The Power of South Korea - Best Korean Movies Ever
A list of 35 South Korean movies that are strongly recommended for watching to all those who enjoy intelligent, extraordinary, meaningful and highly expressive movies.
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35 titles
- 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.
- DirectorMin-ho WooStarsKim Myung-minUhm Ki-joonPark Joo-miThe life of a respected minister and loving family man shatters after his daughter is kidnapped. When she is not returned, he renounces God and becomes a corrupt businessman.
- DirectorPark Jin-PyoStarsSol Kyung-guKim Nam-juGang Dong-wonOne day, the only son of famous news anchor HAN Kyung-bae, disappears without a trace. Soon, the kidnapper calls the mother demanding a $100,000 ransom. The police assign a veteran inspector to the case and assemble a top-notch task force to work under his command. But the kidnapper constantly outwits the police and continues calling the parents with yet more instructions for the money drop.
- DirectorHyeong-Joon KimStarsSol Kyung-guRyu Seung-beomHan Hye-jinDespite being nearly proven the murderer, a serial killer threatens to kill the daughter of a forensic pathologist if he doesn't get him bailed out.
- DirectorJee-woon KimStarsLee Byung-hunChoi Min-sikJeon Gook-hwanA secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorNa Hong-jinStarsKim Yoon-seokHa Jung-wooSeo Yeong-hieA disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.
- DirectorSung-ho KimStarsYoo Ji-taeKim Myung-minHye-na KimAn ex-cop, now working as a security guard in a shopping mall, tries to uncover the secret behind a series of mysterious deaths linked to mirrors.
- DirectorLee Jeong-beomStarsWon BinKim Sae-ronKim Tae-hoonA quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug-and-organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsKim Hye-jaWon BinJin GooA mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
- DirectorNa Hong-jinStarsLee Yoo-miHa Jung-wooLee Hee-joonWhen the attempt to kill a professor goes wrong, a series of violent events are triggered which force a taxi driver to run for his life.
- DirectorPang Eun-jinStarsUhm JunghwaMoon Sung-KeunKwon Oh-jungA woman gets killed in a department store. No one imagines this could lead to serial murders, but two days after the first murder, another homicide occurs. A woman is suffocated to death and the only evidence left at the crime scene is a sticker of the cartoon character "Princess Aurora". A veteran detective OH suspects an attractive and lively woman named JUNG Soon-jung as the murderer. However, he does not tell anyone -not even his partner- that Jung also happens to be his ex-wife. Again and again, the Princess Aurora sticker is found... each with a dead body.
- DirectorKyu-maan LeeStarsPark Yong-wooRyu Seung-ryongSung Dong-ilThe film is based on a true case from the early 1990s that is known among Koreans as the "disappearance of the frog children." In 1991, five elementary school students told their parents that they were going to hang out on a nearby mountain to catch frogs. They went missing.
- DirectorCheol-soo JangStarsSeo Yeong-hieJi Seong-wonMin-ho HwangA woman subject to mental, physical and sexual abuse on a remote island seeks a way out.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsJang Dong-GunKim Jeong-hakPark Ji-ahA member of Coast Guard Platoon 23, Private Kang monitors a high-infiltration stretch of beach lined with barbed-wire fencing. Driven by the belief that killing a spy is the highest honor, he waits for a chance to prove his worth.
- DirectorKang Je-kyuStarsJang Dong-GunWon BinEun-ju LeeWhen two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.
- DirectorKang Woo-sukStarsAhn Sung-kiSol Kyung-guHuh Joon-hoBased on a true story of 1968 Korean Republic Army plan to assassinate North Korean president Kim Il-Sung. 31 criminals and death row inmates are recruited into secret training on the island of Silmi; for two years they are subjected to maximum mental and physical abuse before the mission is cancelled and the unit terminated.
- DirectorJung HuhStarsSon Hyeon-juMoon Jeong-HeeJeon Mi-seonA missing brother. Hide and seeks codes. A shocking truth for two different families and the struggle to save their families from someone who is already living inside their house.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorYoung-jun KimStarsShin Hyeon-junHuh Joon-hoIn-hwa JeongA man serving a life sentence for murder is given a short reprieve to be with his daughter, who suffers from Wilson's disease and desperately needs a liver transplant.
- DirectorHwi KimStarsYunjin KimMa Dong-seokKim Sae-ronResidents of a mansion live in fear when a young girl is murdered. They suspect their neighbor for the crime, and a battle erupts to protect the next victim.
- DirectorSung-hee JoStarsSong Joong-kiPark Bo-youngYeong-ran LeeSummoned by an unexpected phone call, an elderly woman visits the country cottage she lived in as a child. Memories of an orphan boy she knew 47 years ago come flooding back to her.
- DirectorHwan-kyung LeeStarsRyu Seung-ryongKal So-wonOh Dal-suA story about the love between a mentally-ill father and his lovingly adorable daughter.
- StarsLee Seo-jinLim Ju-eunPark Ji-yeonHa-Na and Doo-Na were twin sisters who were very close to each other until Doo-Na died a terrible death. One day, the usually bright and energetic Ha-Na finds herself changing. She has superhuman strength and can do things that nobody can. Ha-Na realizes that Doo-Na's spirit has inhabited her body. Shin-Ryu, a criminal psychoanalyst, uses Ha-Na's powers to take revenge on those who cannot be punished by the law.
- DirectorJung Bum-shikSik JungStarsKim Bo-kyungLee Dong-kyuKim Eung-sooA series of horrifying events plague a Korean hospital in the 1940s.
- DirectorJee-woon KimStarsLim 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.
- DirectorJee-woon KimStarsPark In-hwanNa Moon-heeSong Kang-hoA family opens a mountain inn where their first guest commits suicide. Suddenly all their guests befall horrible fates.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsLim Soo-jungRainPark Byeong-eunA girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls.
- 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.
- DirectorLee Jong EonOunie LecomteStarsKim Sae-ronKo Ah-sungSol Kyung-guYoung Jinhee is taken by her father to an orphanage near Seoul. He leaves her there never to return, and she struggles to come to grips with her fate. Jinhee desperately believes her father will come back for her.
- 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.
- DirectorKwang-Hyun ParkStarsJeong Jae-yeongShin Ha-kyunKang Hye-jeongSoldiers from both sides of the Korean divide live among villagers who know nothing of the war.