Korean Movies

This is officially my first post...and since I'm really into Korean Cinema at the moment I thought what better place to start than in this topic. If you're looking for quality Korean films then you can't go wrong starting with the films of the 2 most internationally recognized filmmakers from Korea: Chan-wook Park and Kim Ki-duk. They are true auters and are crafting the new face of world cinema. Of course their films serve as a gateway to all of the other great films being made in South Korea at the moment so here's a list of some of the films I'd recommend. Most have thes have already been listed but there are a few movies that haven't been mentioned yet that are great.

Romance / Comedy:
My Sassy Girl (Jae-young Kwak, 2001)
~ THE most popular Korean romantic comedy starring Jun Ji-hyun in an amazing performance. I have yet to meet someone that hasn't fallen in love with this film after seeing it...it's THAT great!!
Il Mare (Lee Hyun-seung, 2000)
~ Another popular romance starring Jun Ji-hyun about a love so strong it conquers time itself
Conduct Zero (Jo Geun-shik, 2002)
~ Hilarious action/drama/comedy about growing up in 1980's Korea...the young lead bares an uncanny resemblence to Jake Gyllenhaal and has a bit of Donie darko in his performance
My Little Bride (Kim Ho-jun, 2004)

Drama:
Friend (Kyung-taek Kwak, 2001)
~ Interesting, if uneven, story about the lives of 4 childhood friends who grow up to lead very different lives but continue to share a connection
Samaria (Kim Ki-duk, 2004)
~ An amazing film about innocence lost...and regained. In many ways it's like a poem, lyrical and ambiguous. An absolute piece of art with a final image that will stay with you for days
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and...Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)
Champion (Kyung-taek Kwak, 2002)
Joint Security Area (Chan-wook Park, 2000)
~ Chan-wook Park's first feature film about a tragic incident set in the backdrop of the border conflicts between North Korea and South Korea. Though not great there are hints of Park's later genius.

Action:
Oldboy (Chan-wook Park, 2003)
~ The film that won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2004 and brought Park into the international scene. A masterpiece of vengeance and ill-fated retrobution. Min-sik Choi gives one of the great performances in cinema history.
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (Chan-wook Park, 2002)
! To many this film is Parks' coming out party. The first in his planned Vengeance Trilogy (Oldboy being the second film), the film is brutal but beautiful.
No Blood No Tears (Seung-ryan Ryoo)
Arahan (Seung-ryan Ryoo, 2004)
~ An amazing action film by another great up-and-coming director waiting to be discovered by an internaional audience.
Double Agent (Kim Hyeon-jeong, 2003)
Public Enemy (Kang Woo Suk, 2002)
Silmido (Kang Woo Suk, 2003)
~ One of the most South Korean films ever produced and by far the most succesful film in the country.

Horror / Thriller:
A Tale of Two Sisters (Ji-woon Kim, 2003)
~ A truly terrifying horror film
Save The Green Planet (Jun-hwan Jeong, 2003)
~ I'm not sure what category I should put this film in because it has a little of everything. One of the weirdest movies you're ever likely
to see!

Animation:
My Beautiful Girl, Mari (Seong-kang Lee, 2002)
Wonderful Days (Moon S. Kim, 2003)
~ Not very good story-wise but the animation is beautiful and it's the first big-bidget animated film ever made in South Korea.

Those are some good Korean film to get started on. I'd also recommend Last Life in the Universe, a Thai film by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. It's a very cool, nuanced film starring some of asia's top actors (Japanese, Korean, and Thai) and even has a cameo by the prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike as a Yakuza. Shot by the great Christopher Doyle (long time collegue of Won Kar-wai and D.P. on Jet Li's Hero...a true master), though it's a Thai film there's very little Thai spoken in the film (mostly japanese and broken english). If you're a fan of asian cinema then you should definitely check this film out.

hey i'm new here this is my first time posting here

well i just saw sex is zero and romantic assassin. i was wondering if there are any more movies with the same cast? coz their cast is pretty hot :love_eyes:

also are there any other good suggestions for korean comedies?

hehehe welll thx for the help i guess XD

i love my little bride :woot:
kim rae won is a hottie :woot:

Here's a DVD Beaver comparison of My Sassy Girl: http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare6/mysassygirl.htm :)

hello, i'm a new member :dancing:
i'm fond of korean series but i don't know where can i download it. :doh: someone can tell me where can i find it ! please
thx

Hi guys! anyone here know Stairway to heaven? or even watch it? :hehe:

Latest Korean movies that I have watched:

-Windstruck: stars Ji-hyun Jun (my sassy girl) and Hyuk Jang ( whasango/volcano high) quite an enjoyable romance/drama movie, but the movie is too damn long, watch it and you'll agree. according to kfcinema this movie is doing really well in Japan.

- Attack the gasstation: bunch of youngsters decide to rob the local gasstation for the second time, owner claims not to have any money, so they decide to disguise themselves as employees to sell gas for money while taking the current workers hostage, for some reason the number of hostages keep on increasing, all in all a funny movie.

MilkyWay wrote:Hi!
I know that this place is mostly for japanese productions, but recently I got addicted to korean movies aswell.
Could you guys probably recommend any good movies that are a MUST watch, cause there are so many, and I don't know what do search for first?

So far I've seen:

Christmas in August
Friend
My Sassy Girl
Oh happy day
Sex is zero
The Garden of Heaven
The Classic

I have been a big fan of Lee Eun Joo but sad to say that i never had a chance to watch much of her movies especially The Garden of Heaven

Can you tell me how's the show?

