Top 10 Korean Films of 2019

By Pierce Conran

You won't find any big surprise at the top of this list, but beyond the obvious choice for best film of the year, the sad truth of the matter is that 2019 was a very poor year for Korean cinema overall. As the industry has tried to course-correct from the blockbuster-heavy lineup of the last year or two, a great number of very watchable but not altogether memorable mid-level films have emerged. It's the same story within the indie industry which has grown stale with a great many competent films appearing at festivals that cycle through the same social themes but precious few among them generating genuine excitement.

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31 Most Anticipated Korean Films of 2017

By Pierce Conran

After a stellar 2016, many are keen to see if Korean cinema can muster the same quality lineup in 2017. However, though I've highlighted a few more titles than last year, I'll say right now that this year is unlikely to rival the last, when we were treated to terrific new outings from Kim Jee-woon, Park Chan-woo and Na Hong-jin, among many other outstanding new discoveries.

That said, many interesting films are on the way and a few incoming trends are noticeable. This list is very subjective and omits many films that I'm personally not excited about or may not have heard of. As always, many of the year's best films will surely be independent productions that will remain off my radar until they secure festival premieres.

Some of you may have heard that Lee Chang-dong is making a new film, but I'm sorry to inform you that due to a large production snag, that project that may never come to life, so has been omitted here.

Enjoy and please let me know if I've missed anything and what you're most looking forward to this year!

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Review: THE CONTACT Provides a Glimpse of Romance at the Speed of the ‘90s

By Chris Horn

The romance genre is always teetering on the edge of a dangerous precipice: an original plot and strong chemistry between the leads are the essential yet often elusive elements of successful romance. In 1997, Jang Yoon-hyeon struck gold, courting both viewer and critical approval with his hit romance The Contact. While it has its share of self-indulgence, it ultimately deserves its reputation as a refreshing genre film.

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Discover a Wealth of Upcoming Korean Releases in MKC's New Database

It's taken some tinkering but, finally, we've finished the new Upcoming Releases page. While many excellent databases exist online with information on future Korean films, many are hard to navigate or far from comprehensive. We wanted to provide an easy to use resource listing all Korean films on the horizon and we believe we've been able to do that.

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New Korean Films: Censorships and Restrictions (2013 Week 36)

The Spy

(스파이)

A secret agent working on a delicate issue menacing the security of the country is sent to Thailand to dislodge a terrorist group. He hides his mission to his wife, an air hostess, making her believe that he’s going on a business trip to Busan. His astonishment is then huge when he stumbles on her in the streets of Bangkok, accompanied by another man. Suddenly aware that she may too hide things from him, he then tries to continue his investigation while keeping an eye on the activities of his wife.

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New Korean Films: (Too) Close Encounters (2013 Week 35)

Playboy Bong

(아티스트 봉만대)

A producer visits one of his directors on his shooting location in Bali, and is clearly not satisfied with the first scenes shot of that erotic horror film. He then takes the decision to call for help another famous director, Bong Man-dae. But the team gets soon annoyed by the authoritarian leadership of the new director, and his will to picture more nudity stirs up a revolt from the actresses. But hiding in the shadow lays the former director who is just waiting for the right moment to take revenge on the pushy playboy.

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New Korean Films: Hauting Memories, Revenants and Regrets (2013 Week 34)

Fatal

(가시꽃)

An unpopular high school student is lead by a band to break into a girl’s place and forced to rape her with them. Ten years later, he finds her by chance at the church. She did not recognize his face, and naturally he doesn’t dare to remind her of this painful memory and thus confess his identity. He seeks at all costs to redeem himself, but when he realizes that she is still overwhelmed by the trauma, he decides to take action by finding the other attackers and confront them.

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New Korean Films: Impending Contagion in Theaters (2013 Week 33)

The Flu

(감기)

A new disease occurs overnight and causes confusion in all hospitals. It spreads particularly fast because the virus is propagated through the respiratory system and only needs 36 hours of incubation to cause death. Physicians, researchers and ordinary civilians are fighting to eradicate the outbreak before it is too late.

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New Korean Films: Indie Films Never Die (2013 Week 32)

Oldmen Never Die

(죽지않아)

Ji-hoon went to the countryside to live with his grandfather to discharge him of farm work, but also to make sure to make a good impression to get a large share of his inheritance, thinking that he may die very soon. But it's been three years since Ji-hoon gets exhausted every day, and his grandfather seems instead to rejuvenate with each passing day. After taking a long-awaited break for a day spent in Seoul, he returns to the village and comes upon a young woman standing in front of his place who claims to be his grandfather’s girlfriend.

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New Korean Films: Snowpiercer Belongs to the Front (2013 Week 31)

Snowpiercer

(설국열차)

In the near future, while an attempt to stem global warming results in a deadly new ice age. everyone is fighting for one of the few seats on a train destined to contain what’s left of humankind by traversing the world with an inexhaustible energy source. Seventeen years later, the population of passengers is split between the elite who occupy the luxurious first-class carriages at the head of the convoy, and the common people who live in the rear of the train. This is too much for Curtis and Gilliam who are fomenting a revolution whose aim is to take control of the engine, which became a sacred place with time and that only Wilford, the creator of the train, knows how to work.

