Top 5 Best Korean Movies?

[One Armed Boxer]

Thought I'd post my top 5 Korean films to see if other people agree / disagree, or if anybody had opinions which would include different films other than what I consider to be the best....

1. A Bittersweet Life
2. OldBoy
3. A Tale Of Two Sisters
4. Public Enemy
5. The Crying Fist

Not too sure if these 5 will change by the end of the year, I have 'The Black House' to watch and 'The Chaser' on the way, plus 'The Good, The Bad, & The Weird' & 'Public Enemy Returns' are both out this year as well.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

in no particular order....

SHIRI
JSA
GUNS AND TALKS
NO BLOOD NO TEARS
TAEGUKGI (or however the hell you spell it) the war movie!

To be quite honest, I am really behind in the Korean departement! These are just the ones I remember the best!

[fabhui]

In no particular order and I have to round it up to my top 7:

1. Oldboy
2. A Bittersweet Life
3. Friends
4. City Of Violence
5. Taeguki
7. Musa

[gravedigger666]

..

SHIRI

That is brilliant movie...Korean martial arts flick "hong gil dong" I have good memories also....

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Old Boy
A Bittersweet Life
Bichunmoo
Musa (First Korean film I ever watched)
Spirit Of Jeet Kun Do

Honorable Mention:
Public Enemy 1 & 2
A Tale Of Two Sisters
No Mercy For The Rude
Arahan
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
Fighter In The Wind
City Of Violence
The Host
No Blood, No Tears
Shadowless Sword

Worth A Look:
Save The Green Planet
Soo (Device)
Gangster High
Shiri
Sympathy For Lady Vengeance
My Wife Is A Ganster (Series)
Running Wild
Phone
Blood Rain
Dirty Carnival
Guns & Talks
Memories Of Murder

[D1 Ma]

JSA
Oldboy
Bittersweet Life
My Sassy Girl
It's hard for me to pick the 5th, I don't think there's a film out there worthy to be in the top 5. I guess, The Host

[ekisha]

2009: Lost Memory
City Of Violence
Attack The Gas Station
Arahan
No Blood No Tears
________
Lovely Wendie (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)

[Yi-Long]

I havent seen enough Korean movies to pretend to know which are the 5 best, but here are my favourites so far:

- My Sassy Girl (director's cut). Pretty much one of my favourites movie of all time. I have the pretty rare LE which only had 2002 or 2003 releases. Sealed.
- Taegugki. One of the absolute best war movies EVER.
- Bin Jip (3-Iron). Like the other Kim Ki Duk movies I have seen, it just has an eery quality about it.

That's about it.
I liked many others, but I certainly wouldnt give them 5 outta 5 ratings.
Many are very well made, with good acting and cinematography and a touching story etc, but they arent 'classics'.

Even Old Boy isnt a classic to me, neither is Friend or Shiri. They are extremely well made movies, but they dont 'touch' me in the way 'classics' seem to do, either action-wise, story-wise, or emotional-wise.

I still have Il Mare lying around btw. I should probably watch that. And Crying Fist.

[Endsang]

I'm not sure if I've even seen 5 korean movies. Liked Oldboy and Musa fairly well though.

[The Dragon]

These are my favorite Korean films:

Old Boy

Fighter in The Wind

Taegukgi

Bichunmoo

Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

All of these films are worthy an audience who've never viewed an Korean production. This industry is becoming the new Hong Kong of the late 80's/early 90's... producing a little something for everyone!

[Delirious]

My sassy girl: this movie alone surges up the korean comedy trend.
A bittersweet life
Oasis: korean drama at best
Oldboy
Musa

[oldeschool17]

Dirty Carnival


Can you comment more on this? Ive seen this @ Best Buy and wondered if its good. What did you like/dislike about it?

[One Armed Boxer]

I watched The Chaser last night...absolutely excellent film. It's been a while since I've watched a movie and felt so tense throughout, and thats with a running time of over 2 hours!

It definitely displaces The Crying Fist to go into my top 5 Korean movie list, and I'd recommend watching it as soon as possible before Hollywood no doubt completely ruins it with a re-make.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Yeah Ive been really wanting to see "The Chaser". But the only DVD release available right now is the Korean disc which (as always) is ridiculously expensive! Ill have to wait for the HK disc, which usually doest take too long after the Korean release.

[Biozombie]

I'd go with:-

2009, Lost Memories
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring
Il Mare
Public Enemy
Wild Card
The Ghost
Calla
Blackhouse
Pisces
Shiri

I'll leave it at 10.

[Cujo Jenkens]

There are so many good korean movies,it's hard to pick just five.

