The Chosun Ilbo's Top 50 Korean Films
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- DirectorYu Hyun-mokStarsMu-ryong ChoiKim Jin-kyuJeong-suk MoonA pressured accountant, his war veteran brother and their dysfunctional family struggle with integrating into post-War Korean society.
- DirectorIm Kwon-taekStarsAhn Sung-kiJeon Moo-songMichelle Okkyung LeeA story that follows the lives and interactions of two Buddhist monks living in South Korea.
- DirectorKim Ki-youngStarsKim Jin-kyuJeung-nyeo JuEun-shim LeeA composer and his wife are thrown into turmoil when a housemaid becomes more than they bargained for.
- DirectorIm Kwon-taekStarsKim Myung-gonJung-hae OhKim Kyu-chulDespite its falling popularity, a father teaches his two children the Korean musical tradition of Pansori (one singer accompanied by one drummer).
- DirectorYong-Kyun BaeStarsYi Pan-YongSin Won-SopHae-Jin HuangAbout three monks in a remote monastery; an aging master, a small orphan and a young man who left his city life to seek Enlightenment.
- DirectorShin Sang-okStarsChoi Eun-hieShin Yeong-gyunYeong-seon JeonOk-hui lives with her grandmother, her mother and the maid. People refer to their house as the "Widow House" because all three adult women who live there are widows. One day, a teacher named Mr. Han moves into the house as a lodger.
- DirectorKang-cheon LeeStarsKyeong-hie NoYe-chun LeeKim Jin-kyuA group of communist guerillas encounter jealousy and rivalry among themselves because of the presence of the female compatriot while one of their members plots to desert their band
- DirectorKang Dae-jinStarsSeung-ho KimShin Yeong-gyunJeong-sun HwangA man tries to raise his two sons and two daughters under some of the most adverse conditions known to man. The father operates a horse-drawn cart, but in a city that is modernizing after the destruction of the Korean War, automobiles are making carts obsolete. The children are experiencing difficulties as well. The eldest son has flunked the bar exam twice and is not hopeful of passing it a third time to become a lawyer. The eldest daughter is mute and married to an abusive husband. The younger daughter tries to pose as a rich university student to move up in life. The youngest son has a penchant for petty theft.
- DirectorIm Kwon-taekStarsJi-mee KimShin Seong-ilJi-il HanA historical drama that incorporates real footage from the 1983 KBS campaign to reunite families divided by the Korean War with the fictional story of Hwa-yeong, a woman who leaves her middle-class life in Busan to search for the son she lost in Gilsotteum during the war.
- DirectorJang Sun-wooStarsPark Joong-hoonSeo Kap-sookDae-kun LeeSituated in the small poverty stricken town of Woomukbaemi, South Korea, this film centers on a clothes factory manager and the triangular relationship between himself, his insatiably jealous and violent wife, and one of his employees.
- DirectorPark Kwang-suStarsShim Hye-jinPark Joong-hoonJin-hui KimIn the winter of 1980s coal mining town, Ki-young runs away from the police due to his student protest and hides into the town. Then, Ki-young meets an unhappy waitress Young-sook who falls for him, and two people decide to leave together.
- DirectorHa Gil-jongStarsNam-hyeon ChoiKim Hee-raHa Jae-YoungThe story is set in the 1970s during the period of military dictatorship. Schools were frequently closed down and society seemed to face bleak prospects on all fronts. Nonetheless, Byung Tae, a college student, enjoys pursuing romance at group "meetings" or blins dates. It is during one of these ventures that he meets Young-ja, a French Literature student.
- DirectorLee Man-heeStarsBaek Il-seobKim Jin-kyuSuk MunGoing through a jail and a site of construction, a young laborer Young-Dal meets middle aged Mr. Jeong on his way to his hometown Sampo after ten years' absence. They become to know a waitress Baek-Hwa who runs away from a restaurant and then, they travel together. Arriving at the destination Kangcheon Station, Mr. Jeong is disappointed at the changes of the old village by building a hotel. Young-Datl and Mr. Jeong stay at Sampo not as the hometown but as the site of living. Baek-Hwa leaves Sampo with a ticket Young-Dal buys her with his last money.
- DirectorLee Jang-hoStarsLee Bo-heeKim Myung-gonHie-seong LeeThis is a film which ridicules the weaknesses of South Korean society.
- DirectorLee Jang-hoStarsAhn Sung-kiSeong-chan KimYeong-ho LeeThis is a film about the coming of age of three men.
- DirectorJong-won ParkStarsChoi Min-sikHong Kyoung-inShin GooA fifth-grade classroom takes on a political structure which reflects Korea's history of coups and dictatorial regimes.
- DirectorKim Soo-yongStarsShin Seong-ilYun Jeong-hieLee Bin-hwaA married man who moved to live in Seoul for a better life visits the small town where he grew up and falls in love with a local girl.
- DirectorIm Kwon-taekStarsJi-mee KimSo-yeong AhnHie MyeongA drama about several women who work in a "tabang" bar in Kangwon province, where sometimes customers exchange a "ticket" for something extra.
- DirectorYong-Gyu YoonStarsKi-jong ByeonHeon-yong OhSeung-min NamDo-seong is a child monk who lives at a small mountain temple with the head monk, learning the teachings of Buddha. He becomes attached to a young widow who comes to pray at the temple, and the childless widow entreats the head monk to let her raise Do-seong as her own son.
- DirectorJeong Ji-yeongStarsAhn Sung-kiLee Kyoung-youngShim Hye-jinSouth Korea, 1979. Han Kiju is an alcoholic novelist who has never recovered from his year long tour as a volunteer soldier in Vietnam. When he's asked to write a book about the Korean soldiers who fought in Vietnam he's battered by flashbacks that remind him of the brutality and lies that destroyed his innocence. The serialized novel brings him back in contact with a former soldier who served under him, PFC Pyon Chinsu, the one-time company clown driven mad by the violence of the war and who now looks to Han for some sort of emotional rescue.
- DirectorLee Myung-seStarsAhn Sung-kiHwang Sin-hyeBae Chang-hoLee Jong-se is a third-rate comedian who believes himself to be a creative genius. He desires nothing more than to be a movie director. When he befriends barber, Mun Do-seok who has hopes to become an actor, it seems like a match made in heaven and the two set off to make a film
- DirectorPark Kwang-suStarsBae Jong-okPark Joong-hoonKang Shin-ilA painter quits his job and looks to an old acquaintance for work and a place to stay.
- DirectorJeong Ji-yeongStarsAhn Sung-kiLee Hye-yeongJin-shil ChoiSouth Korean production exploring a North Korean perspective of the long, grueling account of the Korean War based on memoirs of Lee Tae, former news agency correspondent who fought for North Korean partisans.
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsHan Suk-kyuShim Hye-jinMoon Sung-KeunReturning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.