The popularity of Korean entertainment worldwide has been one of the more notable trends in recent years. FromK-popacts selling out stadiums to K-drama TV shows like Netflix'sSquid Gameexploding with hundreds of millions of viewers, the South Korean entertainment industry has thrived like never before.
This fervor has also extended to the world of cinema, with Netflix streaming numerous Korean-produced films on its platform, from visceral action thrillers likeTrain to Busan(2016) to animated sci-fi wonders likeLost in Starlight(2025). Some of the best Korean films demonstrate how the country's greatest auteurs are capable of true creative excellence like few others working today.
Ahead, find our picks for the 16 best Korean movies streaming on Netflix.
20th Century Girl(2022)
If you're ready to get into your feels,20th Century Girlmay be the K-drama for you. High schooler Bo-ra (Kim You-jung) has been tasked with keeping an eye on her best friend’s crush while she’s stuck in America awaiting heart surgery. Bo-ra obliges, paying studious attention to the boy in question…only to develop herowncrush on his best friend, Woon-ho (Byeon Woo-seok).
There’s a hint ofJane Austen-esque romantic farce, full of misunderstandings and mistaken identity, but the film also has a wise perspective on friendship that keeps it from being just another teen melodrama.—Megan Vick
Where to watch20th Century Girl: Netflix
Director:Bang Woo-ri
Cast:Kim You-jung, Byeon Woo-seok, Park Jung-woo, Noh Yoon-seo
Ballerina(2023)
Contrary to the movie’s title, tutus are few and far between inBallerina. There are plenty of guns and knives, though. And a chainsaw.
Ok-ju (Jun Jong-seo) is a professional bodyguard to whom martial arts and gunplay are second nature. Her friend, Min-hee (Park Yu-rim), has just taken her own life, laying the blame at the feet of the noxious Choi Pro (Kim Ji-hoon) — trafficker, pimp, drug dealer, you name it. Now heartbroken, Ok-ju sets out to exact vengeance upon him the way only she can. She makes a hell of an icy assassin, and the mobsters meet their match with her twirling high-kicks in some genuinely bad-ass action sequences.—M.V.
Where to watchBallerina: Netflix
Director:Lee Chung-hyun
Cast:Jun Jong-seo, Kim Ji-hun, Park Yu-rim, Park Hyung-soo
The Call(2020)
The Callbegins innocently enough until we begin to realize — with curiosity, then horror — what’sactuallyhappening. Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) is in 2019; Young-sook (Jun Jong-seo) is in 1999; somehow, through an old phone in the same house, they can communicate across time. They use this to their advantage, at first — after all, whowouldn’ttake the opportunity to go back in time and prevent a tragedy? But changing the past is, as it turns out, a double-edged sword. This twisty Korean movie crafts a delirious time-traveling-by-proxy premise, and Jun makes a meal out of a character who is, or becomes, far more than what she seems.—M.V.
Where to watchThe Call: Netflix
Director:Lee Chung-hyun
Cast:Park Shin-hye, Jun Jong-seo, Kim Sung-ryoung, Lee El, Park Ho-san
Dream(2023)
If you're in the mood for something light,Dreamis a feel-good sports movie in the vein ofThe Mighty Ducks(1992),Cool Runnings(1993),andHardball(2001). After pro soccer player Yoon Hong-dae (Park Seo-joon) gets into legal trouble, he’s assigned to coach a team of unhoused people in the Homeless World Cup as a condition of his probation. Meanwhile, documentary filmmaker Lee So-min (K-pop star IU) complicates matters when she starts making a docuseries about Hong-dae and the team. These beats may feel familiar, butDreamearns its redemptive ending and gives us a group of underdogs who are impossible not to root for.—M.V.
Where to watchDream: Netflix
Director:Lee Byeong-heon
Cast: Park Seo-joon, IU, Kim Jong-su, Ko Chang-seok, Jung Seung-kil
Forgotten(2017)
Buckle up for a trippy ride!Forgottenis a time-bending thriller about siblings embroiled in a kidnapping and conspiracy told across two different timelines. Teenager Jin-seok (Kang Ha-neul) witnesses his older brother, Yoo-seok (Kim Moo-yeol), get abducted, only for him to return unharmed 19 days later. Only he doesn’t seem quite the same — and remembers nothing about his abduction.
Dreams, nightmares, and memories begin to shape the nebulous mystery enveloping the brothers and their family.Forgottenhas so many moving parts, it’s a welcome head-scratcher for those who love trying to decipher a puzzle.—M.V.
