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Movies like The Face Reader

Key Features:
Political intrigue, Power struggle, Historical period, Murder, Betrayal, Court intrigue, Destiny, Ambition, Corruption, Thriller, Suspense, Revenge, Tragedy
Tone:
serious, suspense-driven, dramatic
Target Audience:
Historical drama fans, Thriller enthusiasts, Viewers interested in Asian history, Political intrigue aficionados
Emotional Arc:
Intrigue → Suspense → Tragedy

The Face Reader

2013-09-11
The Face Reader Poster - Find Similar Movies

An exceptionally talented face reader becomes entangled in a bloody power struggle between a child king and his uncle who plans to usurp the throne.

Genres
Drama, History
Cast
Song Kang-ho, Lee Jung-jae, Baek Yoon-sik, Cho Jung-seok, Lee Jong-suk, Kim Hye-soo, Kim Eui-sung, Chae Sang-woo, Kim Tae-woo, Ko Chang-seok
Crew
Kim Dong-hyuk, Han Jae-rim, Han Jae-rim
Rating
6.9(99 votes)
The Face ReaderThe Face Reader
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The Treacherous
6.1

The story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks vengeance.



Masquerade
7.708

Though it places his own life in danger, a look-alike commoner secretly takes the place of a poisoned king to save his country from falling into chaos.



The Fatal Encounter

Late 18th-century Joseon dynasty. The King is beleaguered and surrounded by traitors of the ruling elite. They plan to assassinate and replace him with a puppet. But the King has some aces up his sleeve that may help him defeat them all.



Empire of Lust
6.9

In the turbulent Joseon dynasty, army commander Min-jae watches ambitious Prince Yi Bang-won while becoming entwined with Ga-hee, a vengeful gisaeng. Fate collides as power shifts.



The Concubine
5.9

Living a torturous life of poverty and barely able to survive, Hwa-yeon decides to offer herself as one of the king’s concubines. Once inside the royal palace, two men are immediately seized by the woman - the Grand Prince Seong-won, a megalomaniacal ruler drunk with power and lust, and Kwon-yoo, who has everything to lose if his desire for Hwa-yeon is exposed.



The Throne
7.121

Ancient Korea, July 4, 1762. The Crown Prince Hyojang, posthumously named Sado, son of King Yeongjo of Joseon, is accused of treason. Thus, the king asks him to commit suicide, but his closest vassals prevent it, so the king orders the prince to get inside a wooden rice chest, where he suffers deprivation of food and water.



12.12: The Day
7.481

Security commander Chun Doo-gwang and the officers following him organize a coup. Lee Tae-shin, a stubborn Capital Garrison Command commander who believes soldiers should not take political action, fights against Chun Doo-gwang.



The King
The King(2017)
7.341

A young Korean man surpasses his difficult childhood by becoming a powerful prosecutor, but soon learns that real power comes at a price.



The Swordsman
7.5

After being blinded in a coup against the king, Joseon's greatest swordsman goes into hiding, far removed from his city's anguish. But when traffickers kidnap his daughter, he has no choice but to unsheathe his sword once more.



The Night Owl
7.4

Blind acupuncturist Kyeong-su is able to see like a normal person at night. One evening, Kyeong-su witnesses the death of the crown prince. King Injo is driven into madness while Kyeong-su attempts to reveal the truth behind the prince's death.



Monstrum
Monstrum(2018)
6.5

Ancient Korea, 1506. The tyrannical King Yeonsan-gun of Joseon is overthrown by his half-brother Jung-jong, whose reign begins with a blood bath. Over the years, traitors plot against him, sinking the kingdom into chaos. In 1528, frightened rumors come to royal palace, regarding a mysterious creature, known as Monstrum by the peasants.



The King and the Clown

Two clowns living in Korea's Chosun Dynasty get arrested for staging a play that satirizes the king. They are dragged to the palace and threatened with execution but are given a chance to save their lives if they can make the king laugh.



Duelist
Duelist(2005)
6.414

Detective Nam-soon goes undercover with her partner Detective Ahn to investigate the counterfeit money. She discovers that one loyal henchman, Sad Eyes, a beautiful swordsman with a pale, blank face, is related to the truth. Nam-soon and Sad Eyes confront each other in a series of duels and become confused between love and obligation to duty.



