Korean films about ambition

A deadbeat teacher helps an angry, aimless teenager find direction in life during his final year of high school.

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

A unified team representing the two Koreas competed at the 1991 Chiba International Table Tennis Championships. It was the first such sport team since the division of the Korean peninsula. The unified team won the group competition event, beating the front runner, China. HA Ji-won plays the South Korean table tennis player, HYEON Jeong-hwa and her North Korean counterpart, LEE Bun-hee, is played by BAE Doona.

Depicts the fierce competition at a broadcasting station and the love between anchor Lee Hwa-Shin and weather caster Pyo Na-Ri.

Pop band Pink Dolls emerges to stardom after releasing a remake of “White”, written by an anonymous composer. The more popular the members become, however, the more they become torn by jealousy and rivalries. But as the girls each take turns to become the lead vocalist, mysterious incidents occur.

Doo-Sik (Jo Jung-suk) gets paroled from prison thanks to his younger brother (Do Kyung-Soo) Doo-Young. Doo-Young is a promising judo athlete. After 15 years, Doo-Sik (Jo Jung-suk) suddenly appears in front of Doo-Young and they begin to live together. Doo-Young becomes involved in an accident before the selection for the national team.

A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P'ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P'ohang-dong Girl's Middle School against the NKPA's advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.

Dae-gil has been skilled with his hands and has shown a strong desire for winning ever since he was a child. He will succeed his uncle and jump into the world of Tazza, risking his life in competition.

Having died unexpectedly, firefighter Ja-hong is taken to the afterlife by 3 afterlife guardians. Only when he passes 7 trials over 49 days and proves he was innocent in human life, he’s able to reincarnate, and his 3 afterlife guardians are by his side to defend him in trial.

When a young mother reconsiders abandoning her baby, she discovers a scheme selling foundlings for adoption.

An account of karate competitor Choi Yeung-Eui who went to Japan after World War II to become a fighter pilot but found a very different path instead. He changed his name to Masutatsu Oyama and went across the country, defeating martial artists one after another. This film concentrates on the period when he is still young, and developing his famous karate style, Kyokushin.

A young girl is raised as a killer in the Yanbian province of China. She hides her identity and travels to South Korea where she hopes to lead a quiet life but becomes involved with two mysterious men.

A 15-year-old circus ringmaster Wei-wei is left all alone with gorilla Ling-ling after grandfather passes away. Thanks to her grandfather's love for baseball, Ling-ling was trained to play baseball and has developed remarkable hitting skills. The materialistic sports agent Sung Chung-Su hears of this remarkable gorilla, and signs Ling-ling to play in the professional South Korean baseball league. Dreaming of success, World's first gorilla pinch hitter and his 15-year old trainer begin on their run in the Korean Baseball League.

Stuntman Cha Dal-geon gets involved in a tragic airplane crash and ends up discovering a national corruption scandal in the process. Go Hae-ri, the oldest daughter of a deceased marine, decides to work for the National Intelligence Service as a secret ops agent in order to support her mom and younger siblings, although all she wanted to do is to become a civil servant.

Jang-bu was an ordinary boy except his special talent; To see every moving thing like a slow motion video. As friends teased him by calling ‘monster eyes’, he decided to stick at home and not to go out. Television has been his only friend. Time passes by, and now grown-up Jang-bu works at the CCTV control center which is the best job for him. When he sees people’s life through camera, he feels he’s sharing their ordinary life that he’s never had. This new job opens his heart to the world and Jang-bu starts to make some friends out of the control center. With his dear friends he receives sense of himself and finally decides to propose a girl that he loved for long from CCTV…

After moving into a new house, a young girl begins displaying strange and disturbing behavior until, one day, she disappears behind a closet. While the devastated father is left with no clue about his daughter’s disappearance, an exorcist shows up to help.

