The best Ahn Sung-ki’s drama movies

On Christmas Eve at Tower Sky, an ultra-luxurious building complex, a White Christmas party is held to dazzle its equally high-end tenants and VIP guests. Dae-ho, the manager of the building and single father, is forced to cancel plans with his daughter Hana to work the event. His Christmas is saved when Yoon-hee, the food mall manager with a secret crush on Dae-ho, offers to babysit Hana during the party. Meanwhile, Young-ki the legendary fire chief of Yoido Station has finally promised his first holiday date night to his long suffering wife. The party is in full swing with the spectacular sight of two helicopters flying overhead just to spray snow on the partygoers and make everything perfect. When unthinkable disaster strikes, Dae-ho and Young-ki must summon all their strength and courage to save the lives of thousands but at what cost to themselves and their loved ones?

A piano composer's family moves into a new house; when his pregnant wife collapses from working to support the family, he hires a hot housemaid to help with housework.

On 31 January 1968, 31 North Korean commandos infiltrated South Korea in a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. In revenge, the South Korean military assembled a team of 31 criminals on the island of Silmido to kill Kim Il-sung for a suicide mission to redeem their honor, but was cancelled, leaving them frustrated. It is loosely based on a military uprising in the 1970s.

In 1375, China was in chaos between Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. Coryo (an ancient kingdom of Korea then) sent a delegation of many diplomats, soldiers and a silent slave to make peace with the new Chinese government. However, this delegation got charged as spies and sent in exile to a remote desert.

In 370 B.C, China was separated as seven nations and several other small tribes, one of these being the city state of Liang. The nation of Zhao is led by the terrifying Xiang Yangzhong who orders his troops to conquer the small city. Leaping to the defense of the people of Liang is 'Ge Li' from the Mo-Tsu tribe, their last hope from the terrors of Yangzhong's troops.

The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.

A group of very different people set sail on an old warship. The passengers include a senator with his son, a newly-wed couple, a mysterious old man, a group of sex workers and a gang of violent criminals. At first the aggressive behaviour of the thugs and their leader is directed at the first class passengers, but then more and more indiscriminately against the rest of those on board. Rape is followed by murder and it’s not long before the first of numerous and increasingly brutal mutinies takes place.

Inspired by the true story of Kim Kyung-ho, a math professor who was arrested for shooting a crossbow at the presiding judge of his appeal against unfair dismissal.

The struggles of an artist. Jang Seung-up (1843-1897), also called Owon, focusing on the years 1882 to 1897, when Korea was in political upheaval, caught between China and Japan, the conservative dynasty dying, and peasant revolt at hand. Jang, born poor, has genius; a merchant, Kim, becomes his patron, finding him a teacher. Jang must convince others that a commoner can have talent, then move beyond his ability to copy old masters and find his own style. He's bedeviled by a temper and alcohol, arguments with patrons as he seeks commissions, and relationships with kisaeng, particularly Mae-hyang, that start and stop. It's the life of a restless spirit producing great art.

Ja-young is experiencing difficulties navigating the two worlds of her traditional Korean customs and those of the West. Having been scarred by inappropriate contact by an adult as a young girl; she has a hard time distinguishing between right and wrong behavior with young men. Her overbearing mother has driven Ja-young to the point where she can no longer act on her own will and this leads to trouble for her. There is a theme of men fondling and caressing women's knees in the film which is the focal point of all male sexual advances towards Ja-Young. Things spiral out of control for not only Ja-Young but her family who has their fair share of issues and skeletens in the closet. We tend to see this film as addressing some of the modern issues that affect the lives of young Koreans in the 1980's.

Kim Nam-woo struggles through life as people around him constantly leave him; his best friend, Jun-ho, is going to study in Seoul and in some ways his widowed mother is "leaving" him too by paying more attention to her new boyfriend. To escape, he goes to a dream world, where he meets a girl named Mari. The story follows Nam-woo in discovering himself and maturing.

Chae-geun is a driver for hire with manic depression. He often talks to his son who is studying in the States and tells him he would keep his promise. He does a favor by acting as a temporary fiancé of a single woman named Jin-hee, who works as a waitress at a restaurant he frequents. Her father, who was a victim of the Gwangju Uprising in 1980, shows him a gun he stashed away 39 years ago and asks Chae-geun to help him exact revenge on those who were responsible for the May 18 incident.

Min-woo, a medical student from a wealthy family, runs into Da-hye) as he rides his bicycle on campus. At first Da-hye dislikes Min-woo, but thanks to help from his charismatic friend Hyeon-tae, he grows closer to Da-hye and the two fall deeply in love. But happiness would not last long. Min-woo's business goes belly-up, and then he learns his birth mother is a military base-town prostitute. Do disturbed by this all he ends up in jail. Meanwhile, Da-hye grows more dependent on Hyeon-tae, and Hyeon-tae gets caught between his friendship for Min-woo and his love for Da-hye...

Chun-hee (Shim Eun-ha) shoots wedding videos for a living, and secretly loves In-kong (Ahn Sung-ki), an assistant to a senator. He barely looks at her, but anytime she's in the proximity of the man, it's a nightmare. She can hardly speak and her awkward mannerisms are completely exposed. She knows it's an impossible love story, but keeps believing that one day he'll talk to her. Enter Chul-soo (Lee Sung-jae), a soldier on leave who is looking for his girlfriend Da-hye (Song Sun-mi). The only problem is, Chun-hee is now living in her old apartment, and Da-hye already made plans to get married with someone else. Chul-soo's world is shattered, but he at least develops a friendship with Chun-hee.

Based on a true story and a legendary Korean novel, this movie follows Detective Oh (superstar Lee Jung Jae) and his investigation into the mysterious murder of a North Korean. His investigation leads him to a diary, which was written by a nun who - along with her boyfriend - helped lead the escape of North Korean POWs held captive during the Korean War. Detective Oh eventually becomes emotionally involved with the case and pursues the writer of the diary and her long-lost boyfriend, hoping to crack the case and learn more about the story of the POWs.

A middle-aged man who has recently lost his wife to cancer indulges in fantasies about a young woman at his work, in the new film from Korean master Im Kwon-taek.

Man-ho is a pacemaker for Korean national marathon team. His purpose is to stay ahead of others until the 30km mark. But he gradually grows a desire to run for the victory.

Chilsu and Mansu focuses on Chilsu, a smooth-talking billboard painter who struggles to hold down a job, and his evolving friendship with Mansu, a capable and intelligent worker who is held back in life because his father is an “unreformed” Communist sympathizer.

In the poor district of town, there lived a woman known as the Black Glove. Taking her young son, she remarries a man named Tae-sub whom nobody knows anything about. Tae-sub has an enormous secret. He relies on the Black Glove to support him. One day, Ju-seok, her ex-husband shows up. He's been released from jail and is now a cabbie. The almost ruined Kil-ja yearns for the neighborhood minister, Gong. The Black Glove decides to give up her ex-husband and her son. An innocent widow who has lost her husband shows up and reveals Tae-sub's secret. Tae-sub had committed murder but the stature of limitations is almost over on the crime. Tae-sub changes due to the widow's compassion. The Black Glove and her son leave the district.