Park’s latest Cannes winner charts an alluringly new direction for him—a layered if at times convoluted crime procedural that hides an elusive romantic drama about the perverse relationship between a conflicted investigator and a seductive murder suspect.
It’s more of the same from Kore-eda, but transplanted into a Korean setting, in this heartening mid-tier drama about characters trying to remain human despite not always being on the good side of the law.
Favouring a gritty aesthetic, Park’s ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’ first instalment of his Vengeance trilogy is a brutal and convoluted tragedy of interlocking fates as a child kidnapping goes awry.
Rather underwhelming and at best a minor effort, Hong’s latest explores the nature of being an artist, be it writing, filming or performing, while also functioning as a genteel love letter to his star and muse Kim Min-hee.
One of Hong’s longest films but certainly one of his finest as two friends share over drinks the bittersweet details of their own separate trips to the seaside town of Tongyeong, as the uncertainties of love and conflict control the narrativisation of their memories.
Structured like a diptych, Hong’s work here is more meditative than usual as his protagonist tries to find the grace and psychological clarity that have eluded her all her life.
The third part of Park’s ‘Vengeance’ trilogy explores sin, atonement and poetic justice in the only way he can—through an intricately-plotted narrative, strong visual flair and explicit violence.
Kim Ki-young reimagines his ‘Housemaid’ tale in colour in this stylish and devilish undertaking, featuring Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung in her acting debut.
More of a compilation of past concert performances (albeit in stunning audiovisual quality) than a documentary of new insight and depth, this will please and frustrate fans in equal measure.
Park’s breakthrough success feels like a cinematic page-turner, set in the context of an investigation on a shootout incident at the border separating North and South Korea.
Eternality Tan 