This genre experiment, a ‘Manchurian Western,’ is a modern combination of the ‘spaghetti Western’ with the existing genre of Korean film that explores themes of liberation in Manchuria. In the year of its release, The Good, the Bad, the Weird was invited to the non-competing section of the Cannes Film Festival, and it was a box-office success that attracted 6.7 million domestic viewers. It is a film that clearly illustrates what becomes possible when large-scale dramatic spectacle merges with the Korean historical stage, and even when revisited 80 years after Korean liberation, its light does not fade a bit.

Park Se-ho

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When a mysterious organ donor dies, the recipients of their vital organs, all unknown to each other, begin to develop strange new powers. Five of them band together as an unlikely superhero crew, while the sixth, the ailing leader of a cult, hunts them down to absorb their powers.

Bursting with comic book flair, Hi-Five blends mirth and mayhem, keeping the foot on the gas and tongue firmly in cheek throughout.

Pierce Conran

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Hero is the screen adaptation of the stage musical of the same name. Rather than exaggerating the mythology of a heroic figure, the film uses music, lyrics, and images to weave a picture of the determination and solidarity of the last year of Ahn Jung-geun’s life. It was Korea’s first original musical film, and it uses the emotional influence of the musical genre to rearrange the narrative of liberation, opening a different path towards understanding historical memory.

Park Se-ho

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Anton Bitel

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Imprisoned and tortured for failing to neutralise a Japanese double-agent in his ranks, Yi Sun-sin is recalled to his post when a second invasion from Japan appeared imminent in 1597. Dealing with a severely reduced naval force consisting of an estimated 12 warships following the fleet’s near-devastation during a major battle while he was imprisoned, Yi has scant time to rally his sailors, prepare his battleships and devise a defence against a Japanese fleet of more than 300.

The film recorded 10 million admissions only 12 days after its premiere and set a record in Korea for achieving such a high number of viewers in the shortest amount of time. The movie also surpassed Avatar’s record of 13 million viewers to become the most-watched and highest-grossing film of all time in Korea with 17.6 million admissions.

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The Thieves is one of Korea’s largest co-productions with a fantastic Korean and Hong Kong cast including Kim Yoon-suk (The Yellow Sea), Kim Hye-soo (Coin Locker Girl), Lee Jung-jae (Hunt), Simon Yam (Election 1 & 2) and Derek Tsang (The Eye 2). Director Choi has a number of critically acclaimed films to his name including Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (2009), Assassination (2015) and Alienoid (2022), his new time-traveling sci-fi adventure, opening film for 2022 London Korean Film Festival. This mix of amazing talent and a gripping, high impact story has made The Thieves one of the biggest grossing films in Korea’s box office history.

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This traces the simultaneous upward and downward trajectory of low-ranking gangster Park Hee-su (Jung Woo) from pawn to king of fictitious rundown port town of Kuam, despite his hopes of leaving with his long-term fiancée and her son for an even smaller, quieter life on Geoje Island. It is a noirish tale of dashed dreams, treacherous sacrifice and existential despair, revealing the pointless, soul-destroying play of power. The plotting is labyrinthine, the characters are multiple, but all is held together by Jung Woo’s performance as a man who, though the accidental protagonist, is no hero.

Anton Bitel

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Set in 1592, six years before the events of The Admiral: Roaring Currents, the film depicts the lead up and Admiral Yi’s explosive exploits during the Battle of Hansan Island, when he led a small fleet against a vast Japanese armada. In a banner year for Park Hae-il, who also leads Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, the actor takes over the mantle of the admiral from Choi Min-sik. Portraying Admiral Yi during an earlier naval campaign in his career, which also saw him heavily outnumbered by a Japanese armada, Park imbues the historical figure with a staunch and stolid solemnity. 

Teeming with white knuckle tension, Hansan: Rising Dragon steers us through an impeccably realised and epic David-vs-Goliath struggle out in the open sea.

Pierce Conran

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Following the memorable box office titans The Thieves and Assassination, hitmaker Choi Dong-hoon returns with his biggest project to date, the giddy first installment of an ambitious two-part period drama/sci-fi action offering. The veteran director ably commands an A-list cast that includes The Handmaiden’s (2016) Kim Tae-ri, Believer (2018)’s Ryu Jun-yeol and big screen return of Kim Woo-bin.

Borrowing a page or two from classic yesteryear Hollywood sci-fi action classics like Alien, Back to the Future and Terminator, Alienoid’s breathless genre medley bounces around past and present with a colourful coterie of oddball characters and trenchant humour, with Choi’s jaunty and unmistakable directorial stamp clearly shining through.

The prongs and protagonists of this sprawling and dynamic fable coalesce into an explosive climax that will leave you hankering for more. Lucky for you, part two will be heading to a theatre near you next year.

Pierce Conran

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Based on a true story, Ryoo Seung-wan’s gripping film creates large-scale spectacle while avoiding jingoism and grounding itself firmly in reality. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Ryoo staging urban warfare on such a vast scale, while simultaneously guiding the film’s talented cast to create such moving drama. The highest grossing Korean film of 2021 at the domestic Box Office, this is a film that must be seen on the big screen.

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