(TL;DR: Watch 10 South Korean films from 10 different categories in the list below in May. Please, use tag "maykorea2024", if/whenever applicable.)
Greetings everyone!
Very much in the spirit and inspired on the (glorious) "Japanuary" challenge, I would like to try/suggest a similar event, during May, with another asian country that I really love - South Korea.
As such, and since I have little to no idea if either people have any interest in such a thing or if there's decent to reasonable access to many of the (potential) movies involved, I would very much call/consider this one more like an "open invitation", of sorts. (The list was designed to be achievable entirely through a very essential resource (and other…
(TL;DR: Watch 10 South Korean films from 10 different categories in the list below in May. Please, use tag "maykorea2024", if/whenever applicable.)
Greetings everyone!
Very much in the spirit and inspired on the (glorious) "Japanuary" challenge, I would like to try/suggest a similar event, during May, with another asian country that I really love - South Korea.
As such, and since I have little to no idea if either people have any interest in such a thing or if there's decent to reasonable access to many of the (potential) movies involved, I would very much call/consider this one more like an "open invitation", of sorts. (The list was designed to be achievable entirely through a very essential resource (and other available ones) -> www.youtube.com/user/KoreanFilm/videos)
The goal here is to assist all interested in navigating/exploring the exciting and challenging world of South Korean cinema. It goes without saying that sharing and providing insight throughout the event and, of course, having fun are just as important.
In order to do so, this list contains a varied (and hopefully flexible) set of categories ranging from top awarded movies, specific time periods, "well known" directors (both male and female) and actors/actresses and more tinkered options, that should allow participants to "design" it to their own liking/preferences from a significant plethora of options (there's certainly many ways to go about it... the result was a blend of my own experiences/perception, popularity and even accessibility, in some cases... while trying to find a few lesser known goodies too, just in case!)
Keep in mind that this list is NOT restrictive, only serving as a helpful "blueprint"; you're more than free to check out whichever South Korean movies you wish if the categories here don't necessarily work for you (but please ID them, if you participate, so we can "find/learn" from your own entry).
To help out "navigating" the list, I added a bunch of links and suggestions, that may be useful (I hope so!).
To successfully complete the event, you should watch a minimum of 10 films, each from a different category, during the month of May. Regardless, if you wish to watch more or manage only enough time to watch less, that's perfectly fine too. After all, it's all about having fun while doing it ^_^
If you're about sharing, please tag your reviews with "maykorea2024".
That makes it much easier to track and interact with your reviews and vice-versa, if applicable.
Since there's (I hope) a lot of flexibility between the different categories, I'm adding a few "rules" to try making things clearer.
Rules
1. Movies should be 60 min or plus for all categories (except for "shorts" (under 40 min) and "documentaries" (any length)).
2. Any movie watched can only count for one category, which should be identified to avoid confusion.
Other than that, and for all interested/participants, I wish this helps and that you can have some fun with the awesome and fascinating South Korean cinema, which certainly warrants some love <3 Happy viewings! ^_^
Main categories:
1. Grand Bell Best Movie Award Winners (Grand Bell Best Movie Award Winners)
2. Blue Dragon Best Movie Award Winners (Blue Dragon Best Movie Award Winners)
3. 1960s (Suggestions: Aimless Bullet; The Coachman; Flame in Valley; Mist; Sorrow Even Up in Heaven)
4. 1970s (Suggestions: A Woman After a Killer Butterfly; The March of Fools; The Shower; Night Journey; Yeong-ja’s Heydays)
5. 1980s (Suggestions: Suddenly in the Dark; Chilsu and Mansu; Declaration of Fools; The Age of Success; The Man with Three Coffins)
6. 1990s (Suggestions: Timeless Bottomless Bad Movie; Memento Mori; Christmas in August; A Single Spark; Nowhere to Hide)
7. 2000s (Suggestions: Lady Vengeance; The Chaser; Castaway on the Moon; Breathless; Save the Green Planet!)
8. 2010s (Suggestions: The Wailing; Forgotten; Silenced; Swing Kids; Moonlit Winter)
9. 2020s (Suggestions: Past Lives; Ballerina; Kill Boksoon; 12.12: The Day; A Distant Place)
10. Bong Joon-ho
11. Park Chan-wook
12. Kim Ki-duk
13. Lee Chang-dong
14. Kim Jee-woon
15. Hong Sang-soo
16. Kwak Jae-yong
17. Im Kwon-taek
18. Lee Joon-ik
19. Yeon Sang-ho
20. Kim Ki-young
21. Lee Man-hee
22-27. Directed by Women (Pick 6 Films to watch)
- Jeong Ga-young
- Yim Soon-rye
- Yi Ok-seop
- Jeong Jae-eun
- Shin Su-won (x)
- Byun Young-joo (x)
- Hong Ji-young (x)
- Lee Kyoung-mi
- Lee Eon-hee
- Shim Hye-jung
- Han Ka-ram (x)
- Yoon Ga-eun
- Kim Bora
- Pang Eun-jin
- Park Chan-ok
- Kim Se-in
- Yoon Dan-bi (x)
- July Jung
- Kim Cho-hee
- Lee Woo-jung
- Jeon Go-woon
- Jeong Ji-yeon
- Kim Do-young
- Cho Eun-ji (x)
- Hong Sung-eun
- Lee Jong-un
- Moon So-ri
28. Wild Card – Any South Korean movie
29. A South Korean movie released in 2023 or 2024
30. Male Personality - Song Kang-ho
31. Female Personality - Bae Doona
Bonus categories:
32. 1950s (Suggestions: The Flower in Hell; Madame Freedom; The Hand of Destiny; Piagol; The Bell Tower)
33. Moresbi Recommendations (Suggestions: Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War; Bedevilled; Friend; Tell Me Something; Spider Forest; #Alive; The Man from Nowhere; Kingdom: Ashin of the North; Welcome to Dongmakgol; After My Death; The Yellow Sea; Sea Fog; Extreme Job; Il Mare; Once Upon a Time in High School)
34. Short Film (under 40 min) (Suggestions: Judgement; Ground Zero; Incoherence; Faith; Superpower Girl)
35. "Earliest/Oldest" South Korean movie entry on your watchlist
36. Animation
37. Documentary
38. K-Horror
39. SK Thriller
40. Lee Doo-yong
Progress: 45/31 (Complete 21/05/24)
Participants (25):
Graham - Andrew Settle - MarryMeSenpai - preisman - Goodnekovibes - Brian Fielder - Niranjan Kirla - Marc-André - M K - Juko10 - hockeyphotos - f 🫧 - Raktim Nandi - itsmysharona - Robin - Corey Simons - Philosoly - Marie - Puppy - Xellence - Ansem - Muha Haque - mxlafleur - Ilia Ginzburg
"Grand Dragon" Award Winners 🐉🏅 (13):
Graham - Goodnekovibes - Niranjan Kirla - f 🫧 - Andrew Settle - Brian Fielder - Xellence - MarryMeSenpai - mxlafleur - Philosoly - Raktim Nandi - Muha Haque
