Afterword - South Korean favourites

by JohnFarrowKarrtorp | created - 26 Mar 2014 | updated - 27 Mar 2014 | Public

Favourite Korean films suggested by contributors to the Afterword blogsite.

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1. 3-Iron (2004)

R | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

72 Metascore

A transient young man breaks into empty homes to partake of the vacationing residents' lives for a few days.

Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Lee Seung-yun, Jae Hee, Hyuk-ho Kwon, Joo Jin-mo

Votes: 58,254 | Gross: $0.24M

2. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

R | 103 min | Drama, Romance

85 Metascore

A boy is raised by a Buddhist monk in an isolated floating temple where the years pass like the seasons.

Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Kim Ki-duk, Oh Yeong-su, Jong-ho Kim, Kim Young-min

Votes: 86,805 | Gross: $2.38M

3. The Host (2006)

R | 120 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

85 Metascore

A 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.

Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-Bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona

Votes: 132,678 | Gross: $2.20M

4. Oldboy (2003)

R | 120 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

78 Metascore

After 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.

Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong, Kim Byeong-Ok

Votes: 635,549 | Gross: $0.71M

5. I Saw the Devil (2010)

Not Rated | 144 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

67 Metascore

A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.

Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan, Chun Ho-jin

Votes: 146,147 | Gross: $0.13M

6. Cyrano Agency (2010)

Not Rated | 119 min | Comedy, Romance

The Cyrano Agency is a dating agency which helps people who can't date to have a love life. The agency staff try helping their clients without being noticed. The agency's representatives ... See full summary »

Director: Hyun-seok Kim | Stars: Uhm Tae-woong, Lee Min-Jung, Daniel Choi, Park Shin-hye

Votes: 1,511

7. Poetry (2010)

TV-PG | 139 min | Drama

87 Metascore

A 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.

Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Yun Jeong-hie, Lee Da-wit, Kim Hee-ra, Ahn Nae-sang

Votes: 13,535 | Gross: $0.36M

8. Bichunmoo (2000)

TV-MA | 118 min | Drama, Action, Fantasy

A sweeping, epic tale of a martial arts warrior who attempts to defy a kingdom to be with his love.

Director: Young-jun Kim | Stars: Shin Hyeon-jun, Kim Hee-seon, Jung Jin-young, Jang Dong-jik

Votes: 2,772

9. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)

Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A 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.

Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Rain, Park Byeong-eun, Kim Byeong-Ok

Votes: 25,889

10. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

R | 114 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

65 Metascore

After 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.

Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Kap-su, Moon Geun-young

Votes: 68,256

11. The Good the Bad the Weird (2008)

R | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

69 Metascore

The story of two outlaws and a bounty hunter in 1940s Manchuria and their rivalry to possess a treasure map while being pursued by the Japanese army and Chinese bandits.

Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Jung Woo-sung, Yun Je-mun

Votes: 37,928 | Gross: $0.13M

12. Lady Vengeance (2005)

R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

75 Metascore

After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.

Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Nam-mi Kang, Jeong-nam Choi, Hye-Sook Go, Bok-hwa Baek

Votes: 86,083 | Gross: $0.21M

13. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

59 Metascore

A 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.

Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doona, Lim Ji-eun

Votes: 75,118 | Gross: $0.05M

14. Thirst (2009)

R | 134 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

73 Metascore

Through a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.

Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Choi Hee-jin, Seo Dong-soo

Votes: 51,395 | Gross: $0.30M

15. The Warrior (2001)

R | 158 min | Action, Drama, History

1375. Nine Koryo warriors, envoys exiled by Imperial China, battle to protect a Chinese Ming Princess from Mongolian troops.

Director: Kim Sung-su | Stars: Jung Woo-sung, Ahn Sung-ki, Ju Jin-mo, Ziyi Zhang

Votes: 11,264

16. Memories of Murder (2003)

Not Rated | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

82 Metascore

In 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.

Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roe-ha, Song Jae-ho

Votes: 216,211 | Gross: $0.01M

17. The Chaser (2008)

Not Rated | 125 min | Action, Crime, Drama

64 Metascore

A disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.

Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Seo Yeong-hie, Kim Yoo-jung

Votes: 72,746

18. Three... Extremes (2004)

R | 125 min | Horror

66 Metascore

An Asian cross-cultural trilogy of horror films from accomplished indie directors.

Directors: Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike | Stars: Bai Ling, Lee Byung-hun, Kyoko Hasegawa, Pauline Lau

Votes: 20,863 | Gross: $0.08M

19. Daisy, a Hen Into the Wild (2011)

Not Rated | 93 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama

Leafie is a hen who manages to escape the horrible conditions of an egg production line. After surviving a harrowing encounter with a one-eyed weasel and being rejected by the barnyard ... See full summary »

Director: Seong-yun Oh | Stars: Moon So-ri, Yoo Seung-ho, Choi Min-sik, Park Chul-min

Votes: 1,050

20. Invasion of Alien Bikini (2011)

Not Rated | 75 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi

A city hero saves a girl but she is an alien which needs sperms to reproduce. She seduces the city hero who has taken a vow of chastity.

Director: Young-doo Oh | Stars: Eun-Jung Ha, Young-geun Hong

Votes: 286

21. Spider Forest (2004)

R | 112 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

A recently widowed TV producer is drawn to an isolated cabin in a mysterious woods.

Director: Song Il-gon | Stars: Kam Woo-seong, Jung Suh, Kang Kyung-hun, Jang Hyun-sung

Votes: 2,257

22. Joint Security Area (2000)

Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

58 Metascore

After a shooting incident at the North-South Korean border DMZ leaves two North Korean soldiers dead, a neutral Swiss and Swedish team investigates what actually happened.

Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lee Yeong-ae, Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Kim Tae-woo

Votes: 34,193

23. Friend (2001)

Not Rated | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Four childhood friends go their separate ways, two go off to college while the others become rival gangsters.

Director: Kyung-taek Kwak | Stars: Yu Oh-seong, Jang Dong-Gun, Seo Tae-hwa, Un-taek Jeong

Votes: 5,321

24. Oasis (2002)

133 min | Drama, Romance

79 Metascore

An irresponsible and childish ex-con befriends a girl with cerebral palsy and develops a progressively stronger bond with her.

Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Moon So-ri, Ahn Nae-sang, Ryu Seung-wan

Votes: 10,393

25. Pieta (2012)

Not Rated | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

72 Metascore

A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.

Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Jo Min-soo, Lee Jung-Jin, Woo Ki-hong, Eunjin Kang

Votes: 15,764 | Gross: $0.02M

26. Samaritan Girl (2004)

R | 97 min | Drama

Jae-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... See full summary »

Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Lee Eol, Kwak Ji-min, Han Yeo-reum, Hyun-min Kwon

Votes: 14,076

27. Ashes of Time (1996)

87 min | Drama

A fictitious account of the early years of the Yun Do-hyeon Band, an underground group in South Korea. Do-hyeon drops out of school to become a singer, but production of his first album is ... See full summary »

Director: Hong-joon Kim | Stars: Do-Hyeon Yoon, Kim Chang-wan, Yong-won Jo, Hong Yun-jeong

Votes: 38



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