Even before Parasite became the first movie in a foreign language to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, Korean movies enjoyed a reputation for being wildly unique and chaotic. It can often seem like Hollywood is the only thing that defines global cinema, but if you take a look at our list of the best Korean movies, you’d realise that the world has been sleeping on this particular industry that deserves a lot more attention!
Also read: 20 Best Korean Dramas Of All Time That Are Must Watch
With that, we bring you 15 best Korean movies that you must watch if you’re a film buff!
1. Poetry
Mija is a grandmother who lives with her ill-mannered grandson. Struggling with early onset Alzheimer’s, Mija discovers that her grandson was involved in a horrific business, and she must shell out 5 million won worth of hush money to save him from the police.
2. Burning
When Jong-soo runs into an old classmate, Hae-mi, they instantly connect. Hae-mi, who is about to take a trip, asks Jong-soo to feed her cat in her absence. When Hae-mi returns, she comes back with a man named Ben she met during her trip. As the three talk, Ben tells Jong-soo about a strange hobby.
3. Memories of Murder
When two women are raped and murdered in a small town, two inefficient cops struggle to find out who’s responsible. A detective from Seoul volunteers to help the two, as more murders continue to take place.
4. A Tale of Two Sisters
A young woman named Soo-mi returns home after spending time at a mental health facility. At home, she and her sister, Soo-yeon, struggle to cohabit with their step-mother, Eun-joo. To make things worse, the ghost of their mother begins to haunt them every day.
5. The Good, The Bad, The Weird
The movie follows two outlaws and a bounty hunter on the run to retrieve a map that will lead them to a treasure. Meanwhile, they’re chased by the Japanese army and Chinese dacoits.
6. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Lee Geum-Ja has spent thirteen years in prison for a murder she did not commit. While in prison, she’s dreamt of exacting revenge upon everyone who framed her to put her behind the bars. Once out, she teams up with her ex-inmates from prison to do the same, while looking for the daughter she was forced to leave behind when she was put in jail.
7. Mother
A poor widow lives alone with her son in a South Korean village and sells medicinal plants for a living. When her son is accused of murdering a girl, she believes that her son is innocent, and decides to further investigate the matter herself.
8. Secret Sunshine
After the death of her husband, a mourning widow moves into her late husband’s hometown with their only son. However, once there, tragedy strikes again.
9. I Saw The Devil
After a taxi driver kills his fiance, an intelligence agent tracks him down and tortures him – only to let him go, thus beginning a tale that gets bloodier by the minute.
10. Okja
Mirando Corporation announces that they have been breeding a “Super pig” that’s enormous in size, and will choose the best one of the lot in 10 years. After 10 years, they announce that Okja, one of the super pigs who was being raised and taken care of by a little girl named Mija, is the best super pig, and decide to ship the pig back to the US. However, Mija has grown extremely fond of the pig, and doesn’t want to let go.
11. A Taxi Driver
In the 1980s, as the Gwangju uprising is boiling and local media has been misreporting the events, Peter, a German journalist, can only enter Gwangju under the pretense of being a businessman. For this, he decides to pay his taxi driver 100,000 won, who will only get the fee once Peter’s work is done.
12. The Handmaiden
A con man pretends to be a Count, Fujiwara, to woo a heiress, Lady Hideko, into marrying him. He hires a pickpocket to act as Hideko’s handmaiden and convince her to marry him. However, things do not go as planned.
13. The Host
After an American military pathologist dumps several hundred bottles of formaldehyde into the Han river, all the fish in the river die over time and seven years later a strange aquatic creature emerges from the river and begins to attack people. The creature takes Hyun-seo as captive, whose family now must work together to get her back.
14. Train to Busan
Seok-Woo, a divorced, single father, is taking his daughter to Busan, where she can meet her mother. Unbeknownst to them both, a zombie apocalypse has just begun in South Korea, with one of the zombies aboard the train to Busan.
15. Parasite
A poor Korean family that is struggling to make ends meet suddenly finds itself presented with a promising employment opportunity at a wealthy household. However, they must take care of a few things before they can begin their jobs.
Did you like our list of th best Korean movies? If you think we missed a great one out, please comment below to let us know!