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Thursday, January 2, 2014

Top 10 Korean Films of 2013


The time has come once again for me to sit down and think about all the new Korean films I had the opportunity to see in 2013 and come up with my favorites. This year, I had a lot to choose from for this ritual as I've seen about 120 local films, so the task proved more difficult than usual.

With 127 million tickets sold and a remarkable nine Korean films featuring in the yearly top ten at the box office, 2013 was a huge year for Korean cinema. Prosperity does not always mean quality and the last few years have been disappointing as far as commercial Korean films have been concerned. Thankfully, in 2013 the industry succeeded in both attracting viewers to multiplexes and putting out high quality fare. That said, I still find myself more partial to the more fertile grounds of independent cinema, as seven low budget films made the list this year. While two films truly blew me away over the last 12 months today's industry still isn't putting out quite the same amount of gems as it was around ten years ago.

Films considered for this list had their first public screening (festival or commercial release) in 2013. Therefore a number of films released in theaters in 2013 but which debuted at festivals in 2012 won't be found here. Some of those, such as Sleepless Night and Pluto, featured on last year's list. I've also only included films that were funded and made by Korean companies and filmmakers. I may have liked Park Chan-wook's US debut Stoker more than most, but it wasn't part of this year's pool. I also haven't included shorts, otherwise Moon Byoung-gon's Cannes hit Safe or Lee Sang-woo's Emergency Exit (part of Jeonju's Short! Short! Short! omnibus this year) might have sneaked on to the list.

Despite how many films I was able to catch this year, there were still just a few I would have like to see before making this list, including Ingtoogi and City: Hall, but I think I was able to cover most of the bases.

Scroll through the below gallery to discover the Top 10 Korean Films of 2013. Be sure to let us know if you agree or disagree!

Intro - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - Best of the Rest

Top 10 Lists

Year  2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010

2010s (Top 50) - All Time (Top 25)

Genre

5 comments:

  1. AVJanuary 8, 2014 at 10:01 AM

    Has Han Gong-Ju been released theatrically? Ive read a few reviews and all point to it being a must-watch. Very tempted..

    I think am the only one who didn't like New World. The central conceit of the movie, Min-Shik Choi's character's reasoning, how wasn't it vague and a simple push thought for the rest of the plot. And this coming from the same writer who gave us The Unjust, is quite stupefying.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JuanJanuary 15, 2014 at 2:05 AM

    "...industry still isn't putting out quite the same amount of gems as it was around ten years ago." The reduction of screen quota's to blame, no?

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 19, 2014 at 6:51 AM

    Here is list of 2014 top 10 movies and u can get update here
    http://newbesttop10.com/top-10-best-korean-movies-in-2014/

    ReplyDelete
  4. KEngSubSeptember 24, 2015 at 1:40 AM

    I love Korean drama and i often to watch movies

    ReplyDelete
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