The best Korean cinema to sink your teeth into this month

Ever since the watershed cultural moments brought to us by Parasite (2019) and Squid Game (2021), Korean cinema has flourished in the West. The moment shows no sign of being over, either: Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi romp Mickey 17 is finally (finally) due to premiere in January 2025, mere weeks after the long (long) awaited second season of Squid Game lands on Netflix. And while you wait for those to drop, the second season of criminally underrated series Pachinko has just concluded on Apple TV+. It’s some of the best TV you’ll see this year.

What we’re trying to say is: now is the ideal time to get re-acquainted with the wider Korean filmmaking canon. And clearly, I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Between now and the end of the year, the UK will be flooded with such an abundance of great cinematic events dedicated to Korean filmmaking: First up, we’ve got the yearly London Korean and London East Asia film festivals, which showcase genre-bending blockbusters and understated arthouse works from the country’s internationally renowned film industry. At the same time, a rare, career-spanning focus on auteur Hong Sang-soo is taking place at the ICA in Soho.

And while classics from major players such as Park Chan-wook (Joint Security Area), Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life) and Na Hong-jin (The Chaser) are added to the BFI Player for home viewing, at the BFI itself, a two-month season explores both the country’s mid-20^th century creative zenith and the Y2K Korean Wave. ​“Hallyuwood” has never felt so close to home.

Feeling overwhelmed? We’ve rounded up some recommendations below to make sure you’re all clued up.

Consistently thought of as one of the greatest Korean films of all time, this disrruptive classic has become somewhat obscure since it was deemed worthy of a bumper 2‑disc DVD release in the early ​’00s. You can’t even stream it in the UK these days. But in 2024, just as Poor Things’ Yorgos Lanthimos wraps shooting his high-profile remake of this film (starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, no less) in High Wycombe, it’s ripe for re-discovery – not least because director Jang Joon-hwan is in town for a rare, post-screening Q&A at the BFI on 30^th October.

The bonkers original – which blends sci-fi, horror and comedy with claustrophobic chamber drama – is about a deranged beekeeper who kidnaps the CEO of a chemical corporation, convinced he’s an alien. What the hell is going on, you ask? All will be revealed across chaotic sequences that feature MTV-style editing and kaleidoscopic colours. This wacky assault on the senses has lost none of its fun factor in the 20 years since it came out.

Screening at the BFI Southbank on 30^th October and 30^th November

For those that missed its UK cinematic run earlier this year, Exhuma – one of the most unnerving Korean horror films since 2016 pant-shitter The Wailing – will return to London this Halloween via the London East Asia Film Festival. The occult horror movie was a massive box office success in its native country after debuting at the Berlin Film Festival in February; not only is it the highest-grossing domestic film of the year, but also the sixth highest-grossing South Korean film of all time.

Exhuma draws from Korean folklore to explore the grave consequences suffered by a small rural community when the burial site of a wealthy family’s ancestors is disturbed. Screen icon Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) is a powerhouse presence as the leader of a team of paranormal investigators, particularly as the movie builds with ominous foreboding and dread in the first half. But after shamanic rituals and exorcisms lead to the summoning of a terrifying and unworldly entity, it’s the intense and disturbing climax that leaves the most visceral impression.

Screening at Selfridges Cinema on 31^st October

Alongside Kim Ki-young’s 1960 classic The Housemaid (a major influence on Parasite), Aimless Bullet is widely considered one of the foremost masterworks of Korea’s mid-century cinematic golden age.

Banned for several years upon release in Korea for its unrelentingly bleak portrayal of post-war life in Seoul (director Yu Hyun-mok, notably, lost a father and six siblings in the Korean War), this harrowing drama, says critic Kim Jyoun-wook, is equivalent in impact and legacy in its native country to Citizen Kane in Hollywood. Essential viewing, basically.

In this sorrowful tale, Cheol-ho, an accountant with a toothache, strives to provide for his family in the aftermath of the Korean War. As his mother lays bedridden with mental illness at home, his sick wife prepares to give birth, while his sister attempts to win favour with American GIs by turning to prostitution. Meanwhile, the accountant’s crippled war veteran brother becomes desperate in his attempts to find work, and his pursuits ultimately lead to dire consequences.

Gritty monochrome cinematography augments the film’s hopeless atmosphere, and Aimless Bullet serves as a reminder of the painful journey Korea has been on since the North and South were divided in 1948.

Screening at the BFI on 31^st October, 10^th November and 27^th November, and streaming online via the Korean Film Archive

Director July Jung made a real splash with her second feature, 2022’s Next Sohee, a powerful drama about a woman’s death at a call centre that was loosely inspired by a real-life suicide case. The first-ever Korean production to close the Cannes Film Festival, it enjoyed a limited theatrical run in the UK in June 2024.

