Favorite Korean Movies

I'm really into Korean movies. The story line is always interesting, with many twists and the action scenes are usually very realistic. With Hollywood increasingly more into special effects and technology, I escape to Korea for the story.
Here are some of my favorite Korean movies:

I Saw The Devil
Ta Gu Ki: The Brotherhood of War
Old Boy
Simpathy For Mr. Vengeance
Simpathy For Mrs. Vengeance
Memories Of Murder
Fighter In The Wind
Musa: The Warrior
Blood Ties
Typhoon
Friend
Once Upon A Time In High School
The City Of Violence
Addree Unknown
Public Enemy
Oasis
Spring, Summer, Fall, Summer, Spring
3- Iron
Bow
Dirty Carnival
Fate
The Isle
JSA
Last Witness
Shiri

If you have any to add to this list, please feel free to do so.

Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left For The East?
Secret Sunshine
Mother

No Koreans nor any Korean movie lovers on this site?

Not too keen on Korean movies. Memories of Murder is my favourite Korean movie.

I've seen about all of those. I could only add I'm a Cyborg but That's OK, Tale of Two Sisters, Mother, The Host, The Good the Bad and the Weird, Barking Dogs Never Bite, Poetry, Time, Thirst, The Man From Nowhere, Save the Green Planet, Chi Hwa Seon: Painted Fire, and Samaritan Girl.

I wouldn't call myself a lover of Korean films as I've not seen all that many but any I have seen I've enjoyed. So this thread is very handy for me in terms of getting recommendations.

Korean films that I do really like are Spring,Summer..., The Host and The Good The Bad and The Weird. I've also bought/recorded a few to watch at some point - I'm a Cyborg..., Man From Nowhere, Old Boy, The Chaser, Welcome to Dongmakgol etc

Oh and there was a film I came across a while back that I was told was excellent. I think it was called Moss perhaps. Have you seen that one?

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I've heard of Moss, sounds good but it is on netflix instant so yeah. The Chaser is the only Korean film I've seen so far that I had little reaction to

R-Point (2004)
Directed by: Su-Chang Kong
Written by: Su-Chang Kong

R-point takes place in 1972 Vietnam. A radio transmission comes through and is identified as a South Korean Platoon that disappeared six months ago. Lieutenant Choi Tae is given the order to go to R-point and find the missing soldiers. When they get to R-point they find a marker saying that one hundred years ago the Chinese killed a lot of Vietnamese and dropped them into a lake, then built a temple over top of the place becoming a sacred place to the North and South Vietnamese.



While trying to find the missing Platoon the soldiers find what looks like a abandoned southern style plantation house. Weird things start to happen, seeing ghosts and becoming possessed are just a couple ultimately leading to overpowering paranoia and violence.



This not a huge budget movie but it still looks nice and has a good story that will not bore you. I have seen a lot of Asian ghost movies and this one is unique in that it takes place during wartime in Vietnam. If you like Asian Horror/supernatural movies then you should watch this one, just don’t expect to be scared that much, the movie focuses more on violence and blood then the ghosts.

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Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
Directed by: Je-gyu Kang
Written by: Je-gyu Kang and Sang-don Kim

Jin-tae is a street smart shoe shiner who also works odd jobs to help his younger brother Jin-seok to study and go to college to be the savior of their very poor family, Jin-seok is the smart one in the family on his way to university and a much better life. The joy of this South Korean family fills the screen for the first moments of the film, only to change abruptly on June 25, 1950 when suddenly the North Koreans attack at the 38th parallel, forcing communism and death down the throats of the South Koreans. Jin-seok get’s drafted the South Korean way by being put into the back of a truck and being told you are going to fight, older brother Jin-tae forces himself into a situation where he will be drafted so he can look after and make sure his younger brother is safe. The degree of honor and camaraderie amongst the entire South Korean platoon, and especially between the two brothers is a very touching and emotional element portrayed in this film. Jin-tae makes a deal with his CO that if he can get a medal that they will discharge his brother, Jin-tae becomes obsessed with killing and volunteering for every suicidal mission that comes up. This leads to a rift between the two brothers, the younger not wanting the older to take care of him, and thinking that all the killing is starting to affect him in a very bad way.



The remainder of the film explores the progress of this war with great detail, visually depicting the atrocities of war more brutally than any other war film that I have ever seen. But overriding the visuals of the war is the relationship of the two brothers and what they go through to stay together to try and make it back to their mother and Jin-tae’s fiancé. The ending to this movie is great and I have to admit that this goes on the very short list of movies I have cried at the end of.