A notoriously shrewish TV drama writer and a Korean wave star who fight like cats and dogs every time they meet; a spinster flight attendant landlady and a nosy chef tenant who build a sense of camaraderie; a genius relationship-virgin composer who harbors a secret admiration for a scatterbrained producer. As they crash-land into each other's lives, will there be love?

A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.

Faced with real-world opportunities and challenges, a couple endures the highs and lows of trying to make a long-distance relationship survive.

On Christmas Eve at Tower Sky, an ultra-luxurious building complex, a White Christmas party is held to dazzle its equally high-end tenants and VIP guests. Dae-ho, the manager of the building and single father, is forced to cancel plans with his daughter Hana to work the event. His Christmas is saved when Yoon-hee, the food mall manager with a secret crush on Dae-ho, offers to babysit Hana during the party. Meanwhile, Young-ki the legendary fire chief of Yoido Station has finally promised his first holiday date night to his long suffering wife. The party is in full swing with the spectacular sight of two helicopters flying overhead just to spray snow on the partygoers and make everything perfect. When unthinkable disaster strikes, Dae-ho and Young-ki must summon all their strength and courage to save the lives of thousands but at what cost to themselves and their loved ones?

Chief of the ‘Special Crime Unit’, OH Gu-tak, looks for the former gangster, PARK Woong-chul, whom he had worked with before, and recruits a con artist, KWAK No-soon, and a convicted cop, KO Yoo-sung in the new team. With new blood, the ‘Bad Guys’ have become stronger and tougher. As they dig deeper into the case, they sense that a much bigger crime organization is behind it all and they begin the hunt for bad guys…

Record-shattering Korean girl band BLACKPINK tell their story — and detail the hard fought journey of the dreams and trials behind their meteoric rise.

Martial law is declared when a mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival…

When a violin prodigy Xiaochun and his father head to Beijing seeking fame and fortune, they soon discover a fierce world of cutthroat ambition. But when Xiaochun is "adopted" by a famous music tutor, success finally seems within reach - until a shocking discovery begins to unravel his entire world, and the boy must make the most difficult choice of his life. Can he achieve the fame his father had always hoped for without losing the extraordinary passion that sets him apart?

Pastor Park is head of a religious investigation center that exposes cults and cult leaders. While looking into a suspicious new religion called ‘Deer Mount,’ he slowly uncovers clues that connect this cult to a series of mysterious cases of missing teenage girls when a body is found inside a damaged tunnel beams. He begins to uncover dark secrets surrounding this cult and its enforcer Na-han.

Assassination is set in Korea and Shanghai in the 1930's during the Japanese occupation. The government resistance assigns a secret commando group with killing collaborators.

The film follows the lives of four childhood friends: Joon-seok, the leader, whose father is a powerful mob boss; Dong-su, whose father is an undertaker; class clown Jung-ho; and Sang-taek, an exemplary student. The story is the director's experience about his friends, a semi-autobiography set in his hometown, Busan. When it was released it was the highest-grossing Korean movie of all time.

In real life, Kwon Yoo is unemployed, but in the virtual game world he is the best leader. Kwon Yoo is then framed for a murder. With the help of hacker Yeo-Wool, he tries to uncover the truth behind the murder case.

On the way to his mother’s funeral, a detective accidentally hits a person with his car. He takes the body with him and puts it into his mother’s coffin. The moment he feels relieved, he receives a call. This caller insists that he saw the detective’s hit-and-run, but instead of asking for money, he wants to know about the body’s whereabouts, leading to a do-or-die showdown of the witness and detective.

An internet broadcaster recruits a handful of people for their 'experience the horror' show at Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, a place selected as one of the '7 freakiest places on the planet'. They are to explore the haunted asylum and stream it live on their online show.

When an illicit arms deal goes bad, North Korean spy Pyo Jong-seong finds himself targeted not just by the South Koreans but also his own bosses.

A shady cop finds himself in over his head when he gets caught between Internal Affairs and the city’s corrupt mayor, in this scintillating crime drama from Korean maestro Kim Sung-soo (The Warrior).

