The Hankyoreh's Top 30 Korean Films
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- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoKim Sang-kyungKim Roe-haIn a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
- DirectorHong Sang-sooStarsPark Choong-seonKim Eui-sungJo Eun SookAbout desires and lives of four characters in diverse circumstances. A poor novelist, a cheating wife, a mysophobic husband and a ticket girl.
- DirectorIm Kwon-taekStarsKim Myung-gonJung-hae OhKim Kyu-chulDespite its falling popularity, a father teaches his two children the Korean musical tradition of Pansori (one singer accompanied by one drummer).
- DirectorHur Jin-hoStarsHan Suk-kyuShim Eun-haShin GooHahn Suk-Kyu suffers from a fatal disease. He meets Shim Eun-Ha and falls in love with her. Will their love story have a tragic ending?
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsSol Kyung-guKim Yeo-jinMoon So-riFollowing a man's suicide, time traverses back to reveal six chapters of his life on why he committed suicide.
- DirectorJoon-Hwan JangStarsShin Ha-kyunBaek Yun-shikHwang Jung-minByeong-gu believes that the world is on the verge of an alien invasion, and sets out to save the world.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsChoi Min-sikYoo Ji-taeKang Hye-jeongAfter being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.
- DirectorDong-won KimNorth Korean spies return to their homeland.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoByun Hee-BongPark Hae-ilA monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.
- DirectorLee Myung-seStarsPark Joong-hoonAhn Sung-kiJang Dong-gunDetective Woo is on the trail of the mysterious gangster Sungmin, a master of disguise who always manages to elude his pursuers. Eventually, the cop tracks down and confronts the master-criminal in the suburbs of a coal-mining town.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsSong Kang-hoShin Ha-kyunBae DoonaA recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' friend's daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.
- DirectorNa Hong-jinStarsJun KunimuraHwang Jung-minKwak Do-wonSoon after a stranger arrives in a little village, a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman, drawn into the incident, is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
- DirectorNeung-han SongStarsBang Eun-heeSong Kang-hoSeong-ho LeeTae Ju, number 3 man in his gangster organization, he wants to be the number one. Can he realize his ambition?
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsYun Jeong-hieLee Da-witKim Hee-raA sixty-something woman, faced with the discovery of a heinous family crime and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, finds strength and purpose when she enrolls in a poetry class.
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsJeon Do-yeonSong Kang-hoLee Dong-yongA woman moves to the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to fit in, another tragic event overturns her life.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsLee Yeong-aeLee Byung-hunSong Kang-hoAfter a shooting incident at the North-South Korean border DMZ leaves two North Korean soldiers dead, a neutral Swiss and Swedish team investigates what actually happened.
- DirectorMeul OStarsMin-chul SungJung-won YangYoung-soon OhIn 1950's, a populace of a South Korean island rebels against police brutality. The protesters are labeled as communists and the army is dispatched. One small village will be hit especially hard that day. Based on historical events.
- DirectorPark Kwang-suStarsBae Jong-okPark Joong-hoonKang Shin-ilA painter quits his job and looks to an old acquaintance for work and a place to stay.
- DirectorJang Sun-wooStarsPark Joong-hoonSeo Kap-sookDae-kun LeeSituated in the small poverty stricken town of Woomukbaemi, South Korea, this film centers on a clothes factory manager and the triangular relationship between himself, his insatiably jealous and violent wife, and one of his employees.
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsHan Suk-kyuShim Hye-jinMoon Sung-KeunReturning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsKim Hye-jaWon BinJin GooA mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
- DirectorYun-hyeon JangStarsHan Suk-kyuJeon Do-yeonChoo Sang-miThe male radio presenter Donghyun and the female TV home shopping phone operator Soohyun are both lonely. While Donghyun is focused on getting back to his ex-girl-friend Younghae who has sent him a special LP, Soohyun is crazy for her friend's boy-friend. Via Internet and music Soohyun and Donghyun get together in a special way.
- DirectorDong-hong JangYun-hyeon JangEun LeeThere are 200 miserably impoverished people working in the Dongseong Metalworks Factory. JU Wan-ik is introduced to the forging team as a new member of the team and they all go drinking together to welcome him.
- DirectorJong-chan YunStarsJin-young JangKim Myung-minJo AnA 30 year old mystery resurfaces and takes over the lives of the people living in an eerie apartment complex.
