Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Korean movies for the WIN


I'm addicted to Korean movies....Korea has done a great job in the film industry for a long time, but in 1996 a new generation of directors began to take over.
The average American audience is used to linear plots and closure when watching movies. Korean films say "fuck that." In this scene from Shiri, an antagonist is cornered with no place to go. So she decides to goes out with a bang. Welcome to the world of Korean cinema.

If you really want to explore Korean movies more, here are some of my personal favorites...

Martial Arts/Sci-fi :

- Arahan (Awesome fight sequences with a Matrix flavor)
- Volcano High (The story is crap but the martial arts sequences are classic)
- City of Violence (Awesome action movie a la Warriors)
- Natural City - (Great Sci-fi film)

Action/War/Period :

- TaeGukGi (One of the best War movies ever, period, some believe it's better than Savings Private Ryan)
- Joint Security Area (From Chan-wook Park, learn the name)
- Silmido (Based on historical event in South/North Korea)
- Shiri (Just watch the clip)
- Friend (A tale of friendship, gangster movie at its best)
- Musa (Period realistic martial arts tale)
- Fighters in the Wind (A real story about Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushinkan Karate)

Drama/Comedy :

- The Classic (Son Ye Jin is just awesome here)
- My Tutor Friend (Korean romantic comedy....with action)
- Sex is Zero (Korean version of American Pie, hilarious)
- Failan (Great cinematography, superb ending)
- My Sassy Girl (The most famous Korean Romantic Comedy movie)
- Untold Scandal (Korean version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses set in the ancient time)
- No.3 (Funny gangster film)
- Crying Fist (Hardcore boxing drama with Min-sik Choi, greatest Korean actor ever)
- I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK (The Korean One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest)
- Attack the Gas Station! (A true breath of fresh air)

Horror/Suspense/Thriller :

- The Tale of Two Sisters (Amazing psychological thriller)
- Memories of Murder (One of the best murder mystery movies ever)
- Tell Me Something (A more hardcore version of Seven, Silence of the Lamb, etc)
- Scarlet Letter (The last movie by Lee Eun Joo before she committed suicide, rumor said it's because of this movie, the last 20 minutes is like you've never seen before, very disturbing)
- Oldboy (Greatest movie ever)
- Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (From the same director of Oldboy, 'nuff said)
- Lady Vengeance (The final chapter of Chan-wook Park's vengeance trilogy

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