Now here are 11 South Korean films of this year.

1. House of the Seasons
   Oh Jung-min’s remarkable first feature film “House of the Seasons” clicked so well with me right from the beginning, and I was all the more amazed by how it never lost its grip on me after that. At first, it looks like another typical Korean family drama, but then it carefully establishes its main characters with big and small details to be observed during its first act, and I found myself much more engaged than expected during the rest of the movie. This is a small but sublime family drama to be cherished for many good reasons including its effortlessly engaging mood and narrative, and I particularly appreciate how it subtly pulls out an almost perfect poetic moment around the end of the story. Yes, many things remain unresolved for its main characters, but life will still go on for them anyway, before their respective closing times eventually come, of course.

2. The Land of Morning Calm
   You will not easily forget the old but tough hero of Park Ri-woong’s second feature film “The Land of Morning Calm”. Although he is not a nice or pleasant dude at all, he is presented as a complex human figure to observe as we get to know more about him and his nearly hopeless life environment along the story, and it is compelling to watch how bluntly but sincerely he struggles for what should be done for a few others around him. Although you may not like him that much even in the end, you will come to have some understanding and empathy on him after the haunting last shot of the film, and that is what a really good movie can do for us in my inconsequential opinion.

3. Time to Be Strong
   Namkoong Sun’ second feature film “Time to Be Strong”, which is incidentally the 15th movie project of the National Human Rights Commission in South Korea, is a somber but haunting character drama about three young people feeling lost and desperate in one way or another. While a considerable part of their youth has already been gone, there is only a lot of uncertainty about their future, and the movie observes their loss and confusion with deep understanding and empathy. To be frank with you, I am not interested much in K-Pop, and I do not even know a lot about whatever has been happening inside the K-Pop industry, but the movie successfully delivers its important message on human rights via the story and characters to remember for a long time.

4. A Traveler’s Need
   Isabelle Huppert, who recently had her 71st birthday in last month, is one of the most interesting movie actresses I have ever seen. With that consistently distinctive persona of hers, she has steadily fascinated and impressed us for more than 50 years, and now she entertains us again in Hong Sang-soo’s new film “A Traveler’s Needs”. This is surely one of Hong’s more enjoyable films during last several years besides being one of the better South Korean movies of this year, and I certainly hope that he will collaborate with Huppert again someday.

5. FAQ
   As watching Kim Da-min’s funny first feature film “FAQ”, I could not help but reflect on not only what I went through many years ago but also what my young nice will endure sooner or later once she grows up more. In our country, numerous kids are relentlessly pushed by their parents to study and then excel themselves day by day without having much fun at all, and the satiric fantasy of “FAQ” often outrageously and sharply reminds me of this very depressing reality of our society. I have lots of concern for my niece’s future because of how our society has gotten worse and worse for kids and many other socially disadvantaged people including myself during last several decades, and I can only hope that she will never lose the capability of empathy and generosity despite whatever will happen to her during next several years.

6. Lucky, Apartment
   “Lucky, Apartment”, directed by Kangyu Ga-ram, is a quiet but tense drama about one lesbian couple who happen to be under a lot of pressure and conflict. All they simply want is a stable living environment where they can happily live together, but then they come to face their harsh reality in one way or another as their supposedly cozy apartment gets saddled with one big problem, and the movie is sometimes realistically frightening for good reasons. Although nothing much is certain for the two main characters of the film even in the end, there is also some glimmer of optimism via a little sign of solidarity and compassion shown from them, and that will probably make you reflect more on the main subjects of the film after it is over.

7. Work to Do
   “Work to Do”, directed by Park Hong-jun, is about the moral dilemma of a young man tasked with one unenviable job to do. Phlegmatically observing how he and his colleagues do their rather unpleasant job step by step, the movie vividly and realistically depicts a certain very complicated circumstance for them and many others in their company, and its emerging big picture is certainly not pretty at all. This is a modest but undeniably compelling piece of work to admire, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from Park after this considerable achievement of his.

8. Victory
   “Victory”, directed by Park Beom-soo, cheerfully and exuberantly dances and jumps around a number of familiar genre elements, and, what do you know, I liked it more than expected. While it will surely remind you of a bunch of similar films such as “Bring It On” (2000), the movie has enough charm and spirit to throw its story and characters high up in the air, and you will cheer and root for its young cheerleader characters while willingly overlooking a number of conventional aspects. Although it did not surprise me much, the movie really made me feel good after it was over, and that is enough for recommendation in my inconsequential opinion.

9. Ms. Apocalypse
   Some good movies can make us care a lot more about their characters than we expected at first, and Lim Seon-ae’s second feature film “Ms. Apocalypse” is one of such cases. Mainly revolving around two different women who are not exactly likable in their respective ways, the movie closely and sharply observes the comic development of their unlikely relationship, and we come to understand and empathize with them more even while getting some painful laughs along the story. Although it is not entirely without weak aspects, the movie is still interesting enough to hold our attention, and it surely reminds me again that the future of South Korean cinema lies in the hands of talented female filmmakers like Lim.

10. Revolver
    Oh Seung-wook’s new film “Revolver” is a dry but wryly engaging mystery noir thriller which keeps its attitude as straight as possible along with its lead actress Jeon Do-yeon. While it takes some time for us to discern the rather complicated situation around its criminal heroine, the movie steadily holds our attention thanks to its competent direction and Jeon’s strong performance, and it also shows some dark sense of humor as several criminal characters around its heroine clumsily try to deal with her in one way or another. Although it is quite moody and solemn at times, but it has enough mood and personality to be appreciated, and the result is one of more enjoyable genre products of this year.

Special Mention: The Voices of the Silenced
Documentary film “The Voices of the Silences” is about one defiant old Korean Japanese woman and her old but valuable chronicles of her fellow Korean people in Japan. As her several old documentary films on Korean Japanese get restored, we get to know more about her and many other Korean people’s struggles against discrimination and injustice, and it is really moving to observe how persistently she has gone her way during last several decades. This is certainly a powerful documentary as encompassing not only her life story but also those life stories of many other Korean Japanese people out there, and it is definitely one of the better documentaries of this year.