In depth · Film
Seoul on film: from The Host to Past Lives
Seoul has been filmed as a city of steep hills and stairways, of a river with a monster in it, of a station where a train leaves for Busan, and of childhood friends who part and meet again. Four films to watch before you go.
Updated October 2026
Parasite (2019)
Bong Joon Ho’s story of two families, one in a semi-basement flat, one in a modernist house on the hill, is told through Seoul’s geography: you climb up to wealth and walk down, endlessly, to the flooded streets below. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019 and, in 2020, the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first film not in English to do so.
The Host (2006)
A creature rises out of the Han and rampages through a riverside park: Bong Joon Ho’s monster film made the river parks you can stroll today its stage. We found no trailer on a distributor’s own channel, so none is shown here.
Train to Busan (2016)
Yeon Sang-ho’s thriller begins at Seoul Station, where passengers board a KTX for Busan just as an outbreak spreads across the country. We found no trailer on the distributor’s own channel, so none is shown here; the KTX itself is in our transport guide.
Past Lives (2023)
Celine Song’s quiet, much-loved film opens with two children in Seoul, who are separated when one family emigrates and meet again as adults decades later. Seoul here is a city of memory: alleys, stairways and the river at night.
Questions and answers
Which films are set in Seoul?
Parasite, The Host, the opening of Train to Busan, and Past Lives are among the best known.