Jung’s feature debut – also given the seal of approval at Cannes, where it was nominated for three major prizes – explored a similarly disturbing subject matter eight years prior. A Girl At My Door is the story of a female police chief, Young-nam, dismissed from her role due to her queer sexuality. Newly stationed at a small coastal town, she encounters a young girl named Do-Hee who has been subjected to physical abuse. In providing her shelter, troubling rumours begin to circulate about the nature of their relationship in the local community.

Produced by one of Korea’s greatest living filmmakers, Lee Chang-dong (Burning), A Girl at My Door is a stirring drama built around close-up camerawork and heartfelt performances. Its always-captivating lead Bae Doona (who also heads up Next Sohee) is the film’s emotional anchor: a strong woman trying her best to do good in the face of brutal alcoholics, corrupt policemen and deep-seated social stigmas.

Screening at the BFI Southbank on 1^st November and 11^th November

One of the most prolific arthouse filmmakers in contemporary Korean cinema, Hong Sang-soo’s micro-budget ​“talkies” have become a mainstay at major international film festivals in recent years. They’ve won adoration for their quirky and reductive style, highly naturalistic execution, and lingering emphasis on mundane, often soju-soaked social interactions.

In the past four years alone, the director has collected prizes for four different films at the Berlin International Film Festival. Now, the ICA has unveiled a major new retrospective of the filmmaker’s addictive works – the first of its kind since 2010 – which collates over 20 of Hong’s films before the premiere of his latest, By The Stream, in December. What a treat.

Now, onto The Day After. Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2017 is as good a place to start as any. The story of an author and publisher (Hong mainstay Kwon Hae-hyo) who fumbles through interactions with his new assistant (The Handmaiden​’s Kim Min-hee) after his wife discovers that he’s been cheating, it contains many of the director’s signature tropes: repeating scenes, fixed profile shots and long, drawn-out conversations.

Can’t make the screenings? A few works from the ICA’s Hong Sang-soo season can also be found on streaming platforms. Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (ITV Player), Tale of Cinema (Arrow Player), The Woman Who Ran (Curzon Home Cinema) and In Front of Your Face (Apple/​Amazon Prime) are all available to watch at home.

Screening at the ICA on 10^th November

In a dystopian, near-future Seoul stricken by severe pollution, lowly office worker Shin-dong (Kim Dae-gun) struggles with chronic fatigue, towering medical bills and a worsening cost of living crisis. Threatened with eviction from his tiny city apartment, the isolated figure makes an attempt to get under his adolescent landlord’s skin by leasing his bathroom to a strange newlywed couple. This, as you can imagine, quickly complicates his situation.

This minimal and Kafka-esque black comedy – which is also the director’s feature debut – conjures a wonderfully eerie atmosphere through its oddball performances, monochrome cinematography and the occasional visual nod to German Expressionist classic Metropolis. But as a satirical commentary on the global housing crisis, it’s also a profoundly relatable nightmare. The Tenants is a real indie highlight of this year’s London Korean Film Festival.

Screening at the BFI Southbank on 12^th November

The Closing Gala of this year’s London Korean Film Festival is a sprawling odd couple drama that doubles up as a touching ode to queer friendship. Its central premise: promiscuous student Jae-hee (Kim Go-eun, Exhuma) fosters an unlikely relationship with the depressed Heung-soo (Pachinko​’s Noh Sang-hyun) after spotting him making out with their French teacher at a club. Further dark secrets are duly unearthed, as their tumultuous and occasionally melodramatic journey into adulthood is exposed via fast-paced plotting, zippy editing and fun split-screen sequences.

Love in the Big City is an adaptation of Sang Young Park’s novel of the same name, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022 after becoming a bestseller in Korea and receiving critical acclaim worldwide. Following a warm reception at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, it arrives in London on 13^th November, with director E.oni present for a post-screening Q&A.

Screening at BFI Southbank on 13^th November

This under-seen classic of the Y2K Korean wave, directed by one of the country’s leading female auteurs, will receive a rare UK screening in November (in remastered 4K) as part of the BFI’s vibrant Echoes in Time season. Featuring a stellar cast that includes The Wailing​’s Hwang Jung-min and Decision to Leave​’s Park Hae-il, Waikiki Brothers is the funny, melancholy tale of a struggling band described as ​“The Beatles of night clubs”, who grapple with hardship as their popularity on the gigging strip slides.

In a hilarious opening, the eponymous Waikiki Brothers unleash crooning sax solos and guitar licks to a paltry crowd of sleepy ballroom dancers. The next day, the band’s saxophonist quits – leaving three deflated players left of what was once a seven-man troupe. The movie charts the band’s entire career thereafter, from hopeful school gigs as the Choongju High School Boys, to stints in dayglo-painted bunkers and empty hotel function rooms, stopping at games arcades, amusement parks and sandy beach fronts along the way. Spiked with laughter and brimming with warmth, the movie is as colourful as the band’s Hawaiian shirts, capturing the often short-lived promise of youthful dreams.

Screening at the BFI Southbank on 15^th November and 29^th November