Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Billy Pilgrim]

I've seen probably about 100 Korean films (and far too many crappy romcoms make up part of that total). My Top 20:

20. ARAHAN (Better than the incredibly overrated KUNG FU HUSTLE)
19. 3-IRON
18. SAMARIA (A Kim Ki-Duk double feature, surprising seeing as 3 of his films would be in my bottom 10)
17. MY SASSY GIRL (once held it in a higher esteem, but boy did it inspire some horrible "kooky female/wimpy boy" imitators)
16. MEMORIES OF MURDER (one of the best use of black humor in a true story I've ever seen)
15. A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (Superbly directed)
14. FAILAN
13. SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE
12. KICK THE MOON
11. THIS CHARMING GIRL
10. THE SCARLET LETTER
9. A FAMILY
8. PUBLIC ENEMY
7. ROAD MOVIE
6. SPRING SUMMER FALL WINTER....AND SPRING
5. NO COMMENT
4. CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST
3. MEMENTO MORI
2. OASIS
1. OLDBOY

[waggo]

[SHANE02]

1. Silmido (that's an amazing true story).
2. Oasis (amazing acting)
3. Oldboy (really freaky)

I want to see "Crocodile" but I can't find a dvd or Eng sub.

[Billy Pilgrim]

[komtengi]

some I forgot.... no blood, no tears... decent flick, my boss my hero.. hella funny, public enemy.... excellent flick, road movie... good flick, I believe the first flick to touch on homosexuality, kick the moon... nice light flick. Foul King is also a cack.

Tale of two sisters... visually beautiful, but rather dull story. Family is a great feel good film and so is When Spring Comes.
Rikidozan is the story of the Nth Korean wrestler, good history lesson.
Number 3 is a classic gangster comedy.
Beat is an old school flick, my first Korean film and still a classic in my opinion. Based on the comic.

but 3 IRON, MY SASSY GIRL AND TEACH ME ENGLISH are crap films utter garbage.

and I can believe no-one else has mentioned Marathon

[PaperTiger]

Good Korean movies I've seen:

1."YMCA Baseball Team" same actor as Memories of a Murder
2. "Sympathy for Mr. Vengence", depressing but cool
3. Songsenim Kim Bong Doo, sappy but kinda cool
4. "Arahan", good Korean comedy and martial arts, it's like a super-hero flick...a guy with untapped chi discovers he's a martial arts genius with the
help of some hilarious old Korean Zen masters.
5. "Jiburo", about a spoiled brat from Seoul that gets left with his impoverished grandmother in distant farming community
5. "Sicily, 2 Kilometers"---gansters, virgin ghosts, wily country folk...what's not to love?
6. "R-Point", story of a Korean battalion sent into a remote Vietnamese area to find some missing comrades, and instead....they find, no gansters and no boring "hair-ghosts"....surprisingly original (it is, but watch someone come up with five movies it's derived from)...it's cool.
7. "Ghost House", again no gansters and hair-ghosts, just Cha Seung Wa
at his hysterical best wierdness.
8. The Wolf Returns, mystery/comedy/buddy flick...funny and entertaining...
9. Even though there's gansters in it, I still like "Ddong-Kae", because the guy is funny and wierd.
10. JSA, pretty cool, about the DMZ and how the disparity between North
and South is all in a minoritie's imagination (and due to the failure that surpasses only democracy in it's abusurdity, communism).
11. Two Sisters, everyone knows this one rules...see it now
12. UFO, wierd guy from "Oh, Brothers" plays a bus driver infatuated with
a blind girl...kinda funny
13. Teach Me English, kinda funny...the female English teacher is little more than a poorly drawn racial stereotype with a surprise (and unlikely)
romantic destiny...stupid at times, but entertaining
14. Old Boy, the part where he kicks everyone's ass is facking sweet.
15. Silmido, cool story...but does every Korean movie have to have rape in them? They already included gansters, how many archetypes do they need? I'm beginning to think rape is a form of entertainment here in Korea, not a crime.
16. Hwasangbul, historical comedy about two Korean armies mooning each other and calling each other bad names. Hilarious. A Korean take
on "Braveheart" of sorts.
17. Chilwaseon, story of a talented Korean painter back in the old days, really cool story, drunk painter...revered by many/hated by just enough
18. Jailbreakers, story of two guys who dig their way out of jail just before they are pardoned...zaniness ensues, you guessed it, Cha Seung Wa sputtering like there's no tomorrow, pretty funny
19. Friend, I liked this more before I saw so many other damn movies with gangsters in it, Korean version of "The Outsiders" perhaps?

Movies that sucked worse than I could have ever anticipated:
1. Wet Dreams, parts 1 & 2...in addition to NOT BEING FUNNY AT ALL, these movies pander to the lowest common denominator of Korean culture (they've been covered in other threads)
2. Fighter in the Wind, the most boring fight movie ever, god it sucked
3. Oseam, see this movie right before you kill yourself, if you love to see
little children suffer needlessly in cartoon format, this film is for you.
4. Old Boy, I find the use of incest (even as a plot twist) revolting, like a
plate of festering mackerel at lunchtime when you didn't bring anything from home. Considering this is a remake of a Japanese movie, I'm
surprised they didn't find a way to make the incest more entertaining and palatable...given their fascination with tentacle porn and rape fantasies I guess this movie should have all the shock value of Hello Kitty.
5. Coast Guard, great movie for all you rape fetishists and people who love repulsive violence out there, another great movie to rent just before you drink the hemlock or perhaps go to molest traumatized crazy girls.
6. Samaria, pandering to Korea's lowest common denominator...people who fantasize about high-school prostitutes, sure it exists....but did you have to make a totally depressing movie about it that will only serve to tantilize the same people it SHOULD (but really didn't) villify?
7. Conduct Zero, absolutely retarded high-school flick, stupid conflicts and stupid plot developments add up to a really stupid movie devoid of entertainment value.
8. My Sassy Girl, or "My Girlfriend is an insufferable beatch", guy gets
hit by his girfriend A LOT and asks for more.

The list goes on forever, but why overrate my opinion? You can just rent them or check this place...www.koreanfilm.org....all English.

[bobbyhanlon]

yeah- watch �ýǸ�2km! the plot is totally crazy, but if you just go with it, it's really entertaining. plus the director is my friend, and a great bloke.
also �׶� �׻���� is really good, i saw that recently.
i really don't understand the kim ki-duk thing though; i've seen 3 of his films now and *hated* them all

[Bulsajo]

Question:
Are there two Korean movies with 'Sympathy' & 'Vengeance' in the title? I keep seeing both "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" and "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance".
Are they two different films?
Park Chan-wook's latest is Sympathy for Lady Vengeance?

[dogbert]

[bossaco]

[bobbyhanlon]

also i would like to second 'Failan'. i saw this today and it's a wonderful film, and very touching.