(Photo by Next Entertainment World/ courtesy Everett Collection)
With Parasite‘s historic Best Picture win at the 2020 Oscars, South Korea has now become an intractable contender in the argument for which countries are producing the best movies today. Whether Parasite is your gateway into an international film scene or you’re a seasoned viewer looking to tick off every last classic, we present 30 Certified Fresh South Korean movies to watch now!
Parasite is a great introduction to the South Korean aesthetic, as director Bong Joon-ho has been playing with tone since the early 2000s. His spectacular crime thrillers Mother and Memories of Murder and his acclaimed monster movie The Host helped establish him as one of the country’s most promising filmmakers. Parasite‘s Song Kang-ho, one of Korea’s most versatile and prolific leading men, also starred in the latter two films and serves as the connective tissue between Bong and many of his celebrated colleagues. He’s worked with Oldboy director Park Chan-wook (Thirst, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), Kim Jee-woon (The Age of Shadows, The Good, the Bad, the Weird), and Poetry and Burning director Lee Chang-dong multiple times.
Once you’ve devoured all of those films, there’s also the quiet, subdued work of Hong Sang-soo (Hotel by the River, On the Beach at Night Alone, Right Now, Wrong Then), whose frequent leading lady Kim Min-hee also starred in Park Chan-wook’s endlessly talked-about 2016 romantic mystery The Handmaiden. And if you’re looking for genre thrills, recent hits Train to Busan and The Wailing, as well as Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters and I Saw the Devil, will help scratch that horror itch.
Since the turn of the century, South Korea has been a rising force in critic-applauded and genre-friendly moviemaking, with no signs of slowing down after Parasite‘s big wins. Take a look back with 30 Certified Fresh South Korean movies to watch now!
#30
Adjusted Score: 71.426%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#29
Adjusted Score: 73.236%
Critics Consensus: It lacks subtlety and depth of character, but Pieta gets by with committed performances and a darkly ambitious, deceptively simple message.
#28
Adjusted Score: 75.862%
Critics Consensus: A simple story told with much warmth and compassion.
#27
Adjusted Score: 78.257%
Critics Consensus: Stylistically flashy and gruesomely violent, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance fits in nicely with the other two films of Park’s revenge trilogy.
#26
Adjusted Score: 81.842%
Critics Consensus: Never flinching during its descent into depravity, I Saw the Devil is a pulverizing thriller that will give bloody satisfaction to audiences who like their revenge served with fiery rage.
#25
Adjusted Score: 80.43%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#24
Adjusted Score: 84.119%
Critics Consensus: The stylish Thirst packs plenty of bloody thrills to satisfy fans of both vampire films and director Chan Wook Park.
#23
Adjusted Score: 86.568%
Critics Consensus: Violent and definitely not for the squeamish, Park Chan-Wook’s visceral Oldboy is a strange, powerful tale of revenge.
#22
Adjusted Score: 83.222%
Critics Consensus: Whilst never taking itself too seriously, this riotous and rollicking Sergio Leone-inspired Korean Western is serious fun.
#21
Adjusted Score: 85.856%
Critics Consensus: The Villainess offers enough pure kinetic thrills to satisfy genre enthusiasts — and carve out a bloody niche for itself in modern Korean action cinema.
#20
Adjusted Score: 83.373%
Critics Consensus: A fittingly artful biopic about the life of a brilliant painter, Chihwaseon offers an uncommonly compelling look at a singularly creative life.
#19
Adjusted Score: 86.009%
Critics Consensus: Restrained but disturbing, A Tale of Two Sisters is a creepily effective, if at times confusing, horror movie.
#18
Adjusted Score: 86.762%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#17
Adjusted Score: 88.99%
Critics Consensus: A tender and moving romance from Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… And Spring’s director Kim Ki-Duk.
#16
Adjusted Score: 88.24%
Critics Consensus: Intermittently wondrous and harsh, this sensitive drama about two abandoned sisters gives time and space to the intimate and beautiful moments of childhood.
#15
Adjusted Score: 90.339%
Critics Consensus: Memories of Murder blends the familiar crime genre with social satire and comedy, capturing the all-too human desperation of its key characters.
#14
Adjusted Score: 90.333%
Critics Consensus: A funny and wildly inventive hybrid of various genres, Save the Green Planet! is definitely a unique viewing experience.
#13
Adjusted Score: 91.916%
Critics Consensus: Right Now, Wrong Then offers diverging perspectives on a chance meeting — and thought-provoking observations on human interactions in general.
#12
Adjusted Score: 93.295%
Critics Consensus: On the Beach at Night Alone finds writer-director Sang-soo Hong working in a more personal vein — without losing the singular sensibilities that have informed much of his acclaimed earlier work.
#11
Adjusted Score: 96.555%
Critics Consensus: Train to Busan delivers a thrillingly unique — and purely entertaining — take on the zombie genre, with fully realized characters and plenty of social commentary to underscore the bursts of skillfully staged action.
#10
Adjusted Score: 97.881%
Critics Consensus: As populace pleasing as it is intellectually satisfying, The Host combines scares, laughs, and satire into a riveting, monster movie.
#9
Adjusted Score: 96.315%
Critics Consensus: A visually stunning and contemplative piece of work.
#8
Adjusted Score: 102.727%
Critics Consensus: The Handmaiden uses a Victorian crime novel as the loose inspiration for another visually sumptuous and absorbingly idiosyncratic outing from director Park Chan-wook.
#7
Adjusted Score: 102.751%
Critics Consensus: Burning patiently lures audiences into a slow-burning character study that ultimately rewards the viewer’s patience — and subverts many of their expectations.
#6
Adjusted Score: 96%
Critics Consensus: Hotel by the River finds writer-director Hong Sang-soo revisiting familiar themes from fresh perspectives — and telling a story that potently distills his unique creative strengths.
#5
Adjusted Score: 98.839%
Critics Consensus: As fleshy as it is funny, Bong Joon-Ho’s Mother straddles family drama, horror and comedy with a deft grasp of tone and plenty of eerie visuals.
#4
Adjusted Score: 101.406%
Critics Consensus: The Wailing delivers an atmospheric, cleverly constructed mystery whose supernatural thrills more than justify its imposing length.
#3
Adjusted Score: 117.411%
Critics Consensus: An urgent, brilliantly layered look at timely social themes, Parasite finds writer-director Bong Joon Ho in near-total command of his craft.
#2
Adjusted Score: 100.916%
Critics Consensus: The Age of Shadows justifies its imposing length with a richly detailed period drama whose sprawling size is matched by strong acting, impressive craft, and narrative depth.
#1
Adjusted Score: 101.495%
Critics Consensus: Poetry is an absorbing, poignant drama because it offers no easy answers to its complex central conflict.
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