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New Korean Films: Showbox Is Going All Bananas (2013 Week 29)

Mr. Go

(미스터 고)

A director of a circus troupe in China dies leaving all his inheritance to his daughter, Weiwei, 15. Among the menagerie is a gorilla named Ling Ling with which the director often played baseball and who seems to possess great playing abilities. A South Korean recruiter hears the rumor and rushes to China to hire the gorilla along with Weiwei as a coach in a team of the South Korean professional league. Very soon, Ling Ling becomes a celebrity in the sporting world, which does not take long to attract the lusts of several opposing teams.

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New Korean Films: Strong Women (2013 Week 30)

The Ring of Life

(링)

A boxer with promising talent has failed every time to qualify for the Olympics and eventually attempts suicide by self-immolation. Disabled but still alive, he devotes himself to being a coach and dreams of training the very first Olympic champion in women’s boxing. A 28 years-old scientist, who works in the most prestigious university in the country, stands as a candidate to him for a career change, while she has just successfully passed the official exams for civil service.

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New Korean Films: The Quest For Independence (2013 Week 28)

Big Good

(경복)

Hyeong-geun is nearly 20 years old and has just finished his college entrance exams, but now he is looking for independence. While his mother is travelling, he’s entrusted to keep their apartment in order for a few weeks, but instead takes the opportunity to offer for rent a room adjacent to his mother's store. With his friends, a writer, a musician and a university student, they encounter many candidates while seeking an apartment for themselves .

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New Korean Films: These Are Watching You (2013 Week 27)

Cold Eyes

(감시자들)

The Special Crime Department of the Korean police is led by Hwang Sang-jun, a detective who tracks down criminals thanks to his instinct. A new recruit, Ha Yoon-ju, who demonstrates an exceptional memory and sense of observation, joins his team. Both they must work as a team to capture a dangerous robbing organization headed by the cautious and very discreet "James."

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New Korean Films: Horror Movie? Again? (2013 Week 26)

Cheer Up Mr. Lee

(힘내세요, 병헌씨)

A producer proposes to her TV station the idea of a documentary that follows the trials and tribulations of young apprentices filmmakers in their creative process. She and her team then begin to shoot all the doings of Byeong-heon. But she soon realizes the difficulty of this task. Byeong-heon drinks constantly, takes more than eight hours before starting to write the script and spends more than an hour trying different fonts for the title of the script. Moreover, he then goes out to meet his friends, a producer, cameraman and actor, all beginners, to get further drunk.

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New Korean Films: Surgeon vs. Psychiatrist (2013 Week 25)

Doctor

(닥터)

The cosmetic surgeon Choi has a perfect life: he is one of the best in his profession, and married to the perfect woman. But everything changes when he catches her in the arms of another man while coming home earlier. He will put his talents to use as he prepares a long and cruel revenge.

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New Korean Films: A Short Film Looking Up to the Big Shots (2013 Week 24)

You Are More Than Beautiful

(그녀의 연기)

The father of Cheol-soo, who lives on Jeju Island, is about to die before he seeing his son get married. To fulfill his dream, Cheol-soo calls for the help of a young woman from Seoul, Yeong-hee, who will pretend to be his fiancee. While she is brushing up on the details of their fictional story in the car, Cheol-soo receives a call informing him that his father had been found unconscious. They hurry to get to the hospital and discover the father in a coma. Yeong-hee decides to still act the lie.

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New Korean Films: North Korean Spy To Save South Korean Market (2013 Week 23)

Secretly Greatly

(은밀하게 위대하게)

Ryu-hwan is a North Korean elite spy trained to kill. He was sent two years ago as a sleeper agent in Seoul. He lives in a small apartment owned by an old lady, for whom he also works. He knows everyone in the neighborhood but is only seen as that naive young guy with the mind of a child. Suddenly two other spies arrive in the area: Hae-rang pretends to be a rookie guitar player in a rock band, and Hae-jin a regular student. Ryu-hwan helps them to settle and get used to their new life, until they are ordered to commit suicide after a change of power in North Korea.

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New Korean Films: Behold, K-pop Star in Approach! (2013 Week 22)

Rockin' on Heaven's Door 

(뜨거운 안녕)

A K-pop star, Chung-ui, caused a scandal by being involved in a brawl after consuming too much alcohol, and so sees himself condemned to 300 hours of volunteer work in a hospital institute welcoming terminally ill patients. These people do not comply with the regulations, and the institute is threatened with closure. Only Anna still tries to maintain order, and she doesn’t hesitate to yell at Chung-ui as he always tries to do the bare minimum. When he comes upon patients rehearsing in their own band, he decides to personally get invested to help them improve.

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New Korean Films: Save The Documentaries (2013 Week 21)

Dancing Forest

(춤추는 숲)

At the heart of the temple of globalization and consumerism that is Seoul lies a village created by some irreducible citizens gathered around the mountain Seongmi, who have been sharing during the last 17 years the mad dream of wanting to live in communion with nature. But the hard urban development is threatening in 2010 to raze the mountain to build a school. The community tries to oppose it by all means.

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