Fighter in The Wind
Shadowless Sword
City Of Violence
Guns & Talks
Arahan

[Chinatown Kid]

One Korean film I just watched recently was Geochilmaru-The Showdown and had forgot how much I enjoyed it. It pits Martial Artists of different styles against each other to find out who is the best to face the unknown Geochilmaru. It was intersting seeing the different styles go up against each other. Some of the styles were Boxing, Kickboxing, Kung fu, Karate, TKD and Judo.

[LoBo]

In random order.


A Bittersweet Life
Fighter In The Wind
City Of Violence
General`s Son
General`s Son 2
________
Old man boys (http://www.fucktube.com/categories/785/boys/videos/1)

[jaywong]

Some of my favorites

A Bittersweet Life
Resurrection of the little match girl
The Classic
Traces of Love
Once in a Summer
Git: Feathers in the Wind
Nabi
Ditto
Natural City
Ad-Lip Night

[vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

Chinatown Kid, is The Showdown an older film or more recent production?

[Graeme Noble]

City Of Violence
Bittersweet Life
Nowhere To Hide
Guns N Talks
Shiri

[Drunken Cat]

A Bittersweet Life: Director's Cut
Silmido
JSA: Joint Security Area
Oldboy
3-Iron

Honorable Mention
A Tale of Two Sisters

[jiujitsu77]

spirit of jkd (aka once upon a time in high school....easily one of my new favorite movies of all time)
oldboy
friends
the korean connection
host....killer giant monster movie

[The Dragon]

City of Violence wasn't bad. It's right there... #5.5?

[oldeschool17]

No particular order and based on what i've seen so far:
Oldboy
Public Enemy
A Dirty Carnaval

[One Armed Boxer]

Yeah I'm surprised Public Enemy hasn't come up more often...to me it was a classic.

The Chaser has a very similar feeling to Public Enemy in its down trodden cop (or ex-cop turned pimp in the case of the Chaser...) versus a more intelligent nemesis theme.

Has anyone seen 'Into the Mirror'? I've got it laying around somewhere still unwatched and noticed a Hollywood remake has just come out called 'Mirrors' starring Kiefer Sutherland.

[kowloon]

SHIRI
JSA
SPIRIT OF JEET KUNE DO
FIGHTER IN THE WIND
CITY OF VIOLENCE

[makone]

these are my favorites
musa
city of violence
fighter in the wind
a bittersweet life
spirit of jkd

[I Like Elaine]

My Sassy Girl
Ditto
Time
Secret Sunshine
A Tale Of Two Sisters

[thekfc]

My Sassy Girl
A Moment to Remember
A Bittersweet Life
Double Agent
Windstruck

[wayne]

Bittersweet Life
Shiri
Oldboy

[JazzandZen]

My favorites are:

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

The Host

My Wife is a Gangster

Addicted

JSA

[Tantheman]

Oldboy
Nowhere to hide
Spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring
A bittersweet life
City of violence

[Gaijin84]

The Foul King (honestly one of the funniest movies I've ever seen)
My Wife is a Gangster
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
My Sassy Girl
Memories of Murder

[JazzandZen]

Oldboy
Nowhere to hide
Spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring
A bittersweet life
City of violence


You're right, I completely forgot about SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER and SPRING! I love that movie

I'm updating my list now. :)

[Tantheman]

Yeah I love the movie aswell, such a breath of fresh air. I was lucky enough to see it in the cinema too.

I have yet to see any more Kim Ki Duk films, anyone got any recommendations? I've heard 3 Iron is good.

I totally forgot about The Good the Bad and the Weird in this list! Doh! That replaces City of Violence in my list.

[ToothbrushFu]

Yeah I love the movie aswell, such a breath of fresh air. I was lucky enough to see it in the cinema too.

I have yet to see any more Kim Ki Duk films, anyone got any recommendations? I've heard 3 Iron is good.

If you liked Spring, Summer... then 3 Iron is probably another good one to watch, you could also try The Bow, both of those are also heavy on the allegory and with minimal dialogue. All his films are worth a watch of course.

Another Korean film you might like is the 1989 film Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? which undoubtedly influenced Spring, Summer. There is a R1 DVD, but I think it may be out of print.

[Yi-Long]

Yeah I love the movie aswell, such a breath of fresh air. I was lucky enough to see it in the cinema too.

I have yet to see any more Kim Ki Duk films, anyone got any recommendations? I've heard 3 Iron is good.

I totally forgot about The Good the Bad and the Weird in this list! Doh! That replaces City of Violence in my list.

3-Iron (Bin-Jip) was pretty good. Personally, I liked it very much when I watched it for the first time.

The Bow is nice as well, although it seems more like a 'short', instead of a normal lenght movie. It's not a movie that 'wowed' me or anything, but it was an interesting watch. Can't say I loved it or anything.

I also really liked Samaritan Girl. Definately worth a watch.

[Fightingfist]

Im gonna check out oldboy.

[Fightingfist]

watchin it today.

