Essential Korean Films

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 A young drifter enters strangers' houses - and lives - while owners are away. He spends a night or a day squatting in, repaying their unwitting hospitality by doing laundry or small repairs. His life changes when he runs into a beautiful woman in an affluent mansion who is ready to escape her unhappy, abusive marriage.
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|3-Iron (2004)
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The film is notable for the lack of dialogue between its two main characters.

Directed by Kim Ki-duk, director of Bad Guy and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring.
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Attack the Gas Station

(1999) The film tells the story of a quartet of thugs who rob a gas station out of sheer boredom, having robbed it only a few days previous. Unable to get any money from the register, they take everyone hostage and start dispensing gas and keeping the money. The film becomes progressively more and more farcical as the characters find different ways of amusing themselves, mostly through the mixed cast of characters that come in through the gas station. However, it's only a matter of time before they start upsetting the wrong people. A man is spurned and insulted by a beautiful woman he meets on the street, so he traps her into prositution and eventually becomes protective of her. The film was controversial in South Korea for its frank portrayal of gangsters, prostitution, and sexual slavery.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Bad Guy (2001)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Bad Guy (2001)

Directed by Kim Ki-duk, director of 3-Iron and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. An intelligent, cool-headed perfectionist, Sun Woo has earned the absolute trust of his boss with his undivided loyalty and by adeptly managing the business. His boss, Mr. Kang, is a callous man with a secret -- his young love, Hee-soo. When Mr. Kang suspects Hee-soo might have another boyfriend, he orders Sun-woo to keep a close eye on her and to kill her if she has betrayed him. After following her for a few days, Sun-woo barges in on Hee-soo and her boyfriend with a clear mission -- but to his own surprise, he lets them go. Sun-woo hopes things will just go back to the way they were. But his decision has launched an irreversible war with the whole gang, guys who were like brothers just the day before.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|A Bittersweet Life (2005)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|A Bittersweet Life (2005)

Directed by Kim Ji-woon, director of A Tale of Two Sisters and The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Eom Joong-ho is a former police officer turned pimp, and several of his girls have gone missing. One night he gets a call from a customer and sends Mi-jin, one of his few remaining girls. Later he realises that the same customer was the last to see the missing girls, and believing that Mi-jin might be in danger, he goes to look for her. While searching for her, he comes to suspect Jae Yeong-min. Yeong-min tries to run away but Joong-ho catches him, and both men are taken to the police station.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Chaser (2008)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Chaser (2008)

At the police station, Yeong-min confesses to the murder of the women, and says his last victim, Mi-jin, could still be alive. But despite his confession, the police have no evidence to imprison him and cannot detain him for more than 12 hours. As the police search for the bodies of his victims, Joong-ho is the only one who believes that Mi-jin is still alive, and must find her before the killer is released.

The movie was inspired by a real-life serial killer in Korea, Yoo Young-chul. Dae-Ho is an unproductive bank clerk who is late to work every morning and the object of his manager's frustrations. He was a fan of TV wrestling as a child, but can't get out of a headlock. He finds a local wrestling trainer and through a series of events eventually starts to train. He is slowly transformed as he begins his second job as the cheating villain wrestler known as the Foul King. He starts to stand up for himself in odd ways that are not really in his own best interest. Events get out of hand as conflicting influences come together.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|A Dirty Carnival (2006)
 * Byung-du is a 29-year-old career criminal, working for the middle-rank enforcer Sang-chul. Burdened with a terminally ill mother and taking care of younger siblings, Byung-du is feeling financial pressure as a substitute patriarch. When the big boss President Hwang is cornered by a corrupt prosecutor, Byung-du volunteers for a whack job and wins the big man's trust. However, his real trouble begins when friend Min-ho, an aspiring movie director, asks him to be a consultant for the latter's debut film.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Foul King (2000)
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Foul King (2000)

Directed by Kim Ji-woon, director of A Bittersweet Life and A Tale of Two Sisters. The Good, the Bad, the Weird
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(2008) A large creature comes up out of the Han river, causing mayhem, death, and destruction. It snatches a young girl and carries her off. The girl's dysfunctional family is forced to work together and sets out on a mission to find her. The film is mix of drama, horror, and comedy. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, director of Mother and Memories of Murder.
 * Directed by Kim Ji-woon, director of A Bittersweet Life and A Tale of Two Sisters.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Host (2006)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Host (2006)
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I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok

(2006) A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she eventually falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls.

