Peninsula, The Call & more: Here are the top 10 Korean films of 2020 that you should watch – PINKVILLA

Korean films are attracting much attention from the global film industry. Here are the top 10 Korean films of 2020 that you should definitely watch.

2020 was an incredible year for Korean entertainment as the Hallyu wave reached corners of the globe never thought imaginable. K-Pop or Korean pop broke records on global platforms and one of the biggest K-Pop groups in the world, BTS, bagged a Grammy nomination in a major musical category. Even in a terrible pandemic, the Korean film industry continued working and churning out hits in full swing.

Due to South Koreas incomparable COVID management, even box office collections could resume successfully. Internationally, with the help of OTT platforms, Korean films saw a whole new rise in popularity. If youre yet to catch on with the wave, fret not for Pinkvilla has just the perfect list for you! From thrillers to romances to horror and comedy, weve got it all covered. If youre looking for some of the best Korean films of 2020 for a holiday binge, look no further.

Directed by Woo Min Ho, this award-winning political thriller stars top Hallyu stars Lee Byung-hun, Lee Sung-min, Kwak Do-won, and Lee Hee-joon as high-ranking government officials working for the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. The narrative is set during the Presidency of Park Chung Hee, precisely 40 days before his assassination in 1979. Rife with political intrigue, power play and the rawness of human instincts, this film is a must-watch!

Written and directed by Hong Won-Chan and starring Hwang Jung-min, Lee Jung-jae and Park Jung-min, Deliver Us from Evil was one of the highest-grossing films of the year. The predominant genre of the film is action and the story follows a hitman, In Nam, who has decided upon retiring after undertaking one last hit. However, everything that can go wrong, goes wrong as In Nam finds himself inexplicably linked to a kidnapping case while hes being targeted for the killing of a Japanese mobster. This film will keep you at the edge of your seat until the very end!

The much-awaited sequel to the mega-hit Train to Busan is also another masterpiece. After the Korean peninsula has been completely ravaged by zombies, a soldier is sent along with his team to retrieve a truck full of money (about 20 million USD) from the wasteland. Actor Gang Dong Won leads this standalone sequel, powerful and intense in its own right.

Action and comedy are two of the most popular film genres. This film is a brilliant concoction of the two! Starring an incredible cast including Kwon Sang-woo, Jung Joon-ho, Hwang Woo-seul-hye, Lee Yi-kyung and Lee Ji-won, this film follows Secret Agent Jun who fakes his death to leave his current job and pursue his ultimate dream of becoming a webtoon artist. Initially, hes unable to hit it big but once he starts drawing about his former job, viewers and the CIA are drawn to his work.

One of the most anticipated Korean films of 2020, Time To Hunt is as good as it gets. A star studded cast full of the top actors of this generation - Lee Je-hoon as Jun-seok, Ahn Jae-hong as Jang-ho, Choi Woo-shik as Ki-hoon, Park Jung-min as Sang-soo and Park Hae-soo as Han, this film also uses the motif of one last game. In this case, Jun Seok, freshly out of prison, suggests one last heist before him and his friends can escape dystopian South Korea. Backed by an amazing soundtrack, this film is a must-watch and highly recommended.

Another masterpiece to come out of 2020, #Alive can best be described as a millennial zombie horror. Starring two of the best and highest-paid actors of the South Korean entertainment industry, Yoo Ah In and Park Shin Hye, this film strangely resonates perfectly with the global human condition right now. Forced to be locked inside his own apartment, a streamers struggle is charted against flesh-eating zombies.

Another Yoo Ah In starrer, Voice of Silence also features another veteran master actor Yoo Jae Myung (who you may remember from Itaewon Class as Jang Dae Hee). The two are an unlikely but perfect duo. Yoo Ah In plays Tae In, a young man who never speaks and Yoo Jae Myung as Chang Bok, a religious old man, who work together as the clean-up crew for a crime organisation. Despite having little to no dialogue in the film, Yoo Ah In does a masterfully brilliant job expressing a wide range of emotions through this film. Chaos reigns when the two are given the responsibility of taking care of a kidnapped young girl.

Lets rewind all the way back to 1995 where a group of 3 young employees at a banking job get the opportunity to be promoted if only they ace the TOEIC test with at least 600 points. The three enrol in an English class and soon find out that their company might be involved in some shady business. Needless to say, they launch a thorough investigation to bring out the truth. The three lead actors in this film are Go Ah Sung, Esom and Park Hye Su and the three do an incredible job at making this film one of the best films to come out of 2020.

Youll find some of your favourite K-Drama actors starring in this heist/caper film about tomb raiders as they execute a grave robbery in the heart of Seoul. Lee Je-hoon appears as Kang Dong-goo, a genius robber with a unique touch and intuition, Jo Woo-jin as Dr. Jones, an expert in his field, Shin Hye-sun as Yoon Se-hee, a curator and Im Won-hee as Shovel Leg, named after his incomparable shoveling skills. Adventure, comedy, tension and suspense, this film has it all!

Finally, Park Shin Hye and Jeon Jong Seos time travel masterpiece The Call is the perfect candidate to wrap up this list. Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) and Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo) are two women with an intertwined fate from different timelines who connect eerily through an old phone. The two get closer than expected in a short amount of time and their fates are turned upside down when one single change they make makes ripples big enough in time to ruin them. Horror, time travel, gore and crime thriller these are the predominant themes in this film and we highly recommend you watch this as soon as possible!

What do you think of these films? What would you add to the list? Share your thoughts with Pinkvilla in the comments section below!

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Peninsula, The Call & more: Here are the top 10 Korean films of 2020 that you should watch - PINKVILLA

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero