Yu Hyun-mok

Flame

A man wanders around the mountains with a bleeding leg, holding a rifle in his hand. Seemingly a fugitive, he runs from as-yet unknown pursuers, but he also seems to be following somebody who has already walked the same path. As he hides in a secluded cave, past memories sweep through his exhausted mind, memories of lifelong cowardice and evasion. And this recollection leads to a reconstruction of early 20th century Korean history. Winner of Best Picture (Nam-a Pictures Co., Ltd.), Best Actor (Ha Myung-joong), Best Art Direction (Kim Yoo-joon), Best Lighting (Son Young-cheol) at the 14th Grand Bell Awards. (source: Jiro Hong, koreanfilm.org)

The Martyrs

Out of fourteen ministers taken away by the communist troop, only two come back alive. The mystery behind their survival is at the issue here. Told through one of the survivor's testimony, depicts images of men troubled between the war and the religion. Although laden with anti-Communist notions from the 60's military regime.

Son of a Man

A detective searching for the cause of a young man's death uncovers a melodramatic story involving prostitutes and religion.

Wife's Confession

The professors' wife lives as abused mentally by her husband. One day the couple goes climbing with a young man, who works for a pharmaceutical company and often visits them on business. While they scales a cliff holding a rope, her husband under them loses his footing and falls down. When they all are about to fall, she cut the rope, so the husband died in a fall. She stands at the bar, but the court decides the case is an emergency evacuation. So she obtains an acquittal, but murderous intent in her mind must work on her.

Flower Blooms Even on a Windy Day

After a performance depicting the lives of jesters during the Joseon era, the cast, led by director Byungsoo, immerses themselves in rehearsing a new play.

An Empty Dream

While under the effects of anasthesia in a dentist's office, a young man and woman fantasize a romantic triangle between themselves and the dentist.

The Door

Zung comes to Korea to investigate the mysterious death of her father, Seijung, a renowned performer and composer in the Japanese music scene. While Zung pursued a different path in life by studying engineering, she is drawn back to her father's legacy. In her search, she reaches the summit of Hallasan, where her father's body was found, and meets Master Woo, a master of the gayageum, and his daughter, Gasil. Listening to Master Woo's performance, characterized by the phrase "music that is joyful yet not exuberant, sorrowful yet not mournful," she learns that her father had been deeply affected by the music, leading to his tragic passing.

The Three Hen-pecked Generations

A grandfather, his son, and grandson are all henpecked husbands. A comedy picturing these three henpecked men's lives at one family.

Only for You

Set in Busan during the 1.4 Retreat, the film tells the tragic story of a passionate love affair between a widow, Madam Wu (an immigrant), and her young caretaker, Ji-song.

The Lost Youth

A man named Jin-gu, fleeing Seoul after accidentally committing murder while defending himself, is torn between escaping with his lover, Jeong-ae, and his growing entanglement in a criminal conspiracy. After a series of dangerous encounters and close calls with the police, Jin-gu desperately seeks Jeong-ae, only to find her being tailed by detectives. As their attempts to reunite are continuously thwarted, Jin-gu's journey reflects not only his personal guilt but also the tragic fate of those, like Jeong-ae, caught in circumstances beyond their control. In the end, Jin-gu faces the consequences of his actions, while Jeong-ae silently endures the weight of their doomed love.

Even the Clouds Are Drifting

After the death of Mal-Suk's father, her eldest brother, Dong-suk, becomes the sole breadwinner for his three siblings. With rumors of impending strikes and job cuts at the local mine, the struggling family faces difficulties in providing food and school fees for Mal-Suk and her brother Dong-il. This situation forces the two older siblings to move to Seoul, leaving the younger ones with their neighbors. Mal-Suk's only outlet is in her diary, where she candidly shares her hopes and troubles.

