10 Best Korean Movies of 2023

Korean cinema has been producing some state-of-the-art stuff in its global themes, concepts, production techniques, and storytelling—often in ways that are distinctly Korean. While I can’t say that 2023 was a particularly significant turning point in Korean cinema, it did play a significant role in raising its bar once more. This time around, under its broad umbrella, we have had everything—from idiosyncratic melodrama to romance to comedy to horror to science fiction to action and more. Listed below is our selection of the 10 best Korean movies of 2023.

Jung_E – Yeon Sang-ho

An artificial intelligence lab researcher strives to make a robot by cloning her mother’s brain—famous mercenary Jung E. The film plays out in the 22nd century, on a parched bleak Earth caused by changing climates. Its fate now rests in being able to clone Jung E into a programmable robot, as a war breaks out within a shelter designed for human survival amid the dystopia.

Jung_E seizes attention for the futuristic KRONOID committed to enhancing global safety via its revolutionary artificial intelligence combat warrior. In the titular role and as a former commander of the Allied Forces, Kim Hyun-joo looks great. The movie also serves as a posthumous release for the late legend Kang Soo-yeon, who has Seo Hyun in charge of cloning Jung E’s brain and evaluating its fighting prowess.

Known for his propensity to marry genres, director Yeon Sang-ho’s technique for social satire finds a vivid expression in this film, which portrays an emotive matter delving deeply into human nature and prevailing conditions. There’s first-rate action, emotion, and interpersonal interaction all under an exuberant science fiction.

Believer 2 – Baek Jong-yeol

Believer 2 follows Believer (2018). The latter has narcotics unit police detective Won-ho (Cho Jin-Woong) as he sets out for the person(s) guilty of his aid’s murder. Along for the ride is Seo Young-rak (Ryu Jun-yeol), who joins him for the killer, Brian Lee (Cha Seung-won), an elusive, devious drug lord adept at disguising himself.

Five years later, via Won-ho’s investigation into Young-rak’s disappearance following Brian’s incarceration, Believer 2 explores the inner workings of the shadowy drug cartel. This time, Lee’s closest associate, Big Knife (Han Hyo-joo), is overseeing everything.

Believer 2 is much like Believer—turbulent in action, graphic violence, and revelations. Han Hyo-joo stuns by going above and beyond and eschewing glamor to fully inhabit the role of a villain.

Hopeless – Kim Chang-hoon

Hopeless is cynicism, with misery predominating. Living in hardship are Yeon-gyu (Hong Xa-bin), 18, and Ha-yan (Bibi), his younger sister. Chi-geon (Song Joong-ki) helps him when he runs into trouble making his way out of a tight spot. Subsequently, Yeon-gyu embarks on a hazardous descent into the underworld, joining a crime gang with Chi-geon, its mid-level boss.

The 76th Cannes Film Festival this year picked five Korean films to screen under various titles. Of these, Hopeless gained notice within the festival’s major presentation, Un Certain Regard, which primarily focuses on films by up-and-coming directors and those with inventive storytelling techniques.

In addition, Hopeless marked Song Joong-ki’s Cannes premiere and was a choice for the “Korean Cinema Today—Special Premiere” segment at the 28th Busan International Film Festival.

As befits its qualities, Hopeless is a classic Korean noir marked by high drama, despair, brutality, and moral ambiguity.

Smugglers – Ryoo Seung-wan

Director Ryoo Seung-wan combines its distinctive elements—a smuggling plot, underwater action, and a distinct cast of enticing characters—into a visually striking situation. Under Ryoo’s direction, Smugglers is a big lure and a perfect successor to his earlier films, including Die Bad (2000), Crying Fist (2005), and The Battleship Island (2017).

Set against the picturesque backdrop of a bucolic seaside hamlet, the action-packed crime drama ensues in the 1970s and centers on Haenyeo engaged in smuggling. The two main characters, played by Zo In-sung as the national smuggling monarch and Kim Hye-soo as a smuggler, display audacious vandalism that intertwines with wild plot twists.

Smuggler‘s opulent drama and astute understanding of criminals and their actions make it a singular viewing experience. The production particularly shines in the intricate depictions of smuggling beneath the sea, utilizing a wide range of underwater actions and technical expertise to produce the best onscreen visuals.

Soulmate – Min Yong-geun

Soulmate may be a very personal film if you’ve experienced anything similar. Who is a soulmate? A dear friend or a lover, sharing a thorough understanding of each other and togetherness. Yet our lives, our relationships, and our objectives are sometimes altered by the erratic nature of life as we know it.

This is relevant to the movie, which is an adaptation of the same-named Chinese film. It probes the fundamentals of friendship and love, as well as the feelings of desire and envy that affect two friends who originally met as teenagers.

They are meant to be together, Ahn Mi-so (Kim Da-mi) and Go Ha-eun (Jeon So-nee). However, as Ha-eun falls for her classmate Hum Jin-woo (Byeon Woo-seok), their worlds start to break apart. This gets worse when Mi-so moves to the city to live her life, while Ha-eun stays back. When they again meet years later, there are many things to make up for what has been lost—times gone, conflicts of interest, and misunderstandings.

Director Min Yong-geun has created a clear mirror that portrays the facets of life and connections that make it worthwhile through an emotionally charged story. On occasions, you will feel a lump in your throat as stellar performances by Kim and Jeon speak their emotions; they say everything by saying nothing at all. Soulmate is a sob fest, but one very artful.

30 Days – Nam Dae-jung

With Kang Ha-neul and Jung So-min in leading roles, the film offers a welcome diversion from the formulaic love-hate tale. When it comes to portraying a broad spectrum of emotions in a story, Kang and Jung remain highly proficient, as is the case in 30 Days, aka Love Reset—a married couple’s life that causes them to fall in and out of love before something drastic changes the status quo.