Shadowless Sword
6.2

927 AD. The Killer-Blade Army has toppled the ruling dynasty, plunging the kingdom into chaos. The only remaining heir, Prince Jung-Hyun is living in exile, unaware of his family's dark fate. Still loyal to the dynasty, the beautiful and deadly warrior Soha sets out to find Jung-Hyun and guide him to become the great leader he was born to be. But with the Army's greatest assassins and the criminal underworld hunting them, Soha and Jung-Hyun are swept into an explosive, non-stop battle of swords, wits and bloodshed as they fight to reclaim the fallen throne.



Rampant
Rampant(2018)
6.848

Ancient Korea, 17th century. While the paranoid King Lee Jo of Joseon, vassal of the Qing dynasty, feels surrounded by conspirators and rebels, a dark evil emerges from the bowels of a merchant ship and the exiled Prince Lee Cheung returns to the royal court, ignoring that he will have to lead the few capable of defeating the ambitious humans and the bloody monsters who threaten to destroy the kingdom.



Time
Time(2006)
6.862

Consumed by jealousy, a woman takes an extreme step and undergoes surgery for a new face. Although her lover of 2 years misses her, he falls in love with the new face, not knowing it's the same woman.



The Sword with No Name

Mu Myeong is a Joseon dynasty headhunter who meets and falls in love with lady Ja Yeong who will become the future Empress Myseongseong. A few years later, Ja Yeong enters the royal palace to marry King Gojong. Mu Myeong still having feelings for Ja Yeong and in an attempt to get closer to her becomes her personal body guard.



Uprising
Uprising(2024)
7.013

In the Joseon Dynasty, two friends who grew up together — one the master and one the servant — reunite post-war as enemies on opposing sides.



The Suspect
6.9

Betrayed and on the run, a former North Korean agent tries to seek revenge on the man who killed his wife, find his missing daughter, and uncover the secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man.



The Handmaiden
8.195

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.



The Fortress
6.797

Ancient Korea, 17th century. The powerful Khan of the Jurchen tribe of Manchuria, who fights the Ming dinasty to gain China, becomes the first ruler of the Qing dinasty and demands from King In-jo of Joseon to bow before him; but he refuses, being loyal to the Mings. On December 14th, 1636, the Qing horde invades Joseon, so King In-jo and his court shelter in the mountain fortress of Namhan and prepare to defend the kingdom.



A Frozen Flower
6.9

A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard.



The Princess and the Matchmaker

Refusing to allow fate to decide whom she must marry, Princess Songhwa decides to find her own husband. She seeks the help of a man to interpret her marital harmony with four men she wishes to marry.



Untold Scandal
6.4

In late 1700s Korea, Lady Cho challenges the playboy Lord Jo-won into seducing and sleeping with her husband's coming young, virgin concubine. Lady Cho agrees to sleep with him if he succeeds.



The Banquet
6.1

Crown Prince Wu Luan is in love with Little Wan but left heartbroken when she marries his father, the emperor. The emperor's brother, Li, kills him and Wu Luan tries to avenge his father's death.



The Net
The Net(2016)
7.3

A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.



Parasite
Parasite(2019)
8.5

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.



Joint Security Area

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.



Kingdom: Ashin of the North

Tragedy, betrayal and a mysterious discovery fuel a woman's vengeance for the loss of her tribe and family.



Metamorphosis
7.119

An evil spirit that changes faces infiltrates one family placing one brother in danger while the other tries to save him.



The Witness
6.727

An ordinary man witnesses a cruel murder and becomes entangled in circumstances out of his control.



War of the Arrows
7.249

After the death of their father, two siblings are raised by their father's best friend. However, when one gets kidnapped just before her wedding, the other rises against the Manchus.



The Age of Shadows
7.194

Set in the late 1920s, The Age of Shadows follows the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between a group of resistance fighters trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them.



Inside Men
6.919

A disgruntled henchman teams up with an ambitious prosecutor to bring down a leading presidential candidate and the news editor behind him who is truly pulling the strings.



