day (2017), Korean Film Council (KOFIC) database](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20166384)
7. [[인터뷰] '하루' 김명민이 전하는 상실 속 가족의 소중함, bnt News via Daum](https://v.daum.net/v/20170617115009533)
8. [A Day on Moviebuff.com](https://www.moviebuff.com/a-day)
9. ['A Day': Macao Review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-day-macao-review/5124955.article)
10. [하루 (A Day), Cinematheque](https://www.cinematheque.co.kr/cinema/20166384)
11. [[엑's 인터뷰] '하루' 김명민 "내 자신에게 관대하기 싫다", Xports News](https://www.xportsnews.com/article/863838)
12. [2016 그리스도인의 영화이야기 (film summary of A Day)](https://cfile225.uf.daum.net/attach/99F799435B343483312DD0)
13. [또 다른 '시간물' <하루> 마지막 장면만큼은 잊을 수 없었다, OhmyStar](https://star.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/OhmyStar/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002333011)
14. [한국 영화 인터뷰: 조선호 감독, Korean Rods bulletin](https://www.kmediarods.com/fileUpload/bulletins/bulletin_2024-12-02.pdf)
15. [[인터뷰] 조선호 감독이 말하는 #'하루' #김명민 #타임루프, Sports Khan](https://sports.khan.co.kr/article/201706191803003)
16. [[인터뷰] '하루' 변요한 "'후회 전문' 캐릭터? 누구나 선택과 후회 속에 산다", Aju Economy](https://www.ajunews.com/view/20170622145128663)
17. [[fn★인터뷰①] 서른 두 살 변요한, 고민 끝에 탄생한 '하루', Financial News via Daum](https://v.daum.net/v/20170611152932840)
18. [2017년, 김명민X변요한의 끝나지 않는 <하루>가 시작된다, MBC News](https://enews.imbc.com/News/RetrieveNewsInfo/191766)
19. [하루 A Day production note, KoreaFilm](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/aday/aday_2-1.htm)
20. [철저히 계산된 촬영&음악…'하루' 제작 비하인드 공개, Sports Donga](https://sports.donga.com/ent/article/all/20170623/85024367/1)
21. [[인터뷰] '하루' 변요한, Brunch](https://brunch.co.kr/%40slist/639)
22. [A day (Ha-roo), L'Étrange Festival 2017](https://www.etrangefestival.com//2017/en/film/ha_roo)
23. [하루, Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/kr/title/81131736)
24. [Sinopsis A Day, Viu](https://www.viu.com/ott/id/articles/sinopsis-a-day/)
25. ['하루', 호기심만 가득했던 타임 루프 이야기, Star News](https://www.starnewskorea.com/movie/2017/06/16/2017061608181688953)
26. [A Day (2017)](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20166384)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2015–2019 films › Thriller and mystery films › Titles symbols to E*
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