Hong’s trademark stylistic minimalism and meditation on the meaning of art and life remain intact if nondescript, featuring two seemingly unrelated stories connected by a shared fondness for eating ramyeon with pepper paste.
Huppert returns in front of Hong’s camera for the third time in this largely breezy drama about ‘learning’, ‘feeling’ and ‘sipping’ as a French woman uses an unorthodox method to teach French to several Koreans in their encounters with music or poetry.
An enigmatic mystery that patiently develops and then becomes deeply entwined within its ambiguities, in what is another hypnotic gem by South Korea’s finest working filmmaker.
A film that flaunts its Korean-ness, from the classic tale of a governor’s son who secretly marries a courtesan’s daughter, to the use of pansori (traditional musical storytelling with a singer and drummer), all pegged to the effortless pacing of a master director.
Lee Chang-dong’s Cannes Best Screenplay winner teaches us to be at peace with ourselves no matter how dark things might become, as an old lady suffering from the onset of Alzheimer’s turns to poetry writing for psychological comfort.
A serviceable debut feature that sees Lee Chang-dong attempting a neo-noir that sets up an underworld crime drama of bad decisions and painful consequences, with a touch of rare poignancy.
Lee Chang-dong deeply explores the intertwining nature of love, loss and religious faith, backed by an emotionally intense performance by Jeon Do-yeon.
Im’s swift and nimble war epic eschews subtlety and nuance for an emotionally charged work about the moral dilemma of taking ideological sides as Korea became tragically divided after WWII.
Probably the director’s most challenging and audacious work about a social misfit who falls in love with a woman with cerebral palsy, featuring one of the all-timer performances by any lead actress in Moon So-ri.
Told in reverse chronology, this is a masterpiece that deals with South Korea’s ‘80s military dictatorship and its ensuing socioeconomic changes, and does it with such profound emotional and psychological clarity.
Eternality Tan 