Where to watchForgotten: Netflix
Director:Jang Hang-jun
Cast:Kang Ha-neul, Kim Moo-yeol, Na Young-hee, Moon Sung-keun, Nam Myung-ryul
Good News(2025)
Director Byun Sung-hyun uses the real-life hijacking of a Japanese plane in 1970 as a springboard for this cleverly devised comedic thriller. The film begins with the Japanese communist organization Red Army Faction holding members of a passenger plane hostage, leading to a mad scramble by authorities to diffuse the situation. The Korean CIA sends in a fixer nicknamed Nobody (Sul Kyung-gu), who comes up with a plan to trick the hijackers into thinking they're landing in North Korea. The result is an exceedingly entertaining send-up of how governments and organizations respond to crises with high political implications. —Kevin Jacobsen
Where to watchGood News: Netflix
Director:Byun Sung-hyun
Cast:Sul Kyung-gu, Hong Kyung, Ryoo Seung-bum
Lost in Starlight(2025)
This visually arresting work, the first South Korean animated film produced by Netflix, tells a poignant tale of star-crossed lovers — so to speak. Nan-young (Kim Tae-ri) is a NASA scientist who still carries the trauma of losing her mother in space decades earlier. Her life becomes further complicated upon meeting Jay (Hong Kyung), a musician with whom she enters a relationship, though their future together hangs in the balance as Nan-young prepares for a dangerous mission to Mars. Gorgeously animated and emotionally rich,Lost in Starlightis sci-fi romance done right. —K.J.
Where to watchLost in Starlight: Netflix
Director:Han Ji-won
Cast:Kim Tae-ri, Hong Kyung, Kang Koo-han, Ahn Young-mi, Sharon Kwon
Love and Leashes(2022)
Don't let the name fool you. WhileLove and Leashesis about BDSM, it falls more into rom-com territory than anything overly salacious. What you’ll find instead is a more authentic representation of kink and sexual boundaries than, say,Fifty Shades of Grey(2015).
Ji-woo (Lee Jun-young) is a PR professional who has everything going for him…exceptsomeone to help him live out his fantasies. When his co-worker, Ji-woo (Seohyun), discovers his secret, the two enter a consensual dom/sub relationship, only to (naturally) fall in love along the way. This Korean movie takes a playful approach to its central relationship and its sexual dynamics. It’s a fun rom-comanda soft introduction to a topic that, for many, is still taboo.—M.V.
Where to watchLove and Leashes: Netflix
Director:Park Hyun-jin
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Cast: Seohyun, Lee Jun-young, EL, Seo Hyun-woo, Kim Han-na
Night in Paradise(2020)
Night in Paradiseis a gritty crime drama about Tae-gu (Um Tae-goo), a gangster on the run after killing a crime boss in retaliation for the murders of his sister and niece. But this gangland milieu is also a love story, as Tae-gu takes temporary refuge on the beautiful Jeju Island with an older mobster and his terminally ill niece, Jae-yeon (Jeon Yeo-been).
If you’re looking for whimsy, consider skipping this one, as you’ll mostly find bone-crunching and blood here. The movie is almost Shakespearean in its blend of power, romance, betrayal, and tragedy while truly uncompromising in its carnage — and its fateful ending.—M.V.
Where to watchNight in Paradise: Netflix
Director:Park Hoon-jung
Cast:Um Tae-goo, Jeon Yeo-been, Cha Seung-won, Lee Ki-young, Park Ho-san
Pandora(2016)
Far from the over-the-top thrill rides in many disaster movies,Pandoraplays like a shrewd cautionary tale. An unnamed town revolves (economically and otherwise) around a deteriorating nuclear plant. When a major earthquake strikes and causes a nuclear meltdown, the implications are massive. When it rains, it pours.
The film gives us a heroic protagonist — Jae-hyeok, a young man who works at the plant — but its focus is on the political indifference, incompetence, and corruption that made this catastrophe possible, even inevitable, in the first place.Pandorawould make a fitting companion piece to HBO'sChernobyl.—M.V.
Where to watchPandora: Netflix
Director:Park Jung-woo
Cast:Kim Nam-gil, Kim Joo-hyun, Jung Jin-young, Kim Young-ae, Moon Jeong-hee
Psychokinesis(2018)
In his second live-action film,Train to Busandirector Yeon Sang-ho trades zombies for superheroes, again proving his gift for placing supernatural or surreal events into distinctly personal dimensions.
