Since the turn of the century, South Korea has been a rising force in critic-applauded and genre-friendly moviemaking, with no signs of slowing down after Parasite‘s big wins. And if you’re looking for genre thrills, recent hits Train to Busan and The Wailing, as well as Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters and I Saw the Devil, will help scratch that horror itch. She begrudgingly agreed and joined me out of sheer boredom. Years ago I begged my mother to let me play a Korean movie (My Sassy Girl) on the big television in the living-room. Once you’ve devoured all of those films, there’s also the quiet, subdued work of Hong Sang-soo ( Hotel by the River, On the Beach at Night Alone, Right Now, Wrong Then), whose frequent leading lady Kim Min-hee also starred in Park Chan-wook’s endlessly talked-about 2016 romantic mystery The Handmaiden. A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named Okja. A love story of a cold city scholar Gyun Woo, who’s known as Joseon’s national treasure, and the sassy princess Hye Myung in a Joseon. He’s worked with Oldboy director Park Chan-wook ( Thirst, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), Kim Jee-woon ( The Age of Shadows, The Good, the Bad, the Weird), and Poetry and Burning director Lee Chang-dong multiple times. Parasite‘s Song Kang-ho, one of Korea’s most versatile and prolific leading men, also starred in the latter two films and serves as the connective tissue between Bong and many of his celebrated colleagues. His spectacular crime thrillers Mother and Memories of Murder and his acclaimed monster movie The Host helped establish him as one of the country’s most promising filmmakers. Parasite is a great introduction to the South Korean aesthetic, as director Bong Joon-ho has been playing with tone since the early 2000s. Whether Parasite is your gateway into an international film scene or you’re a seasoned viewer looking to tick off every last classic, we present 30 Certified Fresh South Korean movies to watch now!

With Parasite‘s historic Best Picture win at the 2020 Oscars, South Korea has now become an intractable contender in the argument for which countries are producing the best movies today. ACTION SQUID GAME (2021) If you haven’t heard about this Korean drama, where on earth have you been For it’s about time you do Squid Game is THE 2021 sensation, on its way to become Netflix’s most watched show ever.

(Photo by Next Entertainment World/ courtesy Everett Collection) 30 Certified Fresh South Korean Movies To Watch Now

Korean movies on netflix 2017