Top 5: Best in South Korean Cinema in 2010

[Editor’s note: I’ve asked our team of world film correspondents to dish out their top 5 films of the year from their respective countries. Here’s Tony Kitchen’s take on the Best in South Korean Cinema in 2010.]

In 2010, the Korean film industry continued in its strong stride having several domestic hits such as spy flick Secret Reunion and Kim Jee-woon’s controversial Venice and TIFF Film Festival selected I Saw the Devil, while the world film festival circuit, Korean film faired well with Lee Chang-dong grabbing center spot with Poetry in Cannes. Hong Sang-soo produced a pair of offerings including the Un Certain Regard winner Ha Ha Ha, Cheol So Jang’s debut film Bedeviled made a splash on the far side of the Croisette, Im Sang-soo’s remake of The Housemaid with Jeon Do-yeon left no one indifferent while the remake of the ’66 classic Late Autumn via helmer Kim Tae-yong and thesp Tang Wei was shown at TIFF. Here are the top 5 Korean films of 2010.

#5. Ha Ha Ha (Sang-soo Hong)
The unconventionality of this film, and its direction style, made this movie one of Korea’s best in 2010. Sang-soo uses still shots, flashbacks, and rapidly intertwines the two main characters’ stories, which–unknowingly to the storytellers–deals with the same people. Though the film may not be long remembered, the story and artistic style are intriguing enough to be one of the year’s best.

#4. Secret Reunion (Jang Hoon)
In a year where the two Koreas reached their highest level of tension since the end of the war in 1953, how could a North-South spy movie not make the list of the top Korean movies? Two spies, who once were on each other’s trail, meet six years later and pretend not to recognize the other. The abandoned North Korean spy is invited to live with a South Korean spy, played by Kang-Ho Song (“Secret Sunshine, “The Good, the Bad, the Weird“). In a year where North Koreans defected at the highest rate, and when the peninsula is near the brink of war, the portrayal of the animosity and distrust in this movie are relevant and sum up Korea’s headlines.

#3. The Man from Nowhere (Jeong-beom Lee)
The number one movie at the box office in 2010, and the winner of the most Korean film awards, combines Won Bin (“Mother“, “Taeguki“) with an up and coming director to create this great thriller. Similar in many ways to “Leon: The Professional” (1994), Won Bin keeps the action rolling, shredding his pretty boy actor style in favor of the moral tough guy seeking revenge, evading the police, and trying to save a girl, much like “Chaser“.

#2. Moss (Woo-Suk Kang)
Based on a popular Korean web cartoon, this film was one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year. The film is about a young man who goes to his father’s village, where his father’s death, and the village itself, lead to more and more questions. From the director of “Public Enemy” (2002), “Moss“, which received 15 film awards from five festivals, is lengthy (163 mins), but the plot unravels very timely, making it one of the most suspenseful and memorable Korean films of 2010.

#1. Poetry (Chang-dong Lee)
The winner of best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival received just as much praise at home, winning best picture, best director and best screenplay at virtually all of the Korean award shows. The film, about a woman who commits suicide after being raped multiple times and the mother who comes to terms with her grandson’s crime in the form of poetry, comes in a year when Korea’s biggest domestic news stories dealt with rapes. The film is a genuine commentary on the crimes, and the artistic response to it.