A low-level security guard gains telekinetic powers after drinking water from a tainted mountain spring. Seok-heon (Ryu Seung-ryong) isn’t exactly prototypical “hero” material, but after some trial and error, he chooses to use his newfound powers for good, reconnecting with his estranged daughter and helping her take on a villainous real estate conglomerate.Psychokinesisis a classic “hero helps the underdog” story, a visual treat that uses its “accidental superhero” premise to great comedic effect.—M.V.
Where to watchPsychokinesis: Netflix
Director:Yeon Sang-ho
Cast:Ryu Seung-ryong, Shim Eun-kyung, Go Na-hee, Park Jeong-min, Kim Min-jae
Silenced(2011)
This hard-hitting crime drama doesn't just stand on its own as a sobering look at abuse in Korean schools — it also brought about real, positive change in the country. Gong Yoo stars as Kang In-ho, an art teacher hired at a school for the Deaf, who quickly learns that the students have been subjected to physical and sexual abuse perpetuated by teachers and staff. As In-ho investigates, he discovers the extent of the cover-up and resolves to seek justice for the victims. With powerful performances and sensitive treatment of its subject matter, the public reaction toSilencedled to the passing of a bill in South Korea, removing the statute of limitations for people with disabilities who are affected by sexual abuse. —K.J.
Where to watchSilenced: Netflix
Director:Hwang Dong-hyuk
Cast:Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi
Sweet & Sour(2021)
This is another Korean romance movie that looks fluffy on the surface but has more substance than you may expect. Da-eun (Chae Soo-bin) and Jang-hyeok (Jang Ki-yong) are trying to make a long-distance relationship work. That comes with fights, breakups, and makeups — not necessarily in that order. It's not a straightforward rom-com; it's more about what happens after they get together, and the work it takes to make it stick.
Sweet & Sourthoughtfully explores the professional complications and practical realities that couples inevitably confront, which should strike an authentic note for anyone trying to navigate romance in the modern world.—M.V.
Where to watchSweet & Sour: Netflix
Director:Lee Kae-byeok
Cast:Jang Ki-yong, Chae Soo-bin, Jung Soo-jung
Train to Busan(2016)
A country-wide zombie outbreak is already high stakes. Now, combine that with a bullet train in which the infected are on board. This propulsive dystopian thriller primarily focuses on a workaholic father (Gong Yoo) and his estranged daughter (Kim Su-an), who try to survive amid the chaos while traveling via high-speed rail from Seoul to Busan. Fast-paced and cleverly designed, the film also makes room for cogent social commentary, exploring the Korean class system and humanity's capacity for selfishness — and selflessness — in extreme circumstances. —K.J.
Where to watchTrain to Busan: Netflix
Director:Yeon Sang-ho
Cast:Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik
Tune in for Love(2019)
The cutesy name of this Korean movie doesn't quite capture its unique wavelength. In 1994, Hyun-woo (Jung Hae-in) is fresh out of juvie and lands a job at Mi-soo’s (Kim Go-eun) bakery. The two quickly bond before circumstances take him elsewhere, but they later reunite many times in the coming years. All the while, their connection deepens and splinters as life gets in the way and troubled pasts come to light.
In the spirit of theBeforetrilogy,One Day, or even Paweł Pawlikowski’s 2018 rom-dramCold War(without the political backdrop),Tune In for Lovememorably puts romantic chemistry to the long-term test.—M.V.
Where to watchTune in for Love: Netflix
Director:Jung Ji-woo
Cast:Kim Go-eun, Jung Hae-in, Park Hae-joon, Kim Kuk-hee, Jung Eugene
Wonderland(2024)
InWonderland, AI helps grieving people communicate with partners and loved ones they’ve lost or are losing. Jeong-in (Suzy) uses the eponymous technology to video chat with a simulation of her comatose boyfriend. Bae-li (Tang Wei) signs up after becoming terminally ill, creating an AI version of herself to communicate with her young daughter once she’s gone. An older woman (Sung Byung-sook) simply wants to keep in touch with her deceased grandson.
The movie squarely stares down its central contradiction: that the service provides catharsis while preventing people from actually moving on. There’s no use telling a story about futuristic technology without asking tough questions about it, andWonderlandeasily passes that test.—M.V.
Where to watchWonderland: Netflix
Director:Kim Tae-yong
Cast:Tang Wei, Suzy, Park Bo-gum, Jung Yu-mi, Choi Woo-shik
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