Image: Still from The Housemaid. Credit: Korea Federation of Film Archives.
In a survey of 240 film experts by the Korea Federation of Film Archives 한국영상자료원, the 1961 thriller The Housemaid 하녀 by Kim Gi-yeong 김기영 was voted the greatest Korean movie ever. Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-ho 봉준호 took the second and third places with Memories of Murder 살인의 추억 (2003) and Parasite 기생충 (2019). Aimless Bullet 오발탄 (1961), directed by Yu Hyeon-mok 유현목 and Oldboy 올드보이 (2003), directed by Park Chan-wook 박찬욱, rounded out the top five.
The Korea Federation of Film Archives ran the same survey in 2014 to select the top 100 movies in Korean history. Although The Housemaid also topped the 2014 survey, the 2024 survey includes significantly more 21st-century movies, as well as films by women directors. In the 2014 survey, Memories of Murder was the only movie from the current century to place in the top ten, whereas five of the 2024 survey’s top ten films - including Poetry 시 (2010) by Lee Chang-dong 이창동 and Decision to Leave 헤어질 결심 (2022) by Park Chan-wook - were made in the 21st century. Only one movie by a woman director placed in the top 100 in 2014; ithe more recent list includes nine.
Park Chan-wook was the most frequently named director on the list, with seven of the top 100 movies, followed by Im Kwon-taek 임권택 with six. An Seong-gi 안성기 and Song Kang-ho 송강호 were the most frequently featured male leads among the top 100, with ten films to each of their names. Bae Doona 배두나 was the most frequently leading actress of the top 100, with four appearances.