Things happen with Jung as the film producer Hong Na-ra and Kang as the lawyer No Jeong-yeol. Despite opposition from family, the two, deeply in love, manage to tie the knot. Unfortunately, love limps when arguments arise between the lovers; their divergent personalities keep coming up against each other, causing resentment and the decision to file for divorce.

The court gives them 30 days to work out their differences; if they don’t, the separation will be approved. Meanwhile, they suffer an awful car crash and become amnesic. To their families’ dismay, who expect them to finalize the divorce, the couple falls in love again while recovering in the hospital.

Ballerina – Lee Chung-hyun

“There’s something I need to do. Something like hunting,” says Jang Ok-ju (Jeon Jong-seo); she follows through on her mission for vengeance in this rapid-fire action movie, doing so in style. An ex-bodyguard for VIPs, Ok-ju chases sex trafficker Choi Pro (Kim Ji-hoon), who exploited Choi Min-hee (Park Yu-rim) by recording her and demanding money for the tape. Min-hee was her best friend, who died under duress as a result.

Ok-ju turns into a wrecking ball, annihilating whatever gets in her way and stopping at nothing. She maneuvers around, setting up and carrying out her savage retaliation.

What makes Ballerina such an exciting film to watch isn’t the story; in all honesty, the altercations work and pepper up this rather facile arc.

It becomes an outrageous delight to see Ok-ju execute action sequences as she moves closer to her goal. The use of vivid hues and expert filming amplifies the scope of mayhem and stunning acts of aggression.

Alongside slaying the perpetrator, Jeon Jong-so emerges as a brilliant display of rough beauty, using her weaponry and quick reflexes in the fights. To precursors such as The Villainess (2017) and My Name (2021), Ballerina is an ideal addition—cool and frankly very hot!

The Roundup: No Way Out – Lee Sang-Yong

The Roundup: No Way Out, the third Crime City film and next in line to The Outlaws (2017) and The Roundup (2022), lays forth the monster cop Ma Seok-do’s (Ma Dong-seok, aka Don Lee) itch for control when taking down bad guys in this bigger mission.

Here, Ma joins a new squad assigned to examine a homicide case and finds out that a substance dubbed “Hiper” is at play. In the meantime, Joo Sung-cheol (Lee Jun-hyuk), the boss of the drug trafficking gang, has been striving to expand his business when a Japanese yakuza also enters the scene.

Ma stands out as the unit’s massively muscled star, punching and beating the heck out of a bunch of thugs, but so does Sung-cheol—his sleek, diabolical iciness juxtaposes with Ma’s hefty loudness.

The movie is actually “fun” to watch, for, amid all the bloodshed, brawls, and angry blows, there is quite a bit of hilarity that lifts the schtick.

Past Lives – Celine Song

“What a good story this is. Childhood sweethearts who reconnect 20 years later and realize they were meant for each other,” Arthur (John Magaro) to his wife Nora (Greta Lee) in Celine Song’s feature directorial debut, Past Lives, alludes to her and her childhood friend Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). “In the story, I would be the evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny,” Arthur adds. The movie aired on February 19 at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival after making its world premiere on January 21st at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Hae Sung and Nora drift apart when her family leaves Seoul. 20 years later, they reunite in New York for a week, during which they share thoughts on fate, love, and the decisions made in life. The picture succinctly captures the lingering effects of unsaid emotions. Tae Yoo’s long-buried aspect comes to light through his silence and his innately expressive eyes when he meets Nora. His incisive depiction of the feeling of missed chances and the renewed love for his longtime friend hits hard in its relatability.

When Nora tells Arthur that Hae Sung from back in school was only this kid in her thoughts for so long and that she has missed him, it is a scene from Past Lives that speaks to the soul. This occurs frequently. When we finally realize that our closest friends can also be our greatest life partners, it’s too late.

Teo Yoo complements Greta Lee to perfection. John Magaro makes a perfect husband. He is loving and supportive, even in a marriage that might be precariously close to collapsing. Employing the Korean theory of “Inyeon” (providence or fate in English) in the story, director Celine Song incorporates another impacting element. As Nora puts it, “If two strangers walk by each other in the street and their clothes accidentally brush, that means there have been eight thousand layers of Inyeon between them.”

Concrete Utopia – Um Tae-hwa

This gripping disaster thriller is fraught with emotional upheaval. And their repercussions are staggering. It was chosen as South Korea’s entry for the 96th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category.

After an earthquake crushes Seoul in rubble, Concrete Utopia tracks the surviving residents of its “Imperial Palace Apartment.” The guy in charge of the building’s tenants at the time is Yeong-tak (Lee Byung-hun), accompanied by public servant Min-sung (Park Seo-joon) and his nursing wife, Myung-hwa (Park Bo-young). The film takes on damage and disaster relief with gloomy and gallow humor—more typical when depicting fatalities or conditions that cause people to contemplate death, like in this narrative.

The epic undertaking is a cinematic adaptation of Kim Sung-nik’s webtoon, Pleasant Bullying‘s second part. With its well-worn computer graphics and renderings of an unnerving post-apocalyptic scenario, it’s an intrigue that is technically unique.

Here, the line between humanity and monstrosity progressively gets blurred—in the way that people will throw you under the bus just to survive—and the pros and cons of power play make for an incredible indictment of human nature. It ends up being too dark and hits too hard; even so, Concrete Utopia, I’d say, is the finest of the 10 Best Korean Movies of 2023.