To help you navigate through the crowded listings, here are our picks for the 11 Korean films that you should keep an eye out for in 2018
Drug King (literal title)
Director: Woo Min-ho (Inside Men, 2015)
Distributor: Showbox
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Cho Jung-seok, Bae Doo-na, Lee Sung-min
Genre: Crime
Synopsis: A drug smuggler (Song Kang-ho) builds his empire in Busan’s criminal underworld in the 1970s.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Director: Kim Jee-woon (The Age of Shadows, 2016)
Cast: Gang Dong-won, Han Hyo-joo, Jung Woo-sung (The King, 2017)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Synopsis:
Set in the future, South and North Korea agree to set up a unified government. They have prepared for the unification for the past 7 years. Meanwhile, demonstrators, supporting and opposing the unification, become more fierce. A group against the unification commit terrorist acts. A special police force is formed in response.
Grave Site a.k.a. Great Site (literal title)
Director: Park Hee-kon
Distributor: Megabox Plus M
Cast: Cho Seung-woo (Inside Men, 2015), Ji Sung, Kim Sung-kyun, Baek Yoon-sik
Synopsis:
A period film about those who struggle to become king and fight over a grave site.
Rampant (literal title)
Director: Kim Sung-hoon (Confidential Assignment, 2017)
Distributor: Next Entertainment World
Cast: Hyun Bin (The Swindlers, 2017), Jang Dong-gun, Kim Eui-sung
Genre: Action
Synopsis:
A period zombie film in which Lee Cheong (Hyun Bin) struggles to save the Joseon from an evil that appears only at night.
Ansi Fortress (literal title)
Director: Kim Kwang-sik
Distributor: Next Entertainment World
Cast: Jo In-sung (The King, 2017), Nam Joo-hyuk, Park Sung-woong, Bae Sung-woo
Synopsis:
A historical film about the siege of Ansi Fortress and the epic eighty-eight day battle that Yang Man-chun (Jo In-sung) and his Goguryeo troops fought against 500,000 invading Tang dynasty men.
Witness (literal title)
Director: Jo Kyu-jang
Cast: Lee Sung-min (A Violent Prosecutor, 2016), Kim Sang-ho, Jin Kyung
Genre: Thriller
Synopsis:
An ordinary man witnesses a cruel murder.
Burning (working title)
Director: Lee Chang-dong (Poetry, 2010)
Distributor: CGV Arthouse
Cast: Yoo Ah-in (Veteran, 2015), Jeon Jong-seo, Steven Yeun
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Synopsis:
A woman whose life is intertwined with two men – one rich and the other a courier who struggles to make ends meet.
Dokjeon (working title)
Director: Lee Hae-young
Distributor: Kidari Ent
Cast: Cho Jin-woong (The Handmaiden, 2016), Ryu Joon-yeol (A Taxi Driver, 2017), Kim Joo-hyeok
Genre: Crime, Action
Synopsis:
Mr. Lee is an unknown boss of a drug organization and detective Won-ho (Cho Jin-woong) allies with Rock (Ryu Joon-yeol) from the drug organization to capture Mr. Lee.
PMC
Director: Kim Byung-woo (The Terror Live, 2013)
Cast: Ha Jung-woo, Lee Sun-kyun
Genre: Action, Thriller
Synopsis:
A Private Military Company attempts to rescue a captive in an underground bunker amid tense relations between North and South Korea.
Byeonsan
Director: Lee Joon-ik (The Throne, 2015)
Distributor: Megabox Plus M
Cast: Park Jung-min (Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet, 2016), Kim Go-eun
Synopsis:
A nameless rapper named Hak-soo (Park Jung-min) receives a call and returns to his hometown Byeonsan to meet his school friend Seon-mi (Kim Go-eun)
Money (literal title)
Director: Park Noo-ri
Distributor: Showbox
Cast: Roo Joon-yeol, Yoo Ji-tae (Oldboy, 2003), Jo Woo-jin
Genre: Crime
Synopsis:
A new stock broker who dreams of becoming rich. Those dreams make him susceptible to a stock market scam that threatens to get him in trouble.
Additional sources: HanCinema, AsianWiki, Cine21
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