The best Kim Hae-sook’s drama movies

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a young woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering uncle, but she's involved in something greater that will soon be revealed.

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.

After 8-year-old So-won narrowly survives a brutal sexual assault, her family labors to help her heal while coping with their own rage and grief.

Sang-hyun, a respected priest, volunteers for an experimental procedure that may lead to a cure for a deadly virus. He gets infected and dies, but a blood transfusion of unknown origin brings him back to life as a vampire. Now, Sang-hyun is torn between faith and bloodlust, and has a newfound desire for Tae-ju, the wife of his childhood friend.

A man is on his way home when the poorly constructed tunnel he is driving through collapses, leaving him trapped leaving himself for the unexpected whilst emergency services struggle to help.

In Japanese-occupied Korea, three freedom fighters are assigned a mission to assassinate a genocidal military leader and his top collaborator. But the plan goes completely awry amidst double-crossings, counter-assassinations, and a shocking revelation about one of the assassins' past.

A repentant former gangster is forced back into a life of violence to protect a woman who is like a mother to him.

Ancient Korea, July 4, 1762. The Crown Prince Hyojang, posthumously named Sado, son of King Yeongjo of Joseon, is accused of treason. Thus, the king asks him to commit suicide, but his closest vassals prevent it, so the king orders the prince to get inside a wooden rice chest, where he suffers deprivation of food and water.

Su-ho is a plain high school boy, and Su-eun is a bright and beautiful girl in the same school. For some unknown reason, Su-eun has a crush on the boy, and for equally mysterious reasons she rescues Su-ho in the sea (though he doesn’t know who actually saved him).

A comedy about a woman who tries to overcome tone-deafness and a man who tries to help her but joins the romance.

A taxi driver is found dead, and Hyun-woo, the only witness, charged with a murder and serves 10 years in prison. While offering pro bono services, a lawyer Junyoung meets Hyun-woo, and they begin their journey to prove his innocence.

Jo Dae-yeong is a police officer investigating a pickpocket ring with ties to the Yakuza. One day he rescues Baek Jang-mi from danger, only to discover that she is the boss of the gang he has been tracking.

Soon-Ae (Seo-Young) opens a butcher's shop. The butcher's shop is popular due to its flavorful meat. Most of the store's customers are male. Meanwhile, man’s body is found at a hotel near the butcher's shop. The man was brutally murdered. Soon, more murders are found with similarities to the first murder. One day, Detective Kim (Kim Min-Jun) stops by the butcher's shop and meets Soon-Ae. Since then, Detective Kim keeps a watch on Soon-Ae.

The story of two brothers, growing up in 1970s Korea, who each take two completely different paths. One goes to school to become a doctor, the other becomes a gangster. Their story is told through flashbacks after one of them is murdered.

The first story is about a mother who devotes her life to taking care of her son, who suffers from a chronic disease. When the son, who can barely walk, realizes his mother has also fallen ill, he decides to care for her as she has done for him. The second story depicts the troubled relationship between a mother and daughter. The mother, the top soprano in the nation, is far from a typical devoted Korean mother and always wants to be pampered. Her daughter, a high school dropout whose experience has been the opposite of her mother’s, works as her manager. The two are always fighting and struggle to find a way to navigate their relationship. The third episode centers upon a gangster. When he hears that his mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer, he strives to fulfill his mother’s wish to reunite with her first love before she dies.

Gang-cheol is a legendary street fighter in Busan, who cleaned up his act to care for his sick mother. Things are going well for him, and he's happy in a budding relationship with Su-ji, vacationing in the seaside town. As their relationship grows, Gang-cheol is dragged into the criminal underworld when he sees Busan gangsters Sang-gon and Hwi-gon re-staging the accidental death of a Yakuza mobster as an accident and an old friend, Jong-su, gives him up to the Busan gang. Knowing he's desperate for money for his mother's operation, Sang-gon proposes that Gang-cheol works for him. Gang-cheol refuses, but when Jong-su gives the deed to Gang-cheol's how to Sang-gon as collateral for a private loan, Gang-cheol is left with no choice, but to bite the bullet.

A man with criminal past makes a promise to his mother to turn his life around after he realizes how miserable he has made her.

After much trials and tribulations, a man marries his first love. But when she gets pregnant, they find out that she has cancer.

A true story of a six-year-long legal conflict of 10 comfort women and 13 attorneys against 200 Fukuoka supporters association.