The 55 Best South Korean Movies of the 21st Century...
The 55 Best South Korean Movies of the 21st Century: South Korean cinema is best known for its grotesque, no-holds-barred, onscreen violence that can easily find some space in the list of the most unsettling movies. The biggest name in Korean cinema continues to be Park Chan-wook. His international success opened up Korean cinema for similar directors, who make genre films aimed at popular domestic and international festival crowds.
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- DirectorLee Joon-ikStarsLee ReSol Kyung-guUhm Ji-wonStory of an 8-year-old girl who faces a horrible rape that damages her internally and affects her emotionally, trying to overcome all the obstacles following the incident with the good support of those around her.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsJo Min-sooLee Jung-JinWoo Ki-hongA loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorHong Sang-sooStarsChoo Sang-miYe Ji-wonGeorge GeorgiouActor Kyung Soo leaves Seoul to visit an old classmate. The reunion with his friend does not amount to much, but the trip does lead to some romantic encounters. He gets involved with two women, first a young college student whom he leaves without a moment's thought and then a woman whom he deems his fated partner. As Kyung Soo becomes increasingly invested in this second relationship, he begins to notice certain coincidences and similarities that recall past pairings, blurring his conception of exactly which woman, which relationship, he is so desperately holding on to.
- DirectorHyun-seung LeeStarsLee Jung-jaeJun Ji-hyunMu-saeng KimIn 1999, a voice actor moves from Il Mare, a seaside house, and leaves a Christmas card in its (magical) mailbox. An architecture student receives it in 1997, and a friendship separated by 2 years begins.
- DirectorPark Hoon-jungStarsLee Jung-jaeChoi Min-sikHwang Jung-minAn undercover cop finds it difficult to play both a cop and a goon.
- DirectorHong Sang-sooStarsRyô KaseMoon So-riSeo Young-hwaKwon returns to Seoul from the mountains and is given a packet of letters from Mori back from Japan to propose to her. Kwon drops and scatters the undated letters. She reads them and has to make sense of the chronology - and so must we?
- DirectorTae-Gyun KimStarsKim Yoon-seokJu Ji-hoonJin Seon-kyuA criminal thriller about the fierce psychological confrontation between a detective and a killer who confessed to multiple murders.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsHan Yeo-reumSeo Ji-seokJeon Gook-hwanOn a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a baby. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthday, and she is 16 now. They live a quiet and secluded life, renting the boat to day fishermen and practicing strange divination rites. Their life changes when a teenage student comes aboard...
- DirectorYoon Ga-eunStarsChoi Soo-inHye-in SeolSeo-Yeon LeeA bullied girl becomes friends with a new kid during a break, but when classes start up again, their new friendship is nearly ruined when the bullying continues.
- DirectorJung Doo HongKim Jee-woonStarsLee Byung-hunShin Min-aKim Yeong-cheolThings go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't follow his boss's orders.
- DirectorSol KimJihyoung LeeStarsMoon Seung-ahChoi Joon-wooKang Suk-WonSumin and Jinho are siblings and their parents declare to them that they will divorce. Sumin worries about which parents she's going to live with and whether she will live apart from Jinho. One day, her parents offer her a suggestion.
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsSol Kyung-guMoon So-riAhn Nae-sangAn irresponsible and childish ex-con befriends a girl with cerebral palsy and develops a progressively stronger bond with her.
- DirectorKim Jee-woonStarsLee Byung-hunChoi Min-sikJeon Gook-hwanA secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
- DirectorHong Sang-sooStarsLee Sun-kyunJung Yu-miMoon Sung-KeunA love story between a middle-aged professor, a young student who prepares a movie and a student/film-maker who drinks too much.
- 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.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsSong Kang-hoGang Dong-wonBae DoonaWhen a young mother reconsiders abandoning her baby, she discovers a scheme selling foundlings for adoption.
- DirectorJeong-hyang LeeStarsYoo Seung-hoEul-boon KimHyo-hee DongThis is the story of a 7-year-old boy, Sang-woo, born and raised in the big city, and his mute grandmother, who has spent her whole life in a small rural village.
- DirectorHong Sang-sooStarsYoo Joon-sangKim Sang-jungSong Seon-miA professor in the film department at a provincial university goes to Seoul to meet his senior, who works as a film critic, and stays in a northern Seoul village for three days.
- DirectorIm Kwon-taekStarsChoi Min-sikAhn Sung-kiYoo Ho-jeongIn a time of political and social unrest in nineteenth-century Korea, an uncouth, self-taught painter explores his natural talent amidst the repressive world around him.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoLee Sun-kyunCho Yeo-jeongGreed and class discrimination threaten the newly-formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
- DirectorCeline SongStarsGreta LeeTeo YooJohn MagaroNora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.
- 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.
