Painted Fire 2002
In a time of political and social unrest in 19th century Korea, uncouth, self-taught painter Jang Seung-up explores his natural talent amidst the repressive world around him.
In a time of political and social unrest in 19th century Korea, uncouth, self-taught painter Jang Seung-up explores his natural talent amidst the repressive world around him.
A young woman is tricked into prostitution, thinking she is going to sell beverages at a village store. She soon learns about the dark world of Korea's red-light districts, where their pimps and society exploit her.
Sam-po is a gambler living without concern for how his wife will manage their houselhold without his earning money. In order to get food and provisions, his wife An-hyeob, sleeps with various merchants in the village. One of the few men she does not sleep with, a lustful servant named Sam-dol, decides to reveal her activities to her husband for revenge.
A former pansori performer travels across South Korea in search of the student he studied with.
Based on the great river story, The Taebaek Mountains chronicles the lasting generational conflict between proprietors and peasants in South Korea.
A sprawling story of one man's tumultuous life within the context of the South Korean political situation during the second half of the 20th century.
A monk rapes a beautiful young woman who visits his monastery. He quits the monastery, marries the woman, and they have kids. But she despises him all the while and devotes herself to tormenting him.
Ja-young is a flutist. When her father has a child out of wedlock, her mother regards sex as a sin out of anger towards him. Ja-young grows up under her mother's exceedingly oppressive notions.
A courtesan's daughter's fidelity to her husband, the governor's son, is tested when he and his family leave for Seoul and the new governor attempts to possess her.
In Japanese-occupied South Korea, a young man, newly-released from prison, is accepted into a gang for his fighting skills and quickly rises to the top. Based on the life of South Korean mobster and politician Kim Du-han.
Upon being released from prison, Kim Du-han begins rebuilding his street gang in the face of Hayashi's Yakuzas and increasing Japanese influence.
An intricately put together story that brings to the screen Korea's most sensitive issues. Through the lives of various Seoulites, the film features an unfettered look into Korea's modern society by presenting them into four chapters - Moratorium, Amorality, Moral Hazard, and Y2K.
Young-min secretly admires Hye-rin whom he saw in a play and sends her flowers anonymously every performance of hers. However, Hye-rin marries a gynecologist Oh Seong-wu and leaves for New York.
A young boy mourns the death of his father, and begins a quest to find his mother. He encounters many people on the way who quote Buddhist precepts: an eccentric monk, a girl who grows up into a young woman, a prison inmate, a foul-mouthed doctor and the young son of a hard drinking astronomer. Each of them tell the boy to seek someone to help him find the truth and his mother.
The story takes place during the period of Japanese Imperialism in Korea. It tells the tale of the life and loves of one peculiar poet. In 1932, Bon-wwong returned from studying fine arts in Japan. He is known as a painter of the Fauvism school of the Art. At the first successful exhibition of his works, he meets a young man, Lee Sang, a poet with really queer character. Soon Lee Sang and Bon-woong become close friends, and they meet almost every day and enjoy all kinds of interesting and usual events. Lee Sang goes to visit Bakchon (a health resort) for medical treatment. Bon-woong follow him. At Bakchon, Lee and Bon-woong meet Keum-hong (a famous waitress) and both fall in love with her. Lee loves Keum-hong physically, vulgarly, and indecently. On the contrary, Bon-woong loves her spiritually and platonically with respect. So, he can do nothing but watch the torrid love affair between Lee and Keum-hong.
In 1980s South Korea, two young nuns-in-training at the same monastery embark on very different journeys towards enlightenment.
A comic book store in Garibong-dong is run by a beautiful woman better known as Madam. This store stays open late into the night, thus attracting varied types of people such as gangsters and hustlers.
R returns from studying in France and reunites with J, whom he used to live with in Paris.