Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Top 10 Korean Films of 2012


2013 has just gotten underway and what better way for MKC to ring in the new year than to reflect on what has simply been a gargantuan year for Korean cinema. The vaunted 10 million admissions club welcomed two new members as The Thieves and Masquerade rode their way into the top three of the all time Korean box office chart. Indeed commercial cinema across the board enjoyed spectacular success as well over 100 million tickets were sold to domestic films at the Korean box office, a first for the industry. As of this writing seven films have crossed 4 million admissions (with an eighth on the way in the form of The Tower). What's more Kim Ki-duk became the first Korean filmmaker to prevail at one of the big three European film festivals as he took home the Golden Lion from Venice for his 18th feature Pieta. Elsewhere on the festival circuit a flurry of Korean films took home big awards, including Juvenile Offender, Barbie, The Weight, Circle Line, and many more.

As I sit down to draw up my top 10 films of 2012 there are still a few I have not yet had the chance to see, including a number of documentaries, but I think that after 88 films during the year it's time to get down to business. Below is my top 10 for 2012, as well as 15 honorable mentions and my 5 least favorite features of last year. My move to Korea has afforded far greater opportunities to watch a lot of Korean films and to watch them early! As such I've included any film that screened for the first time (be it on release or at a festival) and some films from last year's Busan, none of which I had previously had a chance to see.

Scroll through the below gallery and let us know if you agree or disagree!

Intro - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - Best of the Rest

Top 10 Lists

Year  20202019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010

2010s (Top 50) - All Time (Top 25)

Genre

7 comments:

  1. Nice look back at the past year. I will surely try to watch some of your favorites. Only have seen Nameless Gangster and that was an excellent film.

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  2. I gotta say that I'm quite disappointed that A Werewolf Boy is not on your list :( Trust me, AWB has a good chemistry between the leads, and Song Joong Ki (perhaps) presented his best performance.

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    1. i gotta agree on this.. A Werewolf Boy is just so perfect.. :))

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    2. You guys are obviously fan girls, and are BIAS.. no one cares if the leads are good looking or have great chemistry(like you said, "As If"), what matters are the storyline and the plot and how entertaining the movie is and if it will paste you into your sit..
      all I can say is, because you guys are so much of a fangirl, no matter how suck or ugly the movie is, you'd still be okay with it..
      it was a type of movie you don't want to share, because it might ruin your reputation as a movie goer.. don't take it the wrong way though, I'm a big fan of Park Bo Young, but it wasn't that good, really. sorry,

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  3. I'm not able to find Super Virgin, Pluto and Sleepless Night :(
    Are they released on DVD/BR?

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    1. Not yet. PLUTO and SLEEPLESS NIGHT should become available within a few months while SUPER VIRGIN has yet to be released commercially in Korea. Sadly, it's unclear if it will ever see the light of day on DVD.

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  4. i think DONT CLICK is one of the best horror that i ever watch ..

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