If you are like me and recently binged Squid Game…your eyes may have been opened up to a whole new world of entertainment brought to you by way of South Korean storytelling. Oscar winning Director Bong Joon Ho said it best “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” I couldn't agree more with that statement so I wanted to share with you 5 movies to watch if you loved Squid Game and are looking for more great South Korean art.
1. Parasite (2019)
This is one of my favorite movies of the last 5 years despite any genre. It’s the story of a poor unemployed family of con artists who trick a rich family into hiring them all. Despite the name and the movie poster…It’s NOT a scary movie like I originally thought. It’s more a suspense/drama with touch comedy…and that even translates through the subtitles. The movie tackles the concepts of greed and class discrimination and the relationship between the wealthy and lower class.
2. Okja (2017)
A fun sci-fi adventure that I wasn’t expecting.This movie is part English and part in Korean. It’s the story of A tender portrait of a friendship between a girl and her gigantic pig/elephant/hippo thing named Ojka. The girl has been caretaker of the ‘super pig’ at her home in the mountains of South Korea for 10 years. But now, the corporation who gave it to her family to take care of wants it back. She must go to the United States to rescue him and bring Ojka Home.
3. Minari (2020)
This is a great story about family and what it means to struggle to achieve the American Dream. It’s the story of a Korean American family that moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream in the 1980’s. If you’re like me and ever lived in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere…you will relate to the struggles of keeping a family sane in such a small space. It also deals with the struggles of assimilation to American culture for non-english speaking people.
4. A Taxi Driver (2017)
Based on a true story. It’s about a Taxi driver working in South Korea barely making it. He takes a job to drive a German reporter from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the 1980 uprising.He was just trying to make money to take care of his daughter...but soon finds himself regretting his decision after being caught in the violence around him due to an uprising.
5. Train To Busan (2016)
If you’re into Zombie movies…this is the best of its kind. It’s about a man along with his estranged daughter and other passengers become trapped on a speeding train during a zombie outbreak in South Korea. Lots of action, lots of blood, lots of crazy death scenes. This movie holds nothing back and at the top of its game when it comes to Zombie movies.
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