Directed by Chan-wook Park, director of Oldboy. J.S.A. Joint Security Area
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(2000) In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 remaining bullets in the assassin's magazine clip, amount to 16 bullets for a gun that should normally hold 15 bullets. The investigating Swiss/Swedish team from the neutral countries overseeing the DMZ suspects that another, unknown party was involved - all of which points to some sort of cover up. The truth is much simpler and much more tragic.

Directed by Chan-wook Park, director of Oldboy.
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The King and the Clown

(2005) This film is the third installment in Chan-wook Park's Vengeance Trilogy, following Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Oldboy.
 * Two clowns, Jangsaeng and Gonggil, living in the Chosun Dynasty, get arrested for staging a play that satirizes the king. They are dragged to the palace and threatened with execution, but are given a chance to save their lives if they can make the king laugh. The King falls for the effeminate Gonggil, which makes Jangsaeng jealous. The king's main concubine, Jang Noksu, also becomes enraged by the attention the king has been lavishing on Gonggil, and sets out to frame Gonggil for insulting the king. Jangsaeng takes the blame and is imprisoned.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Lady Vengeance (2005)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Lady Vengeance (2005)

Falsely accused of kidnapping and murdering a boy, Geum-ja Lee is released after thirteen and half years tries to fix her life. She finds a job in a bakery; she orders the manufacturing of a special weapon; she reunites with her daughter, who was adopted by an Australian family; and she plots revenge against the real killer of the boy, the English teacher Mr. Baek. With the support of former inmates from prison, Geum-ja seeks an unattained redemption with her vengeance. In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, in South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is found dead, raped and tied and gagged with her underwear. Detective Park Doo-Man and Detective Cho Yong-koo, two brutal and stupid local detectives without any technique, investigate the murder using brutality and torturing the suspects, without any practical result. The Detective Seo Tae-Yoon from Seul comes to the country to help the investigations and is convinced that a serial-killer is killing the women. When a third woman is found dead in the same "modus-operandi", the detectives find leads of the assassin.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Memories of Murder (2003)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Memories of Murder (2003)

Directed by Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host, and Mother.
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A Moment to Remember

(2004) A mother desperately searches for the killer that framed her son for their horrific murder.
 * A love story about a young couple's enduring love, which is tested when 27 year old Sun-jin is diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Mother (2009)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Mother (2009)

Directed by Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host and Memories of Murder. This film is the second installment in Chan-wook Park's Vengeance Trilogy, between Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Lady Vengeance.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|My Sassy Girl (2001)
 * Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Kyun-woo and an unnamed girl. Kyun-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her which enables him to tolerate the girl's abuses.  
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Oldboy (2003)
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Oldboy (2003)

A man is mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years, only to be released without explanation. Over the next 5 days, he seeks his revenge and to solve the mystery of why he was imprisoned.
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The President's Last Bang

(2005) A family decides to buy a lodge in a remote hiking area. Their first customer commits suicide and the distraught family buries his body to avoid the bad publicity. But their luck gets worse, the bodies start piling up, and the family becomes frantic to rectify the situation.
 * A look at the life of President Park Chung-hee and the events leading up to his assassination.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Quiet Family (1998)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|The Quiet Family (1998)

