Article: Top 10 Korean Movies Based On Books

In Korean cinema, "Literary Film" has evolved into a distinct subgenre that embraces and rejects the country's penchant for melodrama in varying degrees of artistic sophistication. With Parasite's recent Palme d'Or win at Cannes and historic wins for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, interest in Korean cinema has increased significantly around the globe.

The literature that provided the basis for numerous Korean films is also at least partially responsible for this history. The topic that these Korean films have been imaginative and engaging enough to inspire filmmakers. Here is a list of the top 10 novel-to-film adaptations in Korea.

1. Silenced

Movie Based On – “Dokani” by Gong Ji Young (2009)

Genre – drama, investigation, psychological, abuse, disability

This novel is devastating because it is based on a true story of pervasive sexual abuse that took place at a school for the deaf in Gwangju Inhwa, South Korea.

The narrative centers on Kang In Ho, a teacher who relocates to a new location and begins working in a school for the deaf. He quickly learns that the school's principal is abusing both the guys and the girls.

2. Deep Blue Night

Movie Based On – “Deep Blue Night” by Choi In-Ho (1985)

Genre – autobiography

"Deep Blue Night" is an autobiographical story that is both conventional in its themes of exile, traveling, and reflection and contemporary in the way it is organized around a highway journey. For a green card and a chance to prosper in America, Baek Ho-bin enters into an arranged marriage with Jane. His love is a ray of hope because she felt like an alien alone. Ho-Bin's ambition clashes with Jane's devotion when he completes the immigration process. His ambitions nearly destroy her once the facade is gone.

3. My Brilliant Life

Movie Based On – My Brilliant Life by Kim Ae-Ran (2011)

Genre – drama, family

Clumsy, immature Dae-soo is stunning and nasty. When their baby Ah-reum was born, Mira and Dae-soo were both 17-year-old teens. Dae-soo decides to leave home and take care of his family on his own after experiencing familial rejection. Ah-reum was diagnosed with progeria. He realizes he is running out of time and decides to compose a novel about how his young parents met and fell in love as well as how he came to be to present it to them as a gift on his seventeenth birthday. After hearing about Ah-reum a television crew goes in pursuit of the family to interview them for a documentary.

4. The Handmaiden

Movie Based On – Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)

Genre – historical fiction, gothic fiction, crime fiction, drama

The Handmaiden is a love story, revenge thriller, and puzzle movie set in 1930s Korea under Japanese occupation. It is horrifyingly brutal, obscenely gorgeous, openly sexual, and occasionally perverse.

A young Japanese woman named Lady Hideko hires Sook-Hee, a young Korean woman, to serve as her handmaiden. Lady Hideko is the heiress of a large fortune. Sook-Hee intends to swindle Lady Hideko of her fortune in collaboration with the beautiful but dishonest Count Fujiwara, a con artist. But Sook-Hee quickly grows fond of Lady Hideko, which would put the strategy in jeopardy.

5. Perfect Proposal

Movie Based On – “La Femme de Paille” by Catherine Arley (1956)

Genre – melodrama, suspense, thriller, romance

After an attractive young woman's business partner robs her in Macau, she meets and develops a connection with a handsome man who suggests a plan: she should apply for work on a posh yacht to help his boss, the difficult, elderly chairman of a major corporation, to manipulate him and gain access to his enormous wealth. Ji-Yeon, Sung-Yeol, and Kim Seok-Koo engage in a risky, high-stakes game of deception on the yacht.

6. Grass

Movie Based On – “Grass” by Kuem Suk Gendry-Kim

Genre – drama

Areum works on her laptop in the nook of a little café. Other patrons act out their life dramas at the tables surrounding her: An elderly guy seeks to reignite a romance with a younger woman, a young couple accuses one another of major crimes, and a narcissistic filmmaker works on his upcoming film. Does she just write down what she hears? Or is there an alternative? The plants outside get higher as the dramas within the café play out.

7. Our Twisted Hero

Movie Based On – “Our Twisted Hero” by Yi Mun-Yol

Genre – comic, fiction

A man recounts his life at the time as he drives to the burial of his fifth-grade teacher. A city teenager who transferred to a rural school noticed an unusually antiquated hierarchical bullying structure.  The system's victims as well as the teachers and parents opposed him as he attempted to incite a rebellion. When improvement did ultimately reach the school, it did so in a brutal manner.

8. A Small Ball Shot By A Miget

Movie Based On – “A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball” by Chi Se-hui (2002)

Genre – fiction

Despite facing social discrimination and financial hardships, midget Kim Bul Yi was able to create a happy family. When Bul Yi's family is forced to relocate, a real estate agent takes advantage of them, turning their lives upside down until Bul Yi's daughter seeks to reclaim the ownership of their home.

The film garnered nominations in every category for the Dae Jong Film Awards, virtually breaking the record, but three hours before the awards show, every nomination was withdrawn, leaving the director and cast bewildered.

9. Burning

Movie Based On – “Barn Burning” by Haruki Murakami (1983)

Genre – drama, mystery

A young deliveryman named Jong-Su (Yoo) runs into his childhood friend Hae-mi in the story (Jeon). Soon after they meet Ben (Yeun), a mysterious young man, Jong-Su develops misgivings about him and starts to worry about Hae-mi.

The film, which was Lee's first after an eight-year break, had its world premiere on May 16, 2018, at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was competing for the Palme d'Or. It ultimately won the festival's FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. The following day, it was made available in South Korea, and on October 26, 2018, it was made available in America.

10. Poetry

Movie Based On – Poetry

Genre – drama

While coping with the consequences of a horrible family crime, the Korean grandmother Mija accepts the early beginning of Alzheimer's disease. When a girl's violent death is connected to her teenage grandson, she becomes embroiled in a plot to pay the girl's family hush money. Mija's propensity to become lost in poetry and the marvels of nature leads to catastrophic outcomes when her mind wanders at the wrong time.