My recommentation Korean movies which i watched before is

Taegukgi
Lover's Concerto
Marrying the Mafia
Oh! Happy Day

[image]

[image]

Can anybody tell me where can i get more korean movies in Singapore especially The Garden of Heaven and Dance with the wind

[image]

i liked a lot of the movies that were mentioned here (my sassy girl, attack the gas station, musa, etc).

last night, i watched 'fighter in the wind' (or baramui fighter). it's based on a true story of a korean martial artist living in japan (post-wwiii). it was pretty decent. good fighting scenes, and the plot moved along, but it just didn't have that chemistry that made it a great movie.

jholic wrote:i liked a lot of the movies that were mentioned here (my sassy girl, attack the gas station, musa, etc).

last night, i watched 'fighter in the wind' (or baramui fighter). it's based on a true story of a korean martial artist living in japan (post-wwiii). it was pretty decent. good fighting scenes, and the plot moved along, but it just didn't have that chemistry that made it a great movie.

Oh, Mr. Jholic, I envy you! I've been wanting to see that movie for a while. NOT ONLY was the guy Korean but, if I'm not mistaken, he was a North Korean who defected, right? Wow. How'd you get to see it? It's not in the theatres anywheres, eh?

Man, Korean film's still kicking major da kind, yeah? I mean, there are a LOT of releases each year and the majority of 'em are good, if not great.

K-den.

I've seen Love so Divine, its a nice movie and as usual, ha ji won is very pretty.

arnel98 wrote:I've seen Love so Divine, its a nice movie and as usual, ha ji won is very pretty.

Hey...!!! me too....!!! i watch it on last thursday.... yah... Ha Ji Won is very pretty & funny.... but Kwon Sang Woo is sooo cute & funny :muack: ....!!!! he can really act well with all the tears within few seconds :applaud: :applaud: :shamefulcry: .....!! he is such a sweet guy :muack: ....!!! so handsome..... ohh.... hope i can watch it all over again :dancing: .... hahah :mrgreen: ....

tata....(",)

The Man wrote:Oh, Mr. Jholic, I envy you! I've been wanting to see that movie for a while. NOT ONLY was the guy Korean but, if I'm not mistaken, he was a North Korean who defected, right? Wow. How'd you get to see it? It's not in the theatres anywheres, eh?

Man-sama, i was able to find a site that had it on bittorrent. i had a lot of trouble getting the file to work, but it finally did.

it was pretty obvious that he was korean, but i don't know if he was north korean. (btw, are you referring to the actor, or the guy depicted in the movie?)

what was really impressive is that several of the actors/actresses in there could speak both languages. i'm not fluent in either, but it sounded pretty good. i was just waiting for some of them to bust out some pidgin!! :rofl:

Korean movies that I wanna watch
- Taeguki (Won Bin, Jang DongGun)
- A wolf's attraction (Kang Dongwon) -> based on novel.. I have read the novel, it's good and sad....
- He was cool (Song Seung Hoon) -> the same author with A wolf
- My tutor friend...

I have watched...
- Who's got the tape (Lee SungJin -> he is funny)
- Too beautiful to lie (Kang DongWon)
- My Sassy girl
- My little bride

Does anyone know the movie with song 'Kiss - Because I am a woman'. My friend said that the song is a soundtract from a movie, but I havent watched it. anyone know???

I've seen:

My Sassy Girl
Il Mare
A Perfect Match
Love Impossible


All were enjoyable, but I kept laughing whenever they said "Great Leader" in the movie Love Impossible, to refer to the North Korean premier, Kim Jong Il.

He's that crackpot that inherited the dictatorship of North Korea when his father died in the 1990s and has recently caused the nuclear standoff with China, Japan, Russia, the USA, and the rest of the world. He also is like 5'2" but wears 4 inch tall shoes and keeps his hair pointed up about 3 inches so as to try to appear taller. :crazy:

Great Leader :rofl:, more like Nutcase.
-PCM

jholic wrote:
Man-sama, i was able to find a site that had it on bittorrent. i had a lot of trouble getting the file to work, but it finally did.

it was pretty obvious that he was korean, but i don't know if he was north korean. (btw, are you referring to the actor, or the guy depicted in the movie?)

what was really impressive is that several of the actors/actresses in there could speak both languages. i'm not fluent in either, but it sounded pretty good. i was just waiting for some of them to bust out some pidgin!! :rofl:

The character is supposed to be North Korean.

There was English spoken in that film, too?

pcmodem wrote:
All were enjoyable, but I kept laughing whenever they said "Great Leader" in the movie Love Impossible, to refer to the North Korean premier, Kim Jong Il.

Yeah, that's what North Koreans pretty much HAVE to call the guy in their country :usuck: . Nutty, man. There's this huge statue of his daddy someplace over there, too.

I understand the PS2 game "Mercenaries" allows you to blow up digitized North Korean artillery and other stuff. Ooh-hooo, that is neat! Take that, evil axis!

The Man wrote:There was English spoken in that film, too?

yup, there were japanese, korean, and american actors/actresses. in some parts, the japanese and koreans try their hand in english. i don't remember any americans speaking jp or korean, though.

Just finished watching Musa, its a good movie, nice action scenes and the acting is pretty well done.

korean movies, korean dramas, korea rules the world. been months since i watched something japanese

Last summer I saw a Korean movie, but I forgot the name. I never saw the ending... It was about a relationship between a blind girl that lived by herself, and a bus driver that pretended to be a radio DJ. Does that sound familiar to anyone?