Choi Eun-hie's Top 10 Movies

The best way to ensure a rich career as an actor may be to fall in love with a great director. That strategy sure worked for Gena Rowlands, Giulietta Masina, Anna Karina, and even Mia Farrow — though that last one didn't end so well. Add to this list Choi Eun-hie, the Korean actress whose partnership with Shin Sang-ok produced a number of unforgettable films (and even more not-so-memorable ones). Not all the movies below are their collaborations — Yoon Yong-gyu directed A Hometown in Heart; The Lovers and the Despot is a doc about their crazy abducted lives — but if you're no fan of Shin, you're likely no fan of Choi. For the record, I enjoy them both.

10. A Broad Bellflower (1987): While in North Korea, Choi actually directed as well as acted. This anti-romance is icy cold!

9. Seong Chun-hyang (1961): There's been a number of biopics about Chunhyang but Shin's sadistic version is so far my favorite.

8. The Money (1958): This early Choi pic reminds me of the Italian neo-realist films like Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D.

7. Madame White Snake (1960): I'd re-watch this fantasy about a reptile disguised as a woman for Choi's entrancing dance of seduction alone.

6. A Reluctant Prince (1963): Scenery-chewing Choi and co-star Shin Yeong-gyun are having so much fun as a king and his concubine that you forgive every excess.

5. My Mother and Her Guest (1961): I've got a soft-spot for this flick which finds Choi once again playing a woman choosing status over pleasure.

4. Evergreen Tree (1961): Perhaps Choi's most noble role is this one — a self-sacrificing instructor who devotes her life to teaching the children in a small country village.

3. The Lovers and the Despot (2016): Considering how many melodramas she made, you may be stunned to learn that her real life was even more dramatic.

2. A Hometown in Heart (1949): An orphaned child monk in search of his mother bonds with a widow in search of a purpose. Choi at her most understated.

1. A Flower in Hell (1958): This wartime pic finds Choi playing a completely amoral prostitute whose transgressions only get worse once she falls in love.

Other movies starring Choi Eun-hie: Dream (1955), Sister's Garden (1959), Bound by Chastity Rules (1962), Confessions of a College Student (1958), Dongshimcho (1959), The Happy Day of Maeng Jin-sa (1962), It's Not Her Sin (1959), The Love Marriage (1958), Red Scarf (1964), Rice (1963), Romance Gray (1963), Seong Chun-hyang (1961), and Women of Yi Dynasty (1969).