Directed by Kim Ji-woon, director of A Bittersweet Life and A Tale of Two Sisters. Yeo-jin and Jae-yeong are two teenage girls who are trying to earn money for a trip to Europe. Jae-yeong begins prostituting herself while Yeo-jin acts as her pimp. Things take a turn for the worse when Yeo-jin gets distracted from her duty and the police raid the motel where Jae-yeong is meeting with a client. To avoid getting caught, Jae-yeong jumps out of a window, fatally injuring herself. After Jae-yeong's death, Yeo-jin blames herself and to ease her own conscience, sets to return all of the money they earned to the clients while sleeping with them herself. Eventually Yeo-jin's father, a policeman, is devastated when he discovers what she is doing. He starts following her discreetly and confronts her clients with increasingly violent results.Directed by Kim Ki-duk, director of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring, 3-Iron, and Bad Guy.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Samaritan Girl (2004)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Samaritan Girl (2004)
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Save the Green Planet

(2003) A sensitive, blue collar sad sack hopped up on conspiracy theories and sci-fi is convinced that aliens have infiltrated human society and are planning to destroy the planet at the next lunar eclipse. He sets out to kidnap his boss to torture him until he confesses to his alien identity and stops the invasion.

The movie mixes elements of multiple genres, including comedy, sci fi, and horror.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Sex is Zero (2002)
 * At Sunjong University, a few students are serious, including Eun-hyo, who works hard at aerobics in hopes of doing well in a national competition. Most students goof off: drinking, partying, and focusing on sex. Eun-shik, a law student who's been in the military, is older but socially inept. He likes Eun-hyo; even though his earnest and simple side appeals to her, his juvenile excesses make him irrelevant when Sung-ok, a good-looking rich kid, charms Eun-hyo. They begin an affair, leaving Eun-shik on the sidelines. The national competition approaches and complications arise.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Spider Forest (2004)
 * Deep in the forest, a man and woman have been brutally attacked in a cabin and left to die. Arriving too late, Kang chases the killer only to be hit by a speeding car. Barely surviving surgery, he now finds himself a prime suspect. He cannot shake the feeling that there are strange gaps in his memory regarding that night and the killer's identity. While police set out to confirm his story, he begins his own quest to remember the truth about the murder and himself.
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Spring, Summer, Fall,

Winter... and Spring (2003)

imdb The story of a Buddhist monk as he passes through the seasons of his life, from childhood to old age, living in a tiny Buddhist monastery that floats on a lake in a forest.

The film is divided into five segments (the five seasons of the title), each segment depicting a different stage in the life of a Buddhist monk (each segment is roughly ten to twenty years apart, and is physically in the middle of its titular season).

Directed by Kim Ki-duk, director of 3-Iron, Bad Guy, and Samaritan Girl.
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Sympathy for Mr Vengeance

(2002) This film is the first installment in Chan-wook Park's Vengeance Trilogy, preceding Oldboy and Lady Vengeance'.

The story of Ryu, a deaf man, and his sister, who requires a kidney transplant. Ryu's boss, Park, has just laid him off, and in order to afford the transplant, Ryu and his girlfriend develop a plan to kidnap Park's daughter. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge. A Tale of Two Sisters
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(2003) Inspired by a Korean legend, this is the odyssey of two sisters, who after spending time in a mental institution, return to the home of their father... Inspired by a Korean legend, this is the odyssey of two sisters, who after spending time in a mental institution, return to the home of their father and cruel stepmother. Their recovery is affected by their stepmother's increasing cruelty, together with appearances of the ghost of their mother, which creates an atmosphere of strange occurrences and irrepressible fear.

Directed by Kim Ji-woon, director of A Bittersweet Life and The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Tae Guk Gi:
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The Brotherhood of War (2004)

imdb A failed medical experiment turns a man of faith into a vampire.
 * A drama about the fate of brothers forced to fight in the Korean War.
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 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Thirst (2009)
 * style="vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; text-align: center;"|Thirst (2009)

Directed by Chan-wook Park, director of Oldboy and Joint Security Area.
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Welcome to Dongmakgol

(2005)
 * The story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded village, its residents largely unaware of the outside world, including the war.
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