[SibTiger33]

very hard to pick just five but off the top of my head i would go for (in no particular order)



Moment to Remember
OldBoy
Bittersweet Life
My Sassy Girl
Brotherhood of War

[Betty Pei Ti]

Let me think....

* Musa
* The Gingko Bed
* Blood Rain
* Shadowless Sword
* Bichunmoo

No particular order! ;)

[jmend1]

1. JSA
2. A Bittersweet Life
3. Memories of Murder
4. The Good, The Bad, The Weird
5. Thirst

[Fightingfist]

Still aint got round 2 watch old boy will do wen i gt time.

[jrcma]

Still aint got round 2 watch old boy will do wen i gt time.

it's on film 4 some times.

[DiP]

The Chaser
Memories of Murder

[LeRolls]

Wow, there's no way I could just pick 5. There's so many great Korean movies out there, plus there's a ton that I still haven't seen.

[Coges]

Off the top of my head my top 5 are (in no particular order):

Arahan
Wife is a ganster (series)
Bittersweet Life
Bloody Ties
Ganster High

Also notable mentions to:

Conduct Zero
Spin Kick
Mr Kims

Which are all great fun.

[drunkenmaster]

There are way too many good Korean films to name just five. A few that I didn't notice mentioned yet, but are well worth watching are:-
Save The Green Planet
Welcome To Dongmakol
All of the other films I would recommend have already got a mention.

[Biozombie]

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter And Spring
Il Mare
The Good, The Bad And The Weird
2009, Lost Memories
Public Enemy

which means there is no room unfortunately for Pisces, Ghost, She's On Duty, Epitaph, 3 Iron, Spin Kick, Say Yes, Bunshinsaba, Femme Fatale, Shiri and all the many other classics.

[mpm74]

- Chaser
- My Sassy Girl
- JSA
- Memento Mori
- Sympathy of Mr. Vengeance

[Cadrian]

A Bittersweet Life-Takes an hour to pick up but gees Vengence at its best.


TaeGukGi (Brotherhood of War) Saving Private Ryan all over again for me..... Loved every bullet.

Fighter in the Wind Dude licks piss off a dudes foot and still becomes a BAD ASS....

Arahan- I really enjoyed this, I would like to say it gives Kungfu Hustle a run for its money

Welcome to Dongmakgol- Some action yet very poetic movie

Ill have to add in as well Oldboy and JSA..... Hard to pin down korean for me. Considering I like so many Korean Movies

[LiuBei]

Easy for me:

Memories of Murder
Madeo (Mother)
Lady Vengeance
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Spring Summer Autumn Winter and Spring

These are all ranked way way high on my lists.

[nicklord1]

Hi this is tricky but i would say

Chaser
Bitter sweet life
tale of 2 sisters
public enemy
memories of a murder

[friessa]

My list :

1) JSA (Joint Security Area)
2) Musa
3) TaeGukGi
4) My Sassy Girl
5) 2009: Lost Memories

[blue_skies]

My favourites Korean movie are...

Bichunmoo
Fighter in the wind
Shadowless sword
Once upon a time in high school

then it's a toss up for fifth-place between Shiri , Musa and City of violence.

Must remember to give Brotherhood ( Tagiuki?) a watch some time still haven't seen iteven though I've had it on DVD for about 3 yrs! :redface::redface:

[nicklord1]

for me it would be

Breathless
public enemy
chaser
memories of a murder
tales of 2 sisters

why is spring , autumn etc so good , i havent seen it but for some reason its not crying out rent me

[Athena]

I must say my favorites that I have seen is the
1. Shadowless sword
2.Bichunmoo
3.Sword in the moon
4.The Legend of Evil Lake ( Just finished it !!!)
5.Shadows in the Palace

I didn't like a tale of 2 sisters , It was just to slow & darkly filmed for me ( kind of like the "red shoes" )
SORRY nicklord1 !
But I think Shiri is great ! I have seen way to few Korean movies so I am not the best judge, but I love the five listed !
Xiexie Athena:kiss:

[blue_skies]

I must say my favorites that I have seen is the
1. Shadowless sword
2.Bichunmoo
3.Sword in the moon
4.The Legend of Evil Lake ( Just finished it !!!)
5.Shadows in the Palace

I didn't like a tale of 2 sisters , It was just to slow & darkly filmed for me ( kind of like the "red shoes" )
SORRY nicklord1 !
But I think Shiri is great ! I have seen way to few Korean movies so I am not the best judge, but I love the five listed !
Xiexie Athena:kiss:

If you haven't already seen it you really need to see Fighter in the wind!:bigsmile:

[mpm74]

Chaser
Chaser
Chaser
Chaser
Chaser

... jk


Chaser
JSA
Memories of Murder
Sympathy For Mr Vengeance
A Bittersweet Life

[VenomsFan]

My faves so far:

Tae Guk: Brotherhood of War: Best War film ever in my book

A City of Violence (on of my top 10 ma films list)

Musa: The Warrior (would have been best war epic imo if they had better cinematography/editing)

Looking forward to their John Woo Remake...

