Best Lee Sun-kyun K-dramas and Movies
Lee Sun-kyun is known internationally for his role as the Park family father in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite (2019). But it’s only one of many movies and dramas where he’s made an impression with audiences in Korea and around the world. With a career spanning from 2007 he’s appeared in a number of celebrated films and dramas. Check out some of his must-watch works.
Killing Romance (2023)
A cult favorite in Korea, it appeared at this year’s NY Asian Film Festival
A farcical musical comedy/romance/thriller, the story follows a popular actress who’s panned in her most recent film and runs off to marry a too-good-to-be-true business man, played by Lee. Now retired from the biz, she discovers his true nature and becomes distraught. However, even though she’s no longer a public figure, her true fans stick with her, cheering from the sidelines. This includes a teenage neighbor whom she enlists to help plot her husband’s murder.
Project Silence (2023)
Screened at Cannes Film Festival
In this thriller, a bridge that connects to one of Korea’s major airports tends to turn dangerous when weather conditions like heavy fog flare up, making it impossible to see. On such a night, a series of collisions damage the bridge, trapping people who must await rescue. They soon find the accident is the least of their worries as an ‘experimental beast’ joins the party. Lee rounds out the ensemble as a cutthroat politician whose daughter can’t wait to escape him as she aims for a flight out of the country. Catch our full review here.
The Kingmaker (2022)
Lee was nominated for best actor at the 58th Baeksang Arts Awards and the film appeared at the Udine Far East Film Festival
It’s a fictional political drama movie based on Kim Dae-Jung, the 8th president of Korea, and his relationship with a political strategist. Played by Lee, the strategist, who prioritizes winning above all else, discovers differing ideologies to his client. The waters get muddier when he’s offered a deal so rich that it tests his loyalty.
Parasite (2019)
Won 4 Academy Awards and received 10/10 rating here at TRG
If you’ve not heard of Parasite… Well, you have of course. Winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film, it’s difficult to be unaware.
A black comedy thriller, Lee Sun-kyun features as the father of the wealthy Park family. They’re flush enough to hire in staff for their household including a tutor, Kim Ki-woo (played by Choi Woo-shik), for their teenage daughter. The tutor slyly helps his own family members gain jobs within the home, systematically ousting previous employees. When the Parks are away, the Kims are at play. Until things get out of hand and become a little violent. Apart from the shocking and dramatic plotline, it’s known as a film that explores life for the haves and have-nots of Korea. Catch our full review here.
My Mister (2018)
Best drama winner in Korea
Starring Lee and actress/singer IU (Hotel de Luna, Dream High), it’s a story of office workers with both professional and personal strains. IU is a young woman with a sick grandmother and a lot of debt. Stuck as a temporary worker, she’s fighting to make ends meet and is offered a helpful sum of cash to find her boss’s weakness. However, in investigating, she develops a friendship with her equally unhappy supervisor only to find he has his own troubles. A safety-first and focused structural engineer, as well as head of family of struggling brothers, she can’t help but grow to respect him. Both Lee and IU shine in this 16-epsiode drama.
A Hard Day (2014)
Competed at Cannes Film Festival
An action thriller about a corrupt detective played by Lee. On the day of his mother’s funeral, he learns that his squad is under investigation for bribery. Intoxicated after the service, he accidently kills a homeless man with his car but instead of reporting it, hides the body eventually tucking it into his mother’s coffin. When his squad is assigned to arrest a murderer – who turns out to be the victim he buried – the investigation brings the car accident to light.
All About My Wife (2012)
Winner of several Korean and Asian film awards
A hen-pecked husband hires a professional to seduce his flawless but formidable wife, hoping to inspire a divorce that he can’t bring himself to request. As the charmer takes the job and slowly begins to draw the wife’s attention, husband Soo-hyun, played by Lee, has second thoughts and begins to spy on her. Catching feelings for his wife once again, he changes his mind about the divorce but the wheels have already started turning for his wife and her new lover.
Helpless (2012)
Korean cinema hit, winning multiple awards
A film starring Lee and Kim Min-hee (The Handmaiden, The Woman Who Ran) as his fiancée, the award-winning piece was the 12th most watched movie in Korea in that year.
A few days before their wedding, a man and his fiancée are on their way to visit his parents and pull over at a rest stop. When he returns to the car, she’s missing and unreachable by phone. Frantic, he finds her apartment has been ransacked and discovers that she has a personal history of money troubles. Investigating her debt history, he uncovers a second identity.
Pasta (2010)
Won several Korean TV awards
A 20-epsiode drama starring Lee and Gong Hyo-jin (Don’t Dare to Dream, When the Camellia Blooms), it’s a workplace rom-com about a kitchen assistant and her extremely critical head chef. With an aspiration to become a chef of Italian cuisine, she spends three years, working her way up the ladder. When lauded chef Choi, played by Lee, joins the team he systematically fires the female staff to be replaced with his own team. Yoo-kyung, played by Gong, is also fired but cleverly weasels her way back into his kitchen.
Paju (2009)
Opened the Rotterdam International Film Festival and screened at the Tribeca Film Festival
Named for the town where it takes place, Paju is a story about a teenage girl and her complex relationship with her sister’s husband, played by Lee. Told partially in flash-back, it’s follows residents of a city near the North Korean border, who covertly protest against gentrification in their locale. Lee’s character, as ringleader of the political activists, has a complex past of his own.
Coffee Prince (2007)
Won a total of 10 Korean TV awards
Considered an absolute classic among K-dramas, Coffee Prince, starring Gong Yoo, Yoon Eun-hye, Chae Jung-an and Lee, is a charming and unexpected romance based on a novel of the same name. The 17 episodes feature a woman who disguises herself as a man to get work in a popular café. The wealthy yet irresponsible café owner doesn’t know what hit him as he finds himself attracted to a tomboy who he believes is a man. In an early role, Lee plays cousin and confidante to Gong Yoo’s café owner.