Assassination
7.307

In Japanese-occupied Korea, three freedom fighters are assigned a mission to assassinate a genocidal military leader and his top collaborator. But the plan goes completely awry amidst double-crossings, counter-assassinations, and a shocking revelation about one of the assassins' past.



The Client
6.9

Kang Seong-hee, a famous lawyer, takes up a case wherein he has to defend a man who is the main suspect in his wife's death. However, a formidable public attorney tries to test his mettle in court.



Scarlet Innocence
6.09

A university professor gradually succumbing to blindness is entranced by an obsessive love, in this modern-day adaptation of a classic Korean fairy tale.



The Call
The Call(2020)
7.505

Connected by phone in the same home but 20 years apart, a caller puts a woman’s past — and life — on the line to change her own fate.



Secret Reunion
6.373

Two spies share a secret bond, despite their loyalties. A North Korean assassin is sent to Seoul to kill a dissident, but instead he teams up with a South Korean agent in search for revenge.



The Classic
7.6

Ji-hae's friend is having problems expressing her feelings to the boy she loves, so she asks Ji-hae to write e-mails to him in her name. As the boy falls in love with her letters, Ji-hae discovers the story of her mother's romance which is remarkably similar to her own circumstances.



The Hidden Face
7.295

A Spanish orchestra conductor deals with the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend.



The Man Standing Next
7.085

When the investigation of 'Koreagate' takes place, Park Yong-gak, a former KCIA director who knows everything about the government's operations, heads to the United States in exile.



The Truth Beneath
6.947

For 15 days, a politician and his wife navigate a scandal after their daughter goes missing on the eve of the national elections.



Remember
Remember(2022)
7.536

Pil-ju, an Alzheimer's patient in his 80s, who lost all his family during the Japanese colonial era, and devotes his lifelong revenge before his memories disappear, and a young man in his 20s who helps him.



Woochi: The Demon Slayer

Spanning four centuries in Korea, this epic action-adventure concerns a powerful pipe and a trio of wizards who will do anything to protect it.



The Front Line
7.2

In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there.



The Match
The Match(2025)
7.405

When a legendary Go master loses his title to a one-time friend and protégé, he sets out to reclaim it in a high-stakes battle of wits and skill.



The Housemaid
6.4

Eun-yi is hired as a maid in a mansion owned by a wealthy businessman. He quickly starts seducing his employee who seemingly has little choice but to comply with his sexual advances. Soon the women of the family plot against Eun-yi who must fight an equally devious battle to protect herself.



The Taste of Money
5.524

The assistant of a wealthy socialite reveals her husband's salacious affair. The fallout entangles him in a web of sex, love and deceit that could threaten his life and career.



The Emperor and the Assassin

In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.



Hunt
Hunt(2022)
6.727

After a high-ranking North Korean official requests asylum, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park Pyong-ho and Domestic Unit chief Kim Jung-do are tasked with uncovering a North Korean spy, known as Donglim, who is deeply embedded within their agency. When the spy begins leaking top secret intel that could jeopardize national security, the two units are each assigned to investigate each other.



Phantom
Phantom(2023)
6.9

In 1933, when Korea was under Japanese occupation, five people in Gyeongseong are suspected to be "Phantom" spies of the anti-Japanese organization.



The Pirates
7

At the cusp of the founding of Joseon Dynasty, an envoy from China is delivering Emperor’s Ming’s Royal Seal. But nature in the form of a giant whale intervenes and swallows the royal seal. When a generous reward is offered to whomever can retrieve the royal seal from the belly of the whale, the race is on. A group of mountain bandits led by Jang Sa Jung and a group of pirates led by Yeo Wol go after the lost treasure, but who will get to to it first?



The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos

A respectable village head decides to keep his son away from the violent politics of rural life. However, fate intervenes, forcing the young man to not only return home, but also take up the sickle.



A Violent Prosecutor

After a prosecution lawyer is framed and convicted for murder, he tries to catch the real murderer from jail with the help of a con artist.



Steel Rain
7.084

Amid a coup, a North Korean agent escapes south with the country's injured leader in an attempt to keep him alive and prevent a Korean war.



Full River Red
5.945

During China's Song Dynasty, a mysterious murder occurs at Chancellor Quin Hui's palace after meeting delegates from the neighboring Jin Dynasty. The members become embroiled not just in a murder mystery, but a larger conspiracy concerning the fate of the empire.



