Highest-Rated Movies about 'South Korea'

Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016), Memories of Murder (2003), 3-Iron (2004), Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003), My Sassy Girl (2001), Chugyeogja (2008), I Saw the Devil (2010) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best South Korea movies.

#1. Oldboy (2003)

Storyline: Abducted on a rainy night in 1988, the obnoxious drunk, Oh Dae-Su, much to his surprise, wakes up locked in a windowless and dilapidated hotel room, for an unknown reason. There, his invisible and pitiless captors will feed him, clothe him, and sedate him to avert a desperate suicide--and as his only companion and a window to the world is the TV in his stark cell--the only thing that helps Oh Dae-Su keep going is his daily journal. Then, unexpectedly, after fifteen long years in captivity, the perplexed prisoner is deliberately released, encouraged to track down his tormentor to finally get his retribution. However, who would hate Oh Dae-Su so much he would deny him of a quick and clean death?—Nick Riganas

Plot Keywords: imprisonment, psychological torture, father daughter incest, brother sister incest, brother sister relationship, revenge, captive ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. The Handmaiden (2016)

Storyline: 1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl (Sookee) is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress (Hideko) who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle (Kouzuki). But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.

Plot Keywords: lesbianism, female nudity, repeated scene from a different perspective, lesbian sex, lesbian cunnilingus, sex scene, explicit sex ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. Memories of Murder (2003)

Storyline: In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, in South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is found dead, raped and tied and gagged with her underwear. Detective Park Doo-Man and Detective Cho Yong-koo, two brutal and stupid local detectives without any technique, investigate the murder using brutality and torturing the suspects, without any practical result. The Detective Seo Tae-Yoon from Seoul comes to the country to help the investigations and is convinced that a serial-killer is killing the women. When a third woman is found dead in the same "modus-operandi", the detectives find leads of the assassin.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: neo noir, serial killer, based on true story, serial murder, suspect, policeman, police investigation ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. 3-Iron (2004)

Storyline: A young drifter enters strangers' houses - and lives - while owners are away. He spends a night or a day squatting in, repaying their unwitting hospitality by doing laundry or small repairs. His life changes when he runs into a beautiful woman in an affluent mansion who is ready to escape her unhappy, abusive marriage.

Plot Keywords: abusive husband, korea, squatter, very little dialogue, domestic violence, loveless marriage, husband wife relationship ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

Storyline: In the midst of the Korean wilderness, a Buddhist master patiently raises a young boy to grow up in wisdom and compassion, through experience and endless exercises. Once the pupil discovers his sexual lust, he seems lost to contemplative life and follows his first love, but soon fails to adapt to the modern world, gets in jail for a crime of passion and returns to the master in search of spiritual redemption and reconciliation with karma, at a high price of physical catharsis...

Plot Keywords: buddhist, buddhism, guilt, monk, buddhist monk, isolation, seclusion ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. My Sassy Girl (2001)

Storyline: Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Kyun-woo (Cha) and an unnamed girl. Kyun-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her which enables him to tolerate (somehow) the girl's abuses.

Plot Keywords: female nudity, disco, escalator, firework, flashlight, girls' school, handkerchief ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. Chugyeogja (2008)

Storyline: Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by a same client whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

Plot Keywords: police detective, pursuit, anti hero, social commentary, prostitute, cruelty, breasts ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. I Saw the Devil (2010)

Storyline: SPOILER: Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) is a dangerous psychopath serial killer. He has committed infernal serial murders in diabolic ways that one cannot even imagine and his victims range from young women to even children. The police have chased him for a long time, but were unable to catch him. One day, Joo-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief becomes his prey and is found dead in a horrific state. Her fiancé Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun), a top secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself to get this monstrous and inhumane killer.

Plot Keywords: revenge, torture, violence against women, tracking device, stabbed multiple times, attempted rape, mercilessness ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. The Man from Nowhere (2010)

Storyline: An ex-special agent CHA Tae-shik's only connection to the rest of the world is a little girl, So-mi, who lives nearby. Her mother, Hyo-jeong smuggles drugs from a drug trafficking organization and entrusts Tae-shik with the product, without letting him know. The traffickers find out about her smuggling and kidnap both Hyo-jeong and So-mi. The gang promises to release them if Tae-shik makes a delivery for them, however it actually is a larger plot to eliminate a rival drug ring leader. When Hyo-jeon's disemboweled body is discovered, Tae-shik realizes that So-mi's life may also be in danger. Tae-shik becomes enraged at the prospect that So-mi may already be dead and prepares for a battle, putting his own life at risk.

Plot Keywords: drugs, police, one against many, rescue, revenge, stabbed in the chest, stabbed in the stomach ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. Mother (2009)

Storyline: A mother lives quietly with her twenty-eight-year-old son, Do-joon, providing herbs and acupuncture to neighbors. One day, a girl is brutally murdered, and Do-joon is charged with the killing. Now, it's his mother's call whether to prove him innocent or to leave him imprisoned.

Plot Keywords: acupuncture, murder, dog, cemetery, forest, revenge, investigation ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. Joint Security Area (2000)

Storyline: In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 remaining rounds in the assassin's magazine, amount to 16 cartridges for a gun that should normally hold 15. The investigating Swiss/Swedish team from the neutral countries overseeing the DMZ suspects that another, unknown party was involved - all of which points to some sort of cover up. The truth is much simpler and much more tragic.

Plot Keywords: tragedy, tragic event, suicide, military, blood, north korea, murder ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. My Way (2011)

Storyline: Inspired by a true story. Jun Shik works for Tatsuo's grandfather's farm while Korea is colonized by Japan, but he has a dream to participate in Tokyo Olympics as a marathon runner. Tatsuo also aims to become a marathon runner, so the two are in rivalry. But war breaks out and they both are forced to enlist in the army. Tatsuo becomes the head of defense in Jun Shik's unit and he devises a scheme but fails. Jun Shik and Tatsuo are captured by the Soviets. They run away but soon are captured by Germans and forced to separate. In 1944, they meet again at the shores of Normandy.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: year 1944, dead soldier, 1940s, nazi soldier, running, runner, japanese flag ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

Storyline: In Seoul, Ryu, a deaf worker has a sister who needs a kidney transplant. He tries to donate his own kidney to his sister, but his blood type is not compatible with hers. When Ryu is fired from Ilshin Electronics, he meets illegal dealers of organs, and the criminals propose that he give them his kidney plus ten millions Won to obtain a kidney suitable for his sister. Ryu accepts the trade, but he does not have money to pay for the surgery. His anarchist revolutionary girlfriend Cha Young-mi convinces him to kidnap Yossun, the daughter of his former employer Park, who owns Ilshin Electronics. However, a tragedy happens, generating revenge and a series of acts of violence.

Plot Keywords: revenge, murder, kidnapping, suicide, torture, sex, sign language ...

Movie Details Click Here!