A kidnapper disappeared 15 years ago without a trace. Five days before the case's statute of limitations expires, someone anonymously leaves a flower at the crime scene. A few days later, another kidnapping takes place using the same method on a similar target.

Seo-joon, loses everything to voice phishing and infiltrates a organization in China to meet Kwak Pro, the designer behind this phishing system.

A corrupt customs official joins forces with a vicious gangster to form the most powerful crime partnership in Busan.

Seo-jin is a widower still grieving his wife’s death. Then he receives the news that her long-lost younger sister, Yoo-jin, who went missing 25 years ago, has turned up. Unlike the rest of his family, who welcome her into their arms, Seo-jin feels that Yoo-jin is a stranger.

K-pop sensation BTS embark on their 2019 'Love Yourself: Speak Yourself' Tour.

In response to a sudden dismissal of staff, workers at a big retail store begin a protest against their employer's oppressive labor policies.

A three-tiered story centered on a trio of French tourists visiting the same seaside resort.

In this true story from 2002, South Korean patrol boats engaged in a deadly battle with North Korean patrol boats who crossed the maritime border known the Northern Limit Line and attacked.

Joo Joong-won is the arrogant, greedy CEO of Kingdom, a conglomerate that includes a supermall and a hotel. "Ghost whisperer” Tae Gong-shil, is a misunderstood outcast who can't keep a boyfriend or a job since a near death experience left her seeing needy ghosts. She feels compelled to help them resolve their earthly issues so they can move on to the afterlife... and he feels compelled to think she's crazy. Soon their lives merge into a complicated web of hijinx, misunderstandings, and... yes, love.

As a North Korean sleeper cell agent, Ryu-han infiltrates the South and assumes the role of a village idiot in a rural town. He observes the townsfolk and waits patiently for his mission. One day, after 2 years of playing the role of the village idiot, fellow elite spies Hae-rang, posed as a rock star and Hae-jin, posed as an ordinary student, are dispatched to the same town as Ryu-han. He helps the other two spies settle in and teach them how to adjust in the South. There is a sudden drastic political power shift in the North and all three spies receive an urgent and ultimate mission.

Taysan, a young homeless man in dust-riddled Seoul, begins a series of illustrations over dusty surfaces. Through his Dust Art, Taysan starts the process of recovery from the pains of his past.

The film mainly follows the famous 1597 Battle of Myeongryang during the Japanese invasion of Korea (1592-1598), where the iconic Joseon admiral Yi Sun-sin managed to destroy a total of 133 Japanese warships with only 13 ships remaining in his command. The battle, which took place in the Myeongryang Strait off the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula, is considered one of the greatest victories of Yi.

As a grisly virus rampages a city, a lone man stays locked inside his apartment, digitally cut off from seeking help and desperate to find a way out.

Thrown straight into a dangerous mission with none of his memories intact, a man must escape death while trying to figure out who he is, how he ended up here, and who is the mysterious voice in his ear calling him "Carter"?

A young girl is kidnapped by a serial killer. The serial killer uses manholes to kidnap and kill his victims. The young girl's older sister tries to save her before it's too late.

Nicknamed after a human-devouring spirit, the ruthless leader of an overseas black ops team takes up a dangerous mission in a city riddled with spies.

On the eve of the dreaded university entrance examinations, the lives of 24 of the smartest and brightest students at one high school, are on the line. Locked inside a classroom and nowhere to escape, a television monitor broadcasts a terrified Hae-yeong, the top student at the high school, tied up and seated on a chair inside an aquarium that slowly begins to fill with water. A voice from the monitor announces if the 24 cannot finish the exam administered within the allotted time given, Hae-yeong will die and so will everyone held captive inside the classroom. Thus begins the examination that will determine whether they live or die.

On the run from a dogged internal affairs agent, a corrupt cop reluctantly teams up with a defiant teen to unravel a conspiracy -- before it's too late.