This big-budget action flick kicked off a blockbuster era in South Korean film.
TOP RATED KOREAN MOVIES TV
Related: Best Korean TV Shows Shiri (1999) This beautiful bildungsroman makes director Bora Kim one to watch in coming years. When she starts attending an academy to learn Chinese characters, her tutor Yeong-ji ( Kim Sae-buk), becomes her new confidante and helps her express herself. Her older brother beats her up and her boyfriend loses interest in her. Her parents are exhausted from work but still have enough time to lecture her and fight with one another.
It’s 1994, and Eun-hee ( Park Ji-hoo) is a 14-year-old who can’t seem to get anything right.
But there are emotional notes too, as Seok-woo puts his life on the line to save his daughter.įans of Lady Bird, Ghost World and Eighth Grade will appreciate this stunning coming-of-age story by director Bora Kim. When the train conductor hears that Busan has been established as a safe zone, it’s a race to the city as the passengers struggle to survive the ride. A chemical leak at a biotech plant associated with Seok-woo’s workplace is the cause of the zombie spread. Boarding a train together, they soon find themselves trapped with zombies on board. Seok-woo ( Gong Yoo), is a divorced father whose daughter Su-an ( Kim Su-an) wants to spend her birthday with her mother in Busan.
TOP RATED KOREAN MOVIES FULL
This jumpy horror film, a nail-biting thrill ride from start to finish, plays on the moving claustrophobia of a train full of zombies. When tough, humorous grandmother Soon-ja (the incomparable Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung) arrives from South Korea to babysit the kids and teach them culture and resilience, life begins to change for the Yi family. Their young son David (the adorable scene-stealer Alan Kim) and his older sister Anne ( Noel Kate Cho) hear their parents hurling bitter insults at one another. Father Jacob ( Steven Yeun) desperately wants to get his family away from their factory jobs, but his wife Monica ( Han Ye-ri) has her doubts about his scheme to start a farm in Arkansas. Chung’s family drama depicts resilient immigrants who, like the film’s namesake plant, manage to grow in poor conditions. Lee Isaac Chung’s deceptively simple film about an Arkansas Korean-American Yi family has struck a resonant chord among many Americans with its virtual cinema release in February of this year. If it’s your maiden voyage into this wild universe, keep your eyes wide open as you watch the wretchedly poor yet conniving Kims pierce the cold, pristine universe of the rich and innocuously cruel Parks. You’ll notice Easter eggs Bong left for viewers and appreciate the masterful Hitchcock-like writing, cinematography and acting even more. This 2020 Academy Awards winner in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film needs no introduction, but suffice to say that Bong Joon-Ho’s story of a covert war between a rich family and a poor family in their employment gets better the second and third times you watch it. Here are a few of the very best Korean movies for your viewing pleasure. And of course, Lee Isaac Chung masterpiece Minari, which has won hearts this awards season. Several standout directors have dominated the landscape, including Bong Joon-ho, whose 2019 class war film Parasite won “Best Picture” at the 2020 Academy Awards, and Park Chan-wook, whose 2003 thriller Oldboy shocked audiences with its twisty plot.
TOP RATED KOREAN MOVIES MOVIE
Korean movie auteurs have produced some of the most incisive films of the past two decades, putting their own unique imprints on the cinematic universe.