South Korean Movies

So most of you are probably like, South Korean movies, wtf? Well if you haven't seen any, you are missing out. When it comes to movies, especially thrillers, South Korea owns. Also pretty much anything by Park Chan Wook is freakin gold, the guy is a genius.

My first foray into Korean cinema was "Tai Guk Gi", a movie about two brothers during the Korean war. Both fight for the south but as the war progresses the elder ends up fighting for the north. It has great combat scenes, reminiscent of Private Ryan, with great sfx. It goes a little over the top some times but over all a great war movie.

Next up was "The Host", kind of a science fiction/ monster movie centered around a family. This was just a great movie. Good plot, good acting and good sfx when needed. This isn't about the monster so much as a family trying to cope with tragedy though. But don't let that put you off, this is a solid movie, very enjoyable. Also some extremely funny parts that will make you laugh out loud.

I have about a half dozen more to add to the list, will do so later, I'm being told I have more important things to do right now. I would also love to hear about any great Korean movies you have seen.

Ok, back to important stuff. Like I said before, Park Chan Wook is a genius, maybe the best there is right now. The very first movie I saw of his was "Oldboy", the second movie in what is called the Vengeance Trilogy. It's cool because even though its trilogy, each movie stands on its own and one doesn't necessarily have to watch them in order. The connection of the three is their common themes, kidnapping and more importantly, revenge. The first, "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance", deals with revenge and how it doesn't always go as planned. The second, "Oldboy", is more about how revenge isn't always what we think it is. The third, "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", concerns revenge when everything goes perfect.

I once read a review of a Park Chan Wook film where the writer said "If you are waiting for the moment in this movie where the guy in the seat next to you pisses a little, its in there." I couldn't have said it any better. The director does a perfect job of stripping away the layers until you think you know what's going on and then he decides to let you in on what's really happening. And when he does it, trust me, you will be shocked and astounded.

I plan on writing reviews for all of his movies I have seen and hopefully give you a little more in depth analysis on why his movies are some of the best out there.

I have HOST and it was entertaining.
May have to check out some of your war recommendations. :)

catfish,
Funny you should mention Oldboy and the Vengeance Trilogy. Was reading a thread yesterday discussing movies with twisted plots and they were brought up. It was mentioned that it was a little "out there". ;)

As for other Korean movies, can't really recall any off hand I've watched. My extent of Asian movies are Chinese kung-fu movies such as most of Jackie Chan's stuff, Curse of the Golden Flower, House of Flying Daggers, and the like. Can't say I've watched too much of the cheesier older kung-fu B-movies though and I've been meaning to get together the Bruce Lee collection to watch.

I used to watch the SK movies on flights to China on Asiana.

I remember one where two dummies from NK crashed their patrol boat on a South Korean beach full of girls and kids partying. Hijinks ensued.

I've got Mr. Vengeance on order from netflix, I feel I must watch again before I give a proper review. I tried to stream on netflix but the quality was piss poor, fuzzy picture and subtitles sometimes continued off the screen. I originally watched the DVD, no blueray for this movie yet, and the quality is more what you expect.

In the mean time I got a sweet ass action movie out of SK that I found extremely cool. "The Good, The Bad and The Weird", a very stylish "western" that takes place in Manchuria I say circa 1910's or so. Basically, some Koreans, some Chinese and some Japanese all after something, can't even remember but it doesn't matter really anyways. What does matter is you get an epic movie that pretty much sprawls across Manchuria involving cool gunfights, truly amazing cinematography, massive action packed chase scenes, horses, trains, motorcycles, Japanese military, stunts that are unbelievable and what I call an Asian version of Lou Diamond Philips. And yes, it pays homage to It's namesake.

I've seen it on blueray and streamed on netflix, both were excellent.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by michael2

I saw 'the Good, the Bad, & the Weird' a couple of week ago and thought it was pretty good-loved the action! Hollywood has gotten so bad with it's 'sequelitis' and it's 'FX over plot' mania that i've rented mainly foreign films lately...I thought the Russian movie '1612' was pretty good even if it's total propaganda. I've seen some other Korean films that were historical epics that were pretty amazing too...Just can't recall the names to save my life.

---

You hit the nail on the head, at least for me anyways. American movies are driven by cgi, especially lately, at the expense of good plot. I too have felt myself drawn to foreign films more and more because they use cgi to enhance the story not tell it. One of the things that amazes me about SK movies is that they haven't been making them for that long yet they are able to put out some of the best movies I've seen in years.