A director and screenwriter from South Korea,Kim Jee-woonhas created some of themost recognizable South Korean moviesin the past couple of decades. Born in Seoul, Kim cultivated a love for cinema when his father would take him to the movies as a child, and although he dropped out of college, he would pursue writing and directing regardless. He worked his way up from being an assistant director and made his directorial debut in 1998 after winning a domestic screenwriting competition. His debut film,The Quiet Family, would star Choi Min-sik and Song Kang-ho years before they hit international acclaim as actors. Two years later, he would have his second feature film.
However, Kim became well-known as a director when his 2003 horror movieA Tale of Two Sistersdebuted; it would become one of the highest-grossing South Korean movies at the time and the first-ever Korean movie that was distributed and screened for widespread viewing in the United States. Kim was only just beginning, though, and he came out with other hits likeI Saw the DevilandThe Good, the Bad, the Weirdin the years to come. His next feature film,Cobweb, is highly anticipated in 2023 andwill make its premiereat theCannes International Film Festival. Kim hasbeen internationally recognizedfor his work, and recently signed with CAA in Lose Angeles. Until the release ofCobweb, these are his best movies, ranked.
9The Last Stand
An English-language movie,The Last Standwas released in 2013 and was a Hollywood blockbuster directed by Kim. It was his debut in American cinema as a director. The movie also marked the acting return of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who portrays the protagonist, a sheriff. He left behind a position at the Los Angeles Police Department after a failed operation left his partner crippled and members of the operation team dead.
He moves to Arizona, by the border of Mexico and California, and the crimes happening in this town aren’t extensive, but they still happen. When a drug lord takes an agent hostage one night, that marks the beginning of a new excitement in the town. He needs to take down the drug lord, who’s attempting to escape to Mexico before it’s too late and other innocent people are impacted by this.
8Ilang: The Wolf Brigade
Ilang: The Wolf Brigadeis an adaptation of a Japanese animated movie,Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, and stars Gang Dong-won, Han Hyo-joo, and Jung Woo-sung, among many others. In the year 2029, North and South Korea have finally unified once again, but some aren’t too happy with the two countries merging again. They had decided to do so because of the failing economic conditions of both countries and the increasing threat of war from the local powerhouses in East Asia and the United States, but the South Koreans decide to create a unit called Ilang to combat the rising levels of protest against reunification.
The film’s protagonist is Im Joong-kyung (Gang), who, after watching a girl set off a bomb in her hands, begins to doubt everything he’s fighting for and gets sucked into the same world he was enforcing government policies against.
7The Foul King
Kim’s second feature film,The Foul KingplacesSong Kang-ho in the leadrole. He is Im Dae-ho, a bank clerk who has a deep passion for professional wrestling. His love for the sport began when he was a child, and when he was growing up in the 70s, he had his favorite wrestlers he wanted to be when he became an adult.
Now he is older and has a real job, but when his career at the bank begins to plummet, he decides it’s time to chase his dreams and become the wrestler he always wanted to be. As he progresses through the ranks, the comedic elements begin to ramp up, makingThe Foul Kingquite an entertaining movie throughout its runtime.
Related:Song Kang-Ho Confirmed as Lead in Kim Jee-Woon’s Upcoming Feature Cobweb
6The Quiet Family
The Quiet Familywas Kim’s directorial debut and established many of the themes he would use in his later movies, whether it is violence, dark humor, or the actors who tend to reappear throughout his filmography. Choi Min-sik, Song Kang-ho, Na Moon-hee, and Park In-hwan all are part of the main cast of the film.
They are a family who has just moved from the metropolitan Seoul area to the mountains of South Korea, and they decided they are going to open a lodge for those looking to enjoy the natural scenery and hiking opportunities in the area. As the business opens and clients begin to stay at the lodge, things aren’t going so well for the family, especially when a hiker stabs himself while in his room and dies.
5A Bittersweet Life
Released in 2005,A Bittersweet Lifehas Lee Byung-hun as a hitman who works for a mafia boss. He’s high up on the totem pole of the organization, but when his boss assigns him to protect his mistress, things start to change. The hitman is immediately attracted to his new charge. The real purpose of his mission is to find out if the mistress is having an affair, and when he discovers that is indeed the case, he decides to help her and gets on her good side. When his boss finds out, his situation is about to get very ugly. Given one last mission to prove his loyalty to the family, he decides to go rogue no matter what the consequences might be in the end.
Related:6 Must-Watch Korean Horror Movies
4The Age of Shadows
One of many films in the early-2000s and 2010s to dig deeper into what happened during the Japanese colonial era of Korean history,The Age of Shadowsstars Gong Yoo, Song Kang-ho,and Lee Byung-hun. Song portrays a police captain who works with the Japanese, and he specifically finds Korean resistance fighters to arrest. But when a former classmate dies, the leader of the resistance (Lee) decides to make it his new mission to convert Song’s character to their side. Kim Woo-jin (Gong Yoo) is sent to smuggle explosives from Shanghai to Seoul for the movement at the same time, but the police are after him.
3A Tale of Two Sisters
The movie that put Kim Jee-won on the larger map of the world,A Tale of Two Sistersis inspired by a traditional Korean folktale. A teenager is treated at a mental institution and returns home to the rural part of South Korea to live with her sister and father. There, it is revealed that her sister is having nightmares about their dead mother, and the two realize their stepmother, who they’re not fond of, was more connected to their mother in her final days than they originally thought. As supernatural events begin to happen around the house, the movie’s horror elements ramp up as a mystery unfolds. An English remake,The Uninvited, was made in 2009 with Emily Browning and Elizabeth Banks.
The Good, the Bad, the Weirdis inspired by the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s, specifically Sergio Leone’sThe Good, the Bad, the Ugly. Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, and Jung Woo-sung portray three individuals whose paths are about to cross. Song is The Weird, Lee The Bad, and The Good is Jung. The Bad is a hitman trying to steal a treasure map, while The Weird ends up stealing the map before he can get ahold of it. The Good is hunting The Bad down, as he is a bounty hunter.
The three go on a wild goose hunt throughout Manchuria in the late thirties as they chase each other for differing reasons.The Good, the Bad, the Weirdmade its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, then made its way to other prestigious festivals all around the world.
1I Saw the Devil
Starring Choi Min-sik and Lee Byung-hun,I Saw the Devilis the crown jewel of Kim’s career so far. The 2010 movie pits a NIS officer (Lee) against an unknown killer, as his pregnant fiance was brutally murdered on the side of the road. He finds out who the suspects are, and when in the home of one of them (Choi), he discovers his fiance’s ring.
Thus begins a game of cat and mouse, as the suspect is still technically on the loose, and the officer will do anything in the name of revenge. Violent and bloody,I Saw the Devilis now one of the most recognizable Korean films of its time. When released in the United States and abroad, the movie made quite a splash with international audiences.
