Right off the bat, many people would name The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook or Parasite by Bong Joon-ho as the best Korean movies they’ve ever watched. But there’s more to South Korean cinema than those two masterpieces, and cinephiles who are looking for classic or hidden gems have come to the right place.
South Korean cinema has been long due for international recognition since it has produced many great stories on screen that resonate with audiences across the globe. Based on the plot, performance, and overall direction, these movies are a must-watch for film lovers.
10. 20th Century Girl
20th Century Girl is a good teen angst and romance that is set in the ’90s. Hold on tight, because this high school movie is full of frustrating twists and painful turns. High Schooler Na Bo-ra has a crush on a boy named Baek Hyun-jin. Upon hearing that he’s joining the broadcasting club, Bo-ra joined only to realize that Hyun-jin was not the boy she actually had a crush on.
It’s a hilarious case of mistaken identity, but it does get angstier as it progresses. 20th Century Girl is all about unforgettable first loves and teenage heartbreak. It’s not as light as its trailer suggests, but it’s a great story that could speak to most.
9. You Are My Sunshine (2005)
This movie is old but gold. You Are My Sunshine (2005) is a story of a farmer named Seok-joong who just wanted to settle down. But one does not simply demand romance to come their way, and it appears in unexpected places and takes the form of people one would least expect.
Seok-joong falls in love with a local drink delivery girl named Eun-ha. He tried courting her through gifts and while his initial attempts didn’t work, she eventually reciprocated because of his kind and caring nature. They lived in a blissful marriage for a while, until Eun-ha’s past comes back to haunt her. Although the story starts off lighthearted and wholesome, the end is completely heartbreaking. You Are My Sunshine is a classic many people cry to, and you’ll just have to watch to understand why.
8. The King and The Clown
What would happen when a bunch of clowns satirizes the King? In many cultures, it’s probably off with their heads. But in The King and The Clown, the performers who satirized the king at least had one chance to make the king laugh or be executed. Gong-gil and Jangsaeng succeeded and the king was amused. This earned them a spot in the king’s court and Gong-gil is implied to have formed a relationship with the king.
Risk it all and win big prizes seems to be the motto for this drama, and just because it has the word “clown” in the title does not mean it’s funny. It’s also not a forbidden romance between two men who were servant and king, even if Gong-gil, Jangsaeng, and the King were all implied to have romantic feelings for each other. This movie deals with heavy themes and a terribly unpredictable king.
7. Be With You
The rain brought about miracles in Be With You. This movie is based on the Japanese novel of the same title by Takuji Ichikawa. Soo-ah, on her deathbed, promised to return during the rainy season to her husband and child. It’s an impossible promise, but both Woo-jin and Ji-ho wanted to believe this to be true.
She fulfills this promise, but she’s lost her memories completely. It’s up to Woo-jin to make Soo-ah remember their love story and the little family she left behind upon her passing. Spoiler alert: don’t watch this if you don’t want to bawl your eyes out.
6. Voice of Silence
It looks like the accidental acquisition trope among people with odd jobs is rising. This isn’t another Buddy Daddies kind of anime where two hired killers accidentally adopt and raise a child through one of their missions. Voice of Silence is a film that centers around two organized crime scene cleaners. They don’t do the killing, they just do the cleanup after the fact. But Tae-in and Chang-dok were assigned to take care of an 11-year-old girl named Cho-hee.
Things take a turn, and Cho-hee is left in the care of Tae-in and Chang-dok. The circumstances might be grim, but family can be found in the darkest places.
5. Kill Boksoon
Kill Boksoon is actually a nickname for the protagonist of the series. Her name, Gil Boksoon sounds a lot like “kill,” which is fitting for a contract killer with a 100% success rate. She’s on top of this game, and if John Wick had been in her universe, their fight scenes would’ve been epic.
An assassin of her caliber is bound to get many enemies, and she was also assigned a morally troubling mission right after she announced that she no longer wanted to renew her contract. What’s up with these assassins being so terrible at retiring?
4. The Last Princess
The speech Princess Deokhye gave to her countrymen before she was forcefully exiled from her homeland was heartwrenching. Set during the Japanese Colonial Rule of Korea, Princess Deokhye was the last princess of the Korean royal family. Her father, the late Emperor Gojong, was poisoned and she was left to keep the Korean Royal Family standing.
The Last Princess isn’t a happy story, but Princess Deokhye was a witty girl who did what she could regardless of the treachery of her countrymen. Although there were some parts of the movie that took creative liberties, it was still a poignant story about Korean history and the consequences of Japanese colonization.
3. The Host
Critically acclaimed Director Bong Joon-ho won an Oscar for Parasite. But Parasite is just one of his many excellent films with great commentary on capitalism and how it manipulates people to survive. The Host similarly explores themes of bureaucratic corruption, poverty, misinformation, and capitalism.
It might sound like a lot of heavy themes, but Director Bong Joon-ho was able to skillfully weave the themes into this beautifully profound movie about a monster that kidnapped a simple man’s daughter.
2. Miracle in Cell Number 7
This is the nth time it’s been said, but if you don’t want tears to start falling uncontrollably, then you should look away. Miracle in Cell No. 7 follows a neurodivergent man with a daughter, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering a police commissioner’s daughter. Yong-gu was sent to prison and after he saved the head honcho’s life, his cellmates warmed up to him and devised a plan to smuggle his daughter, Ye-sung into prison.
But Yong-gu and Ye-sung aren’t too lucky, and all good things come to an end. The story is told in a flashback, with Ye-sung now becoming a lawyer to acquit her father of his unjust sentencing.
1. Silenced
Silenced is a masterpiece that very few could speak on. There are heavy themes of abuse, sexual assault, and torture of disabled children. Gang In-ho, a new teacher in the Benevolence Academy for hearing-impaired children. In-ho tried to get close to the children, but they all carried a sense of fear with them. In-ho was determined to get closer to them, and he succeeded at a cost. He found out that the children were being abused by the teachers and the principal, and were forced to never tell anybody.
This movie’s social impact was so strong, that it was able to change South Korean legislation and made punishments heavier for sexual offenders of those 13 and under and the disabled.
(featured image: Netflix)
Published: Feb 11, 2024 12:31 pm