[BLfan]

My Favourites Korean Movies are as follows:

Bittersweet Life
The Restless
Bichunmoo
Shadowless Sword
The Host

[IgaNinja]

Oldboy
Brotherhood of war
Musa the warrior
Shadowless Sword
Sword in the Moon

[The Fundrazor]

The City of Violence was the first Korean martial arts film I saw and was hooked. But A Bittersweet Life is absolutely INCREDIBLE.Oldboy was crazy, sick. Princess Aurora was pretty good for a revenge flick. Also Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

I love me some hard core korean action movies!!!

1. The Chaser
2. Bittersweet Life
3. Good Bad and The Ugly
4. Man From Nowhere
5. Vengeance Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
6. Thirst

I need to see more Korean films, that is all I can remember...

[kaleyboy]

3. Good Bad and The Ugly
I think you mean The Good, The Bad & The Weird, lol.

[Alexandra]

Ah, well, not in order
1- Musa
2- A Frozen Flower
3- The Divine Weapon
4- Shadows in the Palace
5- Silmido

Can add other fives? hahahhaha! :tongue:
Alexandra

[QueMuchita]

Good Bad and The Weird
Oldboy
The Host
Memories Of Murder
Shadowless Sword

Not in any order although there is still quite a long list of Korean movies on my 'to see' list so it could change.

[One Armed Boxer]

Good Bad and The Ugly

I think you mean 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird'...:tongue:

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

I think you mean 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird'...:tongue:

Yea, I made that same mistake, LOL....

[irongut]

My top 5 K-movies in order subject to change!

1) the city of violence
2) the good the bad & the weird
3) bittersweet life
4) memories of murder
5) the host

[Space]

Oldboy
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
Fighter in the Wind
Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?
Taoist Wizard

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Bittersweet Life should be on everyone's list of favorite Korean movies....

[QueMuchita]

Bittersweet Life, I have this movie but I'm yet to watch it so maybe after I see it I could add it to my list. Also, I watched City Of Violence yesterday, I watched the first half over a year ago and just watched it all again yesterday finally, wasn't too impressed, some cool scenes but overall I wasn't that impressed.

[QueMuchita]

Okay, So I finally watched Bittersweet Life and yeah, it is definitely making my top 5. I also peeped 'A Million', i always thought it was pretty good but not top 5 material.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Bittersweet Life, I have this movie but I'm yet to watch it so maybe after I see it I could add it to my list. Also, I watched City Of Violence yesterday, I watched the first half over a year ago and just watched it all again yesterday finally, wasn't too impressed, some cool scenes but overall I wasn't that impressed.

Yeah I thought City Of Violence was ok too.. Style over substance... The last act reminded me of Kill Bill's last act, lol...
I'm glad you enjoyed Bittersweet Life, now watch it back2back with Man From Nowhere and you should have a fun double feature night of hard boiled Korean Action movies...

[monkeygift]

My personal bests would be:

- The Housemaid (1960)
- Lies
- Time
- Memories of Murder
- President's Last Bang
* A Bittersweet Life

[panic]

Top 5 fav Korean flicks (no particular order)

I'M A CYBORG, BUT THAT'S OK
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD
THE FOUL KING
VOLCANO HIGH
NOWHERE TO HIDE

[irongut]

I think Breathless has just taken either the Host or Memories
of Murder off my top 5!



My top 5 K-movies in order subject to change!

1) the city of violence
2) the good the bad & the weird
3) bittersweet life
4) memories of murder
5) the host

[Gaijin84]

The Foul King (honestly one of the funniest movies I've ever seen)
My Wife is a Gangster
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
My Sassy Girl
Memories of Murder

Chaser knocked My Wife is a Gangster out of top 5 for me.

[irongut]

I've been hearing a lot of good thing about The Chaser! Gotta watch it!



Chaser knocked My Wife is a Gangster out of top 5 for me.

[VenomsFan]

Yellow Sea is at the top of the list for 2011. Everyone who like's Chaser will absolutely love this film.

I believe it is in many ways better than Chaser. A mix of Chaser and I Saw the Devil and The Shinjuku Incident.

2010 - The Man from Nowhere

Looking forward to The Beast and Quick later this year when they hit DVD.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Just saw a 35mm print of Oldboy last night at the Alamo Drafthouse in Houston, what a treat!!!

[Rambler]

The usual suspects:

-Oldboy
-I saw the Devil
-Memories of Murder
-The Host
-Lady Vengeance

[CatNap]

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring
A Bittersweet Life
Nightmare
Red Shoes
Poetry