- DirectorJeon Go-WoonStarsEsomAhn Jae-hongJae-Hyun ChoiWhiskey and cigarettes, the only ways of keeping her dignity in this city.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsKim Hye-jaWon BinJin GooA mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsKim Ki-dukOh Yeong-suJong-ho KimA boy is raised by a Buddhist monk in an isolated floating temple where the years pass like the seasons.
- DirectorDae Hyung LimStarsKim Hee-aeYûko NakamuraKim SohyeYoon-Hee lives with her teenage daughter Sae-Bom. On a winter day, Yoon-Hee receives a letter from Otaru, Japan. Sae-Bom accidentally reads the letter and learns about her mother's first love, which she never spoke about before.
- 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.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsPark Hae-ilTang WeiLee Jung-hyunA detective investigating a man's death in the mountains meets the dead man's mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing.
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsYoo Ah-inSteven YeunJeon Jong-seoJong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.
- DirectorSo Yong KimStarsChae Gil ByoungJung Gil JaShin Hyun JeIn Seoul, Korea, two sisters must look after each other when their mother leaves them to search for their estranged father.
- 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.
- DirectorLee Joon-ikStarsKam Woo-seongJung Jin-youngKang Seong-yeonTwo clowns living in Korea's Chosun Dynasty get arrested for staging a play that satirizes the king. They are dragged to the palace and threatened with execution but are given a chance to save their lives if they can make the king laugh.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorBora KimStarsPark Ji-huKim Sae-byeokJeong In-giSeoul 1994, in the year the Seongsu Bridge collapsed, 14-year-old Eunhee wanders the city searching for love.
- DirectorHong Sang-sooStarsJeong Jae-yeongKim Min-heeYoun Yuh-jungA married film director falls for a young painter - twice.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsChris EvansJamie BellTilda SwintonIn a future where a failed climate change experiment has killed all life except for the survivors who boarded the Snowpiercer (a train that travels around the globe), a new class system emerges.
- DirectorChan-ok ParkStarsKim Bo-kyungLee Bong-gyuLee Dae-yeonTeenager Eun-mo suspects her brother-in-law is responsible for her sister's death. Perhaps more unbearable than her grief and anger is the irreconcilable love she feels for him.
- DirectorKim Jee-woonStarsLim Soo-jungYum Jung-ahKim Kap-suAfter being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.
- DirectorYoung-seok NohStarsSong Sam-dongSang-yeop YukKang-hee KimHyuk-Jin has just broken up with his girlfriend and decides to take a trip to Jeongseon in the province of Gangwon-do. The next day, his friends are too hung over to get up, so Hyuk-Jin makes his way to his destination alone. A trip of opportunity takes a cruel and unexpected turn as misunderstanding and crossed paths occur over and over again.
- DirectorHun JangStarsSong Kang-hoThomas KretschmannYoo Hae-jinA widowed father and taxi driver who drives a German reporter from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the 1980 uprising, soon finds himself regretting his decision after being caught in the violence around him.
- DirectorJae-young KwakStarsCha Tae-hyunJun Ji-hyunIn-mun KimA young man sees a drunk, cute woman standing too close to the tracks at a metro station in Seoul and pulls her back. She ends up getting him into trouble repeatedly after that, starting on the train.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsLee Seung-yunJae HeeHyuk-ho KwonA transient young man breaks into empty homes to partake of the vacationing residents' lives for a few days.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsNam-mi KangJeong-nam ChoiHye-Sook GoAfter being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.
- DirectorYeon Sang-hoStarsGong YooJung Yu-miMa Dong-seokWhile a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
- DirectorAndrew LauStarsJun Ji-hyunJung Woo-sungLee Sung-jaeAbout a tragic love triangle story involving young painter Hye-young, Interpol detective Jeong Woo, and professional hitman Park Yi.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsLee EolKwak Ji-minHan Yeo-reumJae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates, taking care of the money and making sure the coast is clear. When Jae-Young falls in love with one of those man she suppresses her feelings towards him in respect of her friend who's jealous.
- DirectorDavy ChouStarsPark Ji-minOh Gwang-RokGuka HanA twenty-five-year-old French woman returns to Korea, the country she was born in before being adopted by a French couple, for the very first time. She decides to track down her biological parents, but her journey takes a surprising turn.
- DirectorJae-young KwakStarsSon Ye-jinZo In-sungCho Seung-wooA college student finds a diary detailing a long-ago love triangle involving her mother, her future father, and his best friend.
- DirectorLee Hae-junStarsJeong Jae-yeongJung Ryeo-wonYeong-seo ParkA failed suicide attempt leads a heartbroken man to live a life in the wilderness.
- DirectorHong Sang-sooStarsKim Min-heeSeo Young-hwaJeong Jae-yeongAn actress wanders around a seaside town, pondering her relationship with a married man.