2022 has been an unforgettable year for Korean cinema thus far, with through-provoking masterpieces such as Broker, praised for its remarkable performances, and Decision To Leave, South Korea's submission for Best International Feature, two promising movies that premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Korean cinema continues to grow rapidly in quality and technological advances, investing tons of money in quality and innovation in exchange for modern classics such as Train To Busan. It's time to take a look at the most talented filmmakers in Korea according to insightful Reddit s.
Kim Ki-Duk
Kim Ki-Duk's filmography is filled with violence and magical realism; one for the shock value element, and the other a more subtle element. These two contrasting characteristics make total sense with his approach to cinema, devoted to addressing the darkest impulses of the human soul with a delicate touch of mysticism.
When talking about Kim Ki-Duk, Redditor rifz said, "Check out 3-Iron and The Isle. Having the lead actor with no dialog and still making an interesting film is very difficult." All of his films reject any solid interpretation, leaving plenty of room for lyricism and metaphors that mirror reality in a surreal fashion.
Lee Chang-Dong
Redditor radar89 claims, "Lee Chang-Dong has pretty amazing filmography with Burning, Oasis, Secret Sunshine and Peppermint Candy."
In Chang-Dong's movies, his characters find melancholy and despair in every corner, and although it seems like a clear sign of depressing films, most of his works commit to finding comfort in the very thing that threatens to destroy. When watching a Chang-Dong movie, viewers can expect a slow-burn narrative with a devastating climax, with Burning standing out as the most recent highlight and a thriller that truly nails its final scene.
Hong Sang-Soo
Cyberpunk01 states, "I would recommend anything by Hong Sang-Soo. He has a really cool style that kinda blends Allen and Linklater."
Just like the other two American directors cited, Sang-soo uses a very distinctive style that consists of natural conversations and long frivolous walks that aim at capturing life as it is. Most of his films are nothing more than ordinary people hanging out and that's what makes them so unique. Some people like to say he's been filming the same movie over and over again, but not in a bad way, it's just that Sang-Soo is the best Korean director to find beauty in everyday mundanity.
Na Hong-Jin
Na Hong-Jin's specialty is controversial protagonists facing harrowing dilemmas, a characteristic present in all of his three films. The Yellow Sea and The Chaser introduces two corrupted protagonists who give in to a life of crime and are constantly questioning how deep down the rabbit hole they will go in order to survive. In The Wailing, a deep horror thriller, an unprepared policeman must face an evil entity wiping his whole town, eventually becoming the victim of a dilemma that will put at risk the life of every single person he knows.
The Medium, reinforcing him as one of the most promising voices in the current horror scenario.
Kim Jee-Woon
AemiGrant jokes, "Kim Jee-Woon: *Sad action-thriller noises*" One of the most talented but also one of the most controversial Korean directors, Jee-Woon tends to lean on shock value and ultraviolence to stir fear in his viewers.
Apart from the acclaimed A Tale Of Two Sisters, which is a straight-up horror film, Jee-Woon movies always deliver explosive action sequences that no Hollywood movie could ever dream of achieving. To him, there's no action film without barbarity and bloody violence because that's the aftermath that every action flick aims at. In order to give violence a purpose, Jee-Woon takes his time to develop his characters' psychology, so viewers will actually care for them as they engage in dangerous situations.
Zhang Lu
A deleted Reddit suggests, "Zhang Lu (His latest films are masterpieces)." Before becoming a successful film director, Zhang Lu was a novelist, which explains how details are so important to the fluidity of his stories. They are often long movies that spend quite some time developing the intricate personality of each character and how their contrasting traits will ignite the small-scale climaxes of his films.
Each of Lu's movies presents microcosms. Viewers quickly get familiar with the surroundings, motivations, and behaviors of the characters onscreen in a way their steps become somewhat predictable, turning the tragedy of each character's life into a comical depiction of reality.
Yeon Sang-Ho
In the light of more zombie movies by Yeon Sang-Ho one of the best obscure action movies in recent years, but it's undeniable how he's got the talent to be the new voice of the zombie genre.
Sang-Ho knows how to make an expensive movie look expensive and that's infrequent nowadays, with movies that cost double the amount of Peninsula that don't like half as cool as it. The hype around Sang-ho is real and fans eagerly await more action pieces set in the world of his previous films.
Hwang Dong-Hyuk
It might be too soon to call Hwang Dong-Hyuk the best, but he certainly is the most promising Korean director working today. Proof of this can be found in his outstanding job as the writer and director of the massive 2021 hit, Squid Game.
Throughout nine episodes, Dong-Hyuk prompted viewers to go through a rollercoaster of emotions, balancing drama, thriller, and action in one of the most creative dystopian stories in a long time. Additionally, he's also the director of Silenced, a Netflix original that showcases how versatile of an artist he is, telling the true story of a school for the hearing-impaired where young deaf students were the victims of a series of abuses.
Park Chan-Wook
Writing a script that doesn't have a single plot twist in it must be an absolute nightmare for Park Chan-Wook. Director of masterpieces such as The Handmaiden, Park's stylish methods can turn the most ordinary shot into a visually stunning narrative tool.
Redditor xvalicx states, "Park Chan-wook is one of the best directors working today for me." Viewers can never be fully prepared for a Chan-Wook film because they're always an intricate box of surprises. His latest project, Decision To Leave, doesn't fall behind, with sharp editing and nauseating camera movements that add up to the jaw-dropping experience of being tricked over and over again by the director's ideas.
Bong Joon-Ho
Freedom420911 states, "it's hard to choose between Park Chan-Wook and Bong Joon-ho simply because Song Kang Ho is one of the best actors around and has been in most of their films." While this is true, Bong Joon-ho is by far the most influential Korean director, and not only because Parasite made history by winning Best Picture.
Joon-ho's filmography offers a range of socially conscious movies that expose the very worst of society and modern imperialism with absurd stories of sci-fi and crime. If there's one complaint people can't make about Joon-ho is that he's got no range. Throughout his multifaceted career, he experimented with plenty of genres, from the crime thriller Memories Of Murder to the high-spirited fantasy fable, Okja.
