‘Train to Busan’ and Other Stories: Must-Watch Movies of Gong Yoo

“I’ve grown more apprehensive. I have these ambitions that I don’t want to lose sight of. I think might become self-critical about the things I try to change about myself as I grow older and more knowledgeable, more so than before.”—Gong Yoo on his acting career

I go with three words from the quote, “apprehensive,” “ambition,” and “self-critical,” to corroborate what I wrote about him in my Actor You Need to Know series—that Gong is “the artist” of marked traits—and the above attributes belong to those that mark him as the elite Korean actor that he is. I feel Gong’s success story derives from how he eschews his accomplishments while still seeking to outperform his prior efforts—some very notable ones; his must-watch movies are enclosed below.

Finding Mr. Destiny (2010) – Chang You-jeong

Gong is awe-inspiring in tapping into emotions; maybe he infuses something distinctive of himself into each of his portrayals to shore up his artistic prowess. His equation with Im Soo-jung evolved into a simpatico romance comedy in Finding Mr. Destiny. Gong’s attractiveness and subtle playing breathed life into his character, Han Gi-joon. Gi-joon operates a firm specializing in locating first loves. In pursuit of a long-lost sweetheart, Ji-woo (Im) calls for a hand. Gi-joon comes to assist; he is a touch too fanatical about work and is fiercely fastidious, but that starts to wane when he realizes he is falling for Ji-woo.

Silenced (2011) – Hwang Dong-hyuk

Silenced is a dramatization of Gong Ji-young’s novel The Crucible, an unnerving instance of harrowing occurrences at Gwangju Inhwa School for the Deaf in the early 2000s, where staff members frequently molested children with hearing impairments for five years. Gong plays Kang In-ho in the movie, a recently brought-in art teacher who pledges to uphold children’s rights and uncover sexual crime at the school. The film allegedly prompted lawmakers to enact measures defending the rights of the vulnerable.

The Suspect (2013) – Won Shin-yun

With his ingenious approach across multiple genres, Gong has raised the benchmark for singularity through his extensive work. In the gripping spy film, The Suspect, Gong starred as Ji Dong-cheol, once a high-profile North Korean spy who defected and set off to find out the homicide of his family upon being unjustly accused of murdering the chairman of a major enterprise. Dong-cheol flees once more while attempting to gather the sensitive documents that his deceased employer had asked him to locate, while the South Korean intelligence service launches a manhunt for him.

A Man and a Woman (2016) – Lee Yoon-ki

In this intense romance, Gong as Ki-hong, who meets Sang-min (Jeon Do-yeon) in Finland, succinctly communicates the hopelessness of a married man profoundly drawn to a married woman. They initiate an illicit affair that, at some point, calls into question morality and brings suffering. The picture is highly powerful in how it evokes the mental upheaval, the sense of breaching families yet being hesitant to give up on each other, and the passion they may have been pining for. The lack you may sense but are oblivious to until somebody eliminates it is one of the highlights here. And Gong reinstates that in perfect unison with the consummate Jeon, emoting brilliantly.

Train to Busan (2016) – Yeon Sang-ho

My favorite [Korean] zombie movie to date is Train to Busan. It has solid characters and socioeconomic references, juxtaposed with the expertly staged chaos on the eponymous train. It has parallels to concerns like corporatism, materialism, parenting, and relationships, while also being the enticing survival tale that it is. We see a self-serving, materialistic workaholic Seok-woo (Gong) pushing all boundaries—dropping duty calls for his child upon realizing (amid the mayhem) that her life is worth more than his job or that being alive matters most. Train to Busan is insightful, a deftly made human story underlying the grotesqueness of a zombie apocalypse.

The Age of Shadows (2016) – Kim Jee-woon

Gong is distinguished for the richness of the characters he creates—driving a story and interacting with viewers. The Age of Shadows is a classic example and an action thriller that follows Korean resistance members trafficking explosives to blow up Japanese military-controlled sites. Here, Gong nails the role of Kim Woo-jin, a crucial member whose antique shop functions as an alias for the operation.

Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 (2019) – Cho Nam-ju

Gong and co-star Jung Yu-mi played a married couple to widespread acclaim in this film based on Cho Nam-Joo’s best-selling same-named novel; it deals with the daily discrimination the protagonist faces, experiencing depression from becoming a stay-at-home mom.

We see an embodiment of the daily hurdles endured by Korean women through Jung’s Ji-young, 30, a homemaker. She abruptly experiences depression, begins to act erratically, and seems to be possessed by her deceased grandmother and mother. At this Jung Dae-hyun (Gong), her husband, alarmed and anxious, resorts to mental health care for her cure.

Seo Bok (2021) – Lee Yong-ju

Seo Bok is only one of the many excellent productions that contributed to Gong’s career throughout the years. In the Korean science fiction action film, Min Gi-heon (Gong) is a former intelligence agency operative, and Seo Bok (Park Bo-gum) is a prototype human clone created by stem cell replication and genetic manipulation—the key to perpetual life. The two get entangled in perilous situations as several parties try to seize Seo Bok, while they also form a special affinity with each other.