Hand

Hand is the second and last film produced by Cinepoem in 1966. Cinepoem is a film group founded by Yu Hyun-mok with the aim of producing avant-garde short films. Hand was directed by Yu, written by Choi Il-soo, shot by Kim Gi-Guk, and recorded by Park Ik-sun. It’s format is 35mm and B&W with a length of 50 seconds. The exceptionally short length of the film was set for submitting to the International and Universal Exposition in Montreal under the theme “Man and His World (Concours terre de hommes).” It organized a competition program for 50 seconds long films and called for works from all over the world. Winning works were supposed to screen in theaters as well on television. In the competition, 870 works from 37 countries were presented and 94 films were selected including Hand for screening at the opening of the Montreal International Film Festival.

The Seizure of Life

I Joong-saeng (Kim Seung-ho), a sign company president who believes power and money can solve anything, stages a fake suicide to escape legal troubles from fraud, embezzlement, and tax evasion, but ultimately fails and faces a tragic downfall.

Aimless Bullet

Two brothers—Chul-ho, an accountant with a toothache and a pregnant wife, and Yong-ho, an unemployed ex-soldier wounded in battle—navigate life in post-war Korea.

Descendants of Cain

Shortly after Korea gained independence from Japan (1945), North Koreans decide to extort civilians' property in the name of revolutionalizing its land and settle class struggles for proletariats. The film depicts an anti North-Korean concept, detailing the country's situation after the independence. South Korea's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1968.

The Daughters of Kim's Pharmacy

After an aggressive man lets his anger get the better of him, his wife takes her own life and he is forced to go on the run. The son he leaves behind grows up to have 4 daughters, but there is rumored to be a curse on his family. As the daughters find their way into relationships the curse seems to be true. Allegations of child murder, infidelity, forced into marriages with raging psychopaths.

I Want to Be Human

Natasha, an officer at the Soviet Embassy in North Korea, is in love with Seok-bong. But Seok-bong has already planned his wedding with Bok-hui. Natasha grows jealous and threatens Bok-hui to leave somewhere else. Meanwhile Bok-hui's brother, Tae-yeong, is executed after participating in an anti-communist march. Seok-bong is accused of taking a part in the march. Seok-bong starts to feel pessimistic about his communist belief. He tries an escape to the South, but he is captured by the authority and executed.

Mom, the Star, and the Sea Anemone

Guests Who Arrived by the Last Train

This film concentrates on a group of people who have trouble adjusting to mainstream society. From a woman running away from her previous life, to a man with a terminal disease, to a pop artist misunderstood by his contemporaries, the film looks on with sympathy and compassionate humor on a set of people who, for whatever reason, just don’t fit in.

I'll Give You Everything

A Regret

This film is a compilation of three short horror stories. They include a story of a wife ghost who was separated by death with her husband. She met him after praying for meeting a husband for 100 days. The wife ghost finally leads him to death. In the second story, a ghost of a dead wife who is jealousy of her husband's love of a barmaid sets them on fire. In the third, a male ghost tests a chaste woman's will not to be tempted by men.

Forever with You

Gwang-pil (Lee Ryong), Dal-su (Choi Bong) and Sang-mun (Choi Myeong-su) are gangster boys who pick pockets. Ae-ran (Do Geum-bong), who works at a bakery, and Gwang-pil have known each other from childhood and are lovers. The three gangster boys rob a US army warehouse, but only Gwang-pil is caught and placed in a juvenile reformatory. Hearing that Ae-ran works as a barmaid, Gwang-pil escapes from the reformatory to see her. While Gwang-pil meets her, he is caught by a cop who has been chasing him.

Rainy Days

During the Korean War in early 1950s, mother’s family comes and stays at Dong-man’s house. His uncle on father’s side is a North Korean partisan and the uncle on mother’s side dies while fighting as South Korean soldier. For this reason, his grandmothers don’t get alone. Dong-man tells a stranger that his partisan uncle is home and his father gets arrested.

Woman

A man meets a woman on his hiking trip to Mountain Seorak, but she suffers from incurable diseases. He becomes infatuated with her hair. When he tells her about his feeling she promises him that she would leave her hair after she dies as part his heritage for the man. But when he looks for her later she is already dead, and her hair was already sold to another person. He meets another woman he becomes intimate with, but finds that she is his biological mother.