Cha Seung-chae Movies

It's 1978 and Hyun-soo (Kwon Sang-woo of My Tutor Friend), a quiet boy who idolizes Bruce Lee has just transferred to a new high school. At the very moment of his arrival, Hyun-soo learns what the school's military discipline is all about when he's beaten with a bat for violating the dress code. In class, he meets Hamburger (Park Hyo-jun), a slovenly fat kid who makes extra money selling pornography to his fellow students. Hamburger warns him about Stabber (Kim Won-kwon), a bully, so named because of his tendency to stab fellow students in the head with his pen. When the athletic Hyun-soo shows his skill on the basketball court, he's taken under the wing of BMOC Woo-sik (Lee Jung-jin). Woo-sik is charming and persuasive, but he's always ready to solve things with his fists if necessary, while Hyun-soo admits that he's never punched anyone. The two young men are fast friends until they run into the lovely Eun-ju (Han Ga-in) on the bus home one day. Hyun-soo is immediately smitten, and when she's accosted by some rude soldiers, he defends her. The soldiers chase the kids off the bus and Woo-sik fights to protect them. Hyun-soo pines for Eun-ju, but Woo-sik is bolder and gets the girl. The friendship disintegrates, and Woo-sik's conflict with Jong-hoon (Lee Jong-hyuk), the officious student patrol captain, eventually comes to a violent head forcing Hyun-soo to take action. The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do: Once Upon a Time in High School was written and directed by Yoo Ha (Marriage Is a Crazy Thing) and was shown at the 2004 New York Korean Film Festival ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Memories of Murder is a policier based on the actual case of the first recorded serial killer in Korea's history. The rape murders began in 1986 in Hwaseong, a small village south of Seoul, and continued for several years during a time of political upheaval in South Korea. Detective Park Doo-man (Song Kang-ho of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), an overconfident local cop, is assigned to the case, taking along his partner, Detective Cho Yong-koo (Kim Rwe-ha), whose interrogation methods involve covering his boot with a cloth so it won't leave scratches on detainees' necks. After the first few murders, they quickly narrow their sights on a suspect (Park Noh-shik). Seo Tae-yoon (Kim Sang-kyung of Turning Gate), a young detective from Seoul, volunteers to work on the case. Park resents his presence, but Seo quickly realizes that the locals have the wrong man. Before he can share his ideas, the department is humiliated, and the police chief is replaced. Seo quietly begins to piece together a pattern to the murders. For one thing, they all took place in the rain, and the victims all wore red. But the murderer seems to be one step ahead of the cops. Working independently (they disdain each other's methods), Park and Seo stumble upon another suspect, and the two local cops work on beating a confession out of him. But it's soon clear that they've arrested the wrong man yet again. They become more desperate, and the case begins to take a devastating toll on the policemen's lives. Memories of Murder, directed by Bong Joon-ho from a script by Bong, Kim Kwang-rim, and Shim Sung-bo, was a huge box-office hit in South Korea. The film won several awards at the 2003 San Sebastián Film Festival and was also shown at the 2004 New York Korean Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Two ordinary people looking for love may have found it with one another in this low-key romantic drama. Jung Won-ju (Jeon Do-yeon) is a bookish-looking schoolteacher with a habit of daydreaming, and Kim Bong-soo (Seol Kyeong-gyu) is a bank teller with a habit of confessing his deepest secrets to the surveillance camera near his window when he thinks no one is looking. Jung and Kim have one important thing in common -- they're both lonely and looking for someone with whom they can spend their lives. Jung is a regular customer at the bank where Kim works, and they have a habit of bumping into each other around town; one day while doing her banking, Jung sees Kim talking on the security monitor about how he wishes he had a wife, and she wonders if maybe the man she's been looking for is the man who has been in front of her all along. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cheol-gu (Kim Chang-wan), Jae-hyeon (Im Chang-jeong), and Dae-shik (Jeong Eun-pyo) are three losers living in a small South Korean town. Jae-hyeon is the grandson of a local mortician, Dae-shik the son of a grocery store owner, and Cheol-gu is a career pessimist who tried to hang himself before a bodacious young woman (Jeon I-da) came to his rescue. Dae-shik wishes to become an apprentice to Jae-hyeon's grandfather, but due to a new hospital, no one in town has died for the past decade. The friends join forces to find potential cadavers so that Dae-shik can gain practical experience, although Jae-hyeon would rather just open a video arcade and ogle the attractive young owner of the flower store across the street. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

A renegade Korean submarine threatens to nuke Japan in this high-octane suspense drama. After getting court-martialed and sentenced to death for slaying a deranged superior officer, protagonist Lee Chan-suk (Cheong We-seong) finds himself sentenced to life on the Phantom, South Korean's first nuclear sub. Branded 431, Lee leaves port under the command of an old, hoary captain assigned to investigate reports that the Japanese are building their own nuclear sub. On the way, crazed first mate 202 kills the captain. Arguing that the desperate act is needed to restore Korean pride after a century of Japanese colonization and American exploitation, he plots to launch a nuclear strike against Japan. In order to accomplish his dastardly plans, however, he needs both launch keys, and one was entrusted to 431 by the captain just before he died. 431 prudently hides somewhere in the sub's bowels while 202 resolves to nuke Japan by any means necessary. Phantom, the Submarine was screened at the 1999 Pusan Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide