Top 10 Movies of 2024 (Sort of)

You'd think that creating these lists at the end of the year would mean that most picks would be from the last few months. But that's hardly the case. To the contrary, half of the films below were viewed during the first half of 2024. And if I were to pick a throughline, I'd say it was memorable performances that really made them stick, especially from cinematic stalwarts like Yoo Hae-jin, Ra Mi-ran, Song Kang-ho, Jo Min-soo, and Lee Byung-hun. I'd even go so far as to say there's not a single entry in this list (drawn from movies I watched during 2024) that lacks a star turn at its center. Some have more than one!

1. Past Lives (2023): Confronting the past (the dreams of youth; our earlier, less corrupt selves) isn't easy in Celine Song's exquisite drama about a Korean-American woman re-encountering a childhood crush from the homeland. Starring Greta Lee, John Magaro, and Teo Yoo.

2. Luck-Key (2016): The story of an amnesiac pseudo-assassin who after a knock to the head thinks he's a failed actor with a talent for carving vegetables, Lee Kae-byeok's comedy thriller showcases actor Yoo Hae-jin at the top of his game.

3. The Secret Mission (2019): Yoo stars again in Eom Yu-na's historical drama about the creation of the Korean-language dictionary — a stirring rally cry for cultural autonomy during Japan's oppressive, colonialist occupation.

4. Mist (1967): Writer-director Kim Soo-yong's keen awareness regarding the culpability of both parties (a teacher and a businessman) during their short-lived small-town affair is immortalized by Jang Seok-jun's marvelous black-and-white cinematography.

5. Citizen of a Kind (2024): A homeless mother (Ra Mi-ran, in rare form) with two children and no money for daycare or rent is scammed on her cell during a shift at the laundromat where she works (and sleeps illegally at night). Her gal-pal pursuit of justice is more than exciting.

6. Inside Men (2015): Woo Min-ho's crime pic may have enough plot twists for a Hallmark mystery miniseries, but the real pleasures come from seeing the many photo-ready looks and emotive depths of matinee idol Lee Byung-hun.

7. Escape from Mogadishu (2019): Internal political conflicts in Somalia, lead South and North Korean consulates to work in tandem in Ryoo Seung-wan's historical drama. As Toni Morrison once wrote: "The function of freedom is to free someone else."

8. Emergency Declaration: No Korean Top 10 list is complete without actor Song Kang-ho, even if the star of Han Jae-rim's disaster pic is the villain (Im Si-wan ) who stitches poison capsules in his body at the airport bathroom.

9. Jazzy Misfits (2019): Jo Min-soo chews up the scenery as a volatile alcoholic mother while co-star Cheetah (a.k.a. Kim Eun-young) more than holds her own via extended cuts of her crooning in the nightclub and at the studio, in Nam Yeon-woo's delicious screwball comedy.

10. My Paparotti (2013): Based on a true story, Lee Jong-chan's comedic, gender-reversed spin on the Cinderella story concerns a young gangster (Sung Yoo-bin) who finds a new life in the world of classical opera. Irresistible.

Honorable Mentions: Madame Freedom (1956), The General's Mustache (1968), Fabricated City (2017), and The Childe (2023).

Escape from Mogadishu: North and South Alliances in Africa

Aside from BTS and Bong Joon-ho, most Americans probably don't consider South Korea a major player on the world stage. As for North Korea, they've been designated as a longshot threat run by an insane leader with a hot temper and nuclear weaponry. I don't know if such hierarchical political views of the earth do us well. We all occupy the same planet and wars between two nations can assume global importance soon enough. Israel and Palestine, anyone? In truth, the international conflicts, genocides, uprisings and dictatorships concern us all. As Toni Morrison once put it: "The function of freedom is to free someone else." If we're not moved by the decimation in the Middle East, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or the Ukraine, how civilized are we really? And so, a movie like Escape from Mogadishu, about South and North Korean diplomats working together to find safe harbor amid a civilian rebellion in Somalia has plenty to say about governance, negotiations, police brutality, children with guns...

As the South's Ambassador Han, Kim Yoon-seok is morally slippery but well-intentioned. As his stoic ounterpart Ambassador Rim, Huh Joon-ho brings a respectfulness not always accorded the neighbors from the North. (Each has a hot-headed assistant played by Zo In-sung and Koo Kyo-hwan respectively.) Once the two sides team up (seeking assistance from Italy and Egypt, not the U.S. and China by the way), Ryu Seung-wan's historical drama really gets cooking. I don't know whether the fleeing Koreans really wrote blood types on their children's arms or bulletproofed their cars by duct-taping hardcover books on the hood but it sure leads to one of the most exhilarating getaways in recent memory. Which isn't to say the survivors have escaped everything. Not by a long shot. And that acknowledgment makes Escape from Mogadishu not just good but very good.