- DirectorJi-you HongIl-rhan KimStarsHyeongtae KimYeongguk KwonJuhyeong RyooTWO DOORS traces the Yongsan Tragedy of 2009. The announcement of the Public Prosecutors' Office that the cause of the tragedy lays in the illegal and violent demonstration by evictees. With the two sides uncompromisingly arguing for a judgment on the current regime and the eradication of the illegal and violent demonstrations, the tense confrontation forebodes a drawn-out fight on truth and falsehood.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsKim Min-heeHa Jung-wooCho Jin-woongA woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
- DirectorDong-won KimBefore the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Korean government forced the redevelopment of Daldongne, for the poor hillside village was not to be seen by foreign guests arriving for the Games. Including Sanggye-dong, residents of two hundred Daldongne areas were expelled from their home. The government demolished all the houses and repressed them with gangsters, bulldozers and riot police.
- DirectorYong-Kyun BaeStarsYi Pan-YongSin Won-SopHae-Jin HuangAbout three monks in a remote monastery; an aging master, a small orphan and a young man who left his city life to seek Enlightenment.
- DirectorYoung-Joo ByunStarsSun-deok KimOk-nyeon ParkYeong-suk LeeThe first installment in Byun Young-joo's trilogy documenting the past and present lives of Korean women and girls who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War Two.
- DirectorLee Myung-seStarsAhn Sung-kiHwang Sin-hyeBae Chang-hoLee Jong-se is a third-rate comedian who believes himself to be a creative genius. He desires nothing more than to be a movie director. When he befriends barber, Mun Do-seok who has hopes to become an actor, it seems like a match made in heaven and the two set off to make a film
- DirectorUi-Seok KimStarsLee Hie-doHie-ryeong KimSeong-su KimTae-gyu and Ji-hye get married. Two young lovers dreamed of the ideal married life which each had respect for each other. But honeymoon is soon over as each comes to realize that the other isn't quite what they thought. The liberal woman would like to talk of sex with frankness and ease. The conservative man can't get rid of his traditional sense of superiority. They end up hurting each other and decide to get a (limited) divorce. Once apart, they each begin to feel empty without the other, and realized they need to make an effort to understand each other.
- DirectorKi-hyeong ParkStarsKim Gyu-riYun Ji-hyePark Jin-heeIn a Korean school, students are regularly beaten and mistreated by their teachers. However, the spirit of one pupil, who died ten years ago, periodically returns in the guise of a new girl, thus able to gain a revenge on the culprits.
- DirectorRyu Seung-wanStarsSeong-bin ParkRyu Seung-beomBae Jung-shik"Die Bad" is an inventive feature made up of four distinct episodes, each with their own style. With their criss-crossing characters and themes, they add up to a fairly comprehensive account of the causes and effects of male aggression, both tribal and individual.
- DirectorJae-eun JeongStarsBae DoonaLee Yo-wonOk Ji-youngIn the port city of Icheon, five female friends struggle to stay close while forging a life for themselves after high school. When one of the group, upwardly-mobile Hae-ju, moves to Seoul, the other girls deal with the loss in different ways. Feeling most rejected, shy Ji-yeong finds comfort in her new friendship with rebel Tae-hee.
- DirectorIm Sang-sooStarsMoon So-riHwang Jung-minYoun Yuh-jungBored, horny, and frustrated, a woman begins an affair with a teenage boy.
- DirectorKim Tae-yongStarsMoon So-riKo Du-shimUhm Tae-woongMira is a shy, single woman who runs a small restaurant and tends her plants with love and care. Her life is thrown into mayhem when her brother Hyung Chul, shows up out of the blue after five years' absence, some of them spent in jail. Hyung-chul not only settles down at Mira's place but is soon joined by his new wife, Mu-Shin, a much older woman who smokes like a chimney - and Mira's a non-smoker. As if the house wasn't crowded enough, Mu-shin's young stepdaughter knocks at Mira's door one fine day, and moves in. The film's second part centers on Sun Kyung, who discovers that her mother - with whom she has a terribly difficult relationship - is seriously ill. Unhappy about her life, Sun Kyung decides to leave the country, but her plan is disrupted by her mother's death and by the presence of Kyung-Suk, her half-brother. Like threads neatly woven into the fine tapestry of a vivid family portrait, the intertwined lives of these characters come together years later in the third section of the film.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsSong Kang-hoKim Ok-binChoi Hee-jinThrough a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.