The best Um Tae-goo’s drama movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Um Tae-goo’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Um Tae-goo.
The Servant
6.4/10
A servant falls in love with a girl whom his master also desires. Although the girl loves the servant, she also longs to improve her station in life.
Obsessed
6.2/10
In a Korean military camp in 1969, a married colonel falls madly in love with the beautiful wife of his new subordinate officer.
A Taxi Driver
7.9/10
May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.
Commitment
6.6/10
The son of a North Korean spy decides to follow in his father's footsteps to protect his little sister. After his father’s botched espionage mission, North Korean Myung-hoon and his young sister Hye-in are sent to a labor prison camp. In order to save his sister’s life, Myung-hoon volunteers to become a spy and infiltrates the South as a teenage defector. While attending high school in the South, he meets another girl named Hye-in, and rescues her when she comes under attack. South Korean Intelligence soon discover Myung-hoon’s activities and begin tracking him, all the while his own government sends a vicious assassin to eliminate him.
Night in Paradise
6.8/10
An assassin named Tae-goo is offered a chance to switch sides with his rival Bukseong gang, headed by Chairman Doh. Tae-goo rejects the offer that results in the murder of his sister and niece. In revenge, Tae-goo brutally kills Chairman Doh and his men and flees to Jeju Island where he meets Jae-yeon, a terminally ill woman. Though, the henchman of the Bukseong gang, Executive Ma is mercilessly hunting Tae-goo to take revenge.
The Age of Shadows
7.1/10
Set in the late 1920s, The Age of Shadows follows the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between a group of resistance fighters trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them.
Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned
7.2/10
Days after her friends disappear during a trip to a mysterious cave, a girl is approached by a grown man claiming to be one of her missing pals.
Secretly, Greatly
6.8/10
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.
Coin Locker Girl
6.7/10
A child abandoned in a subway coin locker is sold to a ruthless and calculating loan shark and gangster boss dubbed “Mother” (Kim Hye-soo), who runs an organ-harvesting ring in Incheon’s Chinatown. Named Il-Young (Kim Go-Eun), the baby girl grows into Mother’s loyal right-hand enforcer and is groomed to be her eventual successor. But when Il-Young’s loyalty to Mother wavers, the clash between the two unleashes a merciless tidal wave of blood-soaked retribution and strife.
My Punch-Drunk Boxer
6/10
Byung-gu, a once-famous former professional boxer, makes ends meet doing odd jobs at the gym. While eager to start boxing again, he gets diagnosed with "punch drunk syndrome," a condition caused by cerebral concussions. One day, a new member of the gym arrives and volunteers to help Byung-gu.
Adulthood
6.3/10
At her dad's funeral, Kyungun meets her uncle Jaemin, a complete stranger. He bilks her father's insurance money. She demands her money back, but he unashamedly refuses. To get her money back, she joins his next scam.
The Unfair
6.4/10
Residents, who are evicted from their homes in a designated urban renewal, demonstrate against their removal. The police arrive and attempt to end the demonstration. Death happen that lead to the bigger problem.
Insadong Scandal
6/10
A fabled painting from royal palace was discovered after 400 years. Once properly restored, it could fetch at least $40 million in the international auction market. Bae is the owner of the gallery which possesses the painting. She scouts top-tier restoration artist Lee to work on the painting. With Lee's expert stroke, the controversy surrounding the painting is slowly unveiled. As the painting's true form is restored, art experts in Korea hold a collective breath. Little do they know that they're only a part of a bigger scheme.
I Am Happy
6.1/10
A man suffers from mental illness after having lived with a mother suffering from dementia and a brother addicted to gambling. Now institutionalized, he falls in love with a nurse at the psychiatric hospital.
Oki's Movie
6.8/10
A love story between a middle aged professor, a young female student who prepares a movie and a student/filmmaker who drinks too much.
Nice Shorts! 2011
INGtoogi: The Battle of Internet Trolls
6.6/10
An online feud evolves into something more real when two keyboard warriors take their battle offline in a mixed martial arts matchup.
Incomplete Life: Prequel
Grae, who failed to be a professional Baduk player, Young-i, who always has been lonely because of changing schools frequently, Oh Deputy department head who has been spending his life in a hurry, Dong-shik, who always has been coy about the love affairs, Baek-ki, who was so tired job applicant and Suk-yul, who engrossed father and uncles’love. Let’s see the past of characters of Incomplete Life.
18 Years
A short drama about Seok-joo who doesn't want to live like his brother.
Like a season
This is a short film I made for my graduation work in 2007. - Excellence Award at the Korea University Film Festival.
