WORLD BEST KOREAN MOVIES
You've heard of K-pop, shorthand for Korean popular music. Now get ready for the K-Wave, or "hallyu," the name for the "wave" of Korean media, including film, that has swept the world since the 1990s.
Even before Bong Joon Ho's film Parasite gained global recognition in 2019 by becoming the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, South Korea had a dynamic film industry driven by the peninsular nation's dramatic economic, cultural and social history.
2023 BEST KOREAN MOVIES
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This list of the best Korean movies includes essential classics and new releases from many genres, including psychological thrillers, nightmare-inducing horror movies, romantic comedies, and smoldering dramas unique to Korean cinematic and narrative aesthetics.
For those just starting your journey into the world of Korean cinema, try watching the films chronologically, starting with Kim Ki Young's femme fatale melodrama, The Housemaid (1960). Before moving on to contemporary films, don't miss early 2000s classics like Park Chan Wook's Oldboy (2003) and Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder (2003) along with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002).
WORLD BEST KOREAN MOVIE
A dive into South Korean cinema opens a window into a unique perspective shaped by the country's rapid economic growth, technological innovation, and legacies of colonialism and war—while providing supreme entertainment with the national film's talent for storytelling. Wherever you are on your Korean cinema journey, you're in for a treat with this list of incredible Korean movies.
