63. Marathon

Cho-won (Seung-woo Cho) is a young man with autism, which has taken a strain on his family.  After getting lost at a zoo, his mother vows that they will be together forever and after that starts trying to get him into different activities.  The only one that she thinks he really enjoys is running.  So for the past few years she has been pushing him into becoming the best runner he can be.

When a magazine comes to interview her, they mention a marathon coming up and if Cho-won would run in it.  The idea intrigues her and she looks about getting him some proper training.  The principle at Cho-won's school recommends an ex marathon runner who is currently teaching at the school to fulfill community service hours for a DUI.  After lots of begging, pleading, and even cleaning his apartment he agrees to coach Cho-won.  It starts out a little rough, with coach just telling him how many laps to run as he gets drunk, but he starts to take a liking for the boy.

As the marathon gets closer, the stress gets higher.  One day Cho-won's mom and the coach get into a terrible fight and she fires the coach.  Later on, Cho-won wanders off on her and when she finds him he  is getting beat up for grabbing a girl's ass (he is obsessed with zebras and is drawn to any sort of animal print).  She ends up rescuing him and yelling at the man but when she hears Cho-won shouting over and over about being a "special child" she has a break down.  Cho-won recalls the story of getting lost at the zoo and she apologizes profusely before collapsing.  She is taking to the hospital and it's there she decides that she has been pushing Cho-won too hard.  She doesn't even know if he likes running or if he is just doing it because he is afraid she will abandon him like at the zoo.

They stop all training and Cho-won starts learning professional skills.  Even though they tell him to forget about the marathon, he finds his registration for the race in the mail and sneaks out in the early morning hours to compete.  But Cho-won has no idea how to pace himself.  Worried for his safety Cho-won's mom, brother, and coach head to the race to find him and stop it before it takes place.

I feel like a did a terrible job summarizing this movie.  It's not so much about Cho-won competing in a marathon but more about the relationships involved in raising/coaching/living with someone with special needs.  In this case autism.  I think it did a great job showing that while also telling this sport story.

Rating: ****

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKz3Uoqn7qc