There are very few films that I am familiar with about the Korean war, I believe that this movie did it justice in the way of showing all the brutality and the way people can turn on each other under those types of situations. This film has all violence and limbs being blown everywhere as Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and Hamburger Hill combined. If you like war movies then you have to watch this, I have never seen a movie of that genre that can compare.

Thirst (2009)
Directed by: Chan-wook Park
Written by: Chan-wook Park and Emile Zola

Sang Hyun (Kang-ho Song) is a Catholic priest who volunteers in a local hospital. He provides last rites when necessary as well emotional support to its patients. Father Hyun is well-respected but he secretly suffers from emotions that can be defined as doubt, as he witnesses the suffering going on around him. Yet, he cherishes life, so he volunteers to take part in an experiment to eradicate the lethal EV virus, which is a threat to every Caucasian and Asian male. Father Hyun becomes stricken with the deadly virus and a blood transfusion is ordered up for him to save his life; in turn he becomes the first survivor of the deadly virus and some folks begin to regard him as a saint. But soon after his new lease on life, Hyun finds out that the blood he had received is infected and he is now living as a vampire and only the consumption of human blood can stave off the virus.



Father Hyun struggles with his new found desire for blood, and now also, his faith is put to the test when a childhood friend's wife, Tae-Ju (Kim Ok-Vin) comes to him to escape her horrible life. Sang-Hyun becomes overwhelmed as he plunges deep within the world of physical and sexual desires. The vampirism as seen by Park's rendition does have similarities to the established myths about vampires; vulnerability to sunlight, superhuman strength and speed, with a strong need for human blood--curiously this vampire does not grow fangs. Hyun becomes a compelling character as we see him torn between the need to survive while avoiding the need to kill. Hyun resorts to slowly drinking the blood from comatose patients in the hospital (but never killing them) and people who wish to commit suicide. Tae-Ju is one imbalanced woman who is manipulative of any situation. She seduces the kindly priest and manipulates him into believing that she is an abused wife, she is a woman torn between being dependent on her and the need to be free. The sex scenes between Kang-Ho and Ok-Vin are quite erotically creepy at times, and very graphic, comparable to some Japanese ultra-gore films. This film is funny, bizarre, and gritty. There is one very bizarre scene when Hyun and Tae-ju is having sex, with a vision of Tae-ju's dead husband sandwiched between them because of the guilt of murdering him. If you are a fan of Vampire films and would like to see a different take on the genre they you should watch this movie.

Just thought I would copy these here off my thread but there is also -

I Saw The Devil
OldBoy
Simpathy For Mr. Vengeance
Simpathy For Mrs. Vengeance
The Man from Nowhere
Memories of Murder

Remake of Oldboy should be interesting to say the least.
I am looking forward to seeing The Front Line whenever they release it on DVD around here.

Thanks, Frontline looks interesting. Haven't seen it yet. L'll get it. The others, including Man From Nowhere, I have.

Thanks. I'll check out Barking Dogs Never Bite. I allready have The Man From Nowhere, Chi Wa Seon, Thirst and Samaritan Girl.

I love korean films, and i watch over 50 films, this is my list :

http://www.imdb.com/list/zQ_EtUat0H4/

and another list for the best korean directors :

http://www.imdb.com/list/K3e6vyS-IcI/

actors :

http://www.imdb.com/list/J80ZTb2mJjI/

Thanks for your contribution. There were a couple of movies on that IMDB list that I haven't seen: The Yellow Sea and Bedevilled.
I am kind of shocked by that list. I would say that a third of those movies do not belong on a best 50 list. I mean such movies as Attack The Gas Station??? Seems to me that the guy just made a list of all the Korean movies he has seen. I'll see if I can make a worthier one for them. There are a lot of great Korean movies. The only problem would be rating them in any particular order.

What's wrong with Attack The Gas Station? Social turmoil symbolism is fun.

I just thought it was goofy and amateurish, certainly not in the same league with great movies such as Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter....Spring,
Old Boy, I Saw The Devil etc.... Hell, I can name 100 Korean movies that are consensually better. Just ask any Korean that's a movie buff.

Lee Chang-dong's movies have always affected me profoundly. He's one of the more "serious" directors of Korea, and is not afraid to explore the side of human condition that other directors are afraid to explore.

You mean Chang-Dong Lee?
I really liked Oasis but Secret Sunshine was just too slow and boring. It left me waiting for something to happen. I found it hard to believe that both movies were made by the same director but, then again, that's pretty much how I feel about Takeshi Miike, although most of his later movies are better. Of course, there is only one Scorcese and he never dissapoints.

Adding two new movies to my list:

A Better Tomorrow, a Korean re-make of the Chinese original. I actually
liked it more.

City Hunter - a Korean TV series with an interesting plot.