Shadow
Shadow(2018)
6.7

In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.



The Prison
7.1

An imprisoned ex-police inspector discovers that the entire penitentiary is controlled by an inmate running a crime syndicate and becomes part of the crime empire.



Public Enemy
7.2

A notorious dirty cop makes an honest attempt to catch a serial killer who even murdered his own parents.



The Spy Gone North
7.364

South Korea, 1993. An agent of the National Intelligence Service is sent to Beijing to infiltrate a group of North Korean officials with the ultimate goal of obtaining information about their nuclear program.



The Attorney
7.8

Song Woo-seok is a lawyer with no clients. When his friend's son is falsely accused of a crime and tortured, he takes up the case and the course of his life changes for good.



The Illusionist
7.295

With his eye on a lovely aristocrat, a gifted illusionist named Eisenheim uses his powers to win her away from her betrothed, a crown prince. But Eisenheim's scheme creates tumult within the monarchy and ignites the suspicion of a dogged inspector.



Secretly, Greatly
6.978

Three elite North Korean sleeper agents live under cover for so long that they believe their cover stories are their real identities. They are shocked when they are ordered to kill one another or face death at the hands of an elite hit team.



Oldboy
Oldboy(2003)
8.2

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.



Cold Eyes
Cold Eyes(2013)
7.5

Ha Yoon-ju becomes the newest member of a unit within the Korean Police Forces Special Crime Department that specializes in surveillance activities on high-profile criminals. She teams up with Hwang Sang-jun, the veteran leader of the unit, and tries to track down James who is the cold-hearted leader of an armed criminal organization.



The Scapegoat
6.382

In 1952, as England prepares for the coronation, two very different men have one thing in common—a face.



The Great Battle
6.8

Kingdom of Goguryeo, ancient Korea, 645. The ruthless Emperor Taizong of Tang invades the country and leads his armies towards the capital, achieving one victory after another, but on his way is the stronghold of Ansi, protected by General Yang Man-chu, who will do everything possible to stop the invasion, even if his troops are outnumbered by thousands of enemies.



Kingdom
Kingdom(2019)
7.254

Set in Qin Dynasty during the warring states period in ancient China. Shin was a war orphan. He has a dream of becoming a great general Shin has a fateful encounter with young King Eisei. King Eisei aims to unify all of China.



Memories of the Sword
6.613

While in medieval Korea, a young girl sets out to revenge the betrayal and the death of her mother. But therefore she must face one of the most powerful men and warriors of the Goryeo Dynasty.



The Chronicles of Evil

A detective accidentally kills a man and disposes of the body to protect his career. The next day he sees that someone has hanged the corpse from a crane for all to see. He takes charge of the murder investigation to protect himself and find out who did it.



Shiri
Shiri(1999)
6.4

North Korea's 8th Special Forces hijack a shipment of CTX, a potent new liquid explosive, and threatens South Korea as part of a plot to re-unify the two countries. Ryu and Lee, special agents of O.P., South Korea's secret intelligence service, attempt to track down the terrorists and find the CTX. Meanwhile Hee, the 8th's ultra-bad female sniper, resurfaces to wreak havoc and haunt Ryu.



Default
Default(2018)
6.9

Only one week left until South Korea will go under sovereign default. Han Shi-hyun is a leader of the monetary policy team at the Bank of Korea. and is assigned to a crisis team.



Kundo: Age of the Rampant

In 1862, amidst the rule of the late Joseon dynasty in Korea, a band of fighters named Kundo rise against the unjust authorities.



The Target
6.992

At the same time as murder suspect Yeo-hoon is brought unconscious to the emergency room following a shooting incident, an assailant breaks into the house of Tae-jun, the emergency room's doctor in charge, and kidnaps his wife. The kidnapper calls the doctor and tells him to bring Yeo-hoon to him. To retrieve his wife, Tae-jun has no option but to save the patient and sneak him away before the police can notice.



The Berlin File
6.7

When an illicit arms deal goes bad, North Korean spy Pyo Jong-seong finds himself targeted not just by the South Koreans but also his own bosses.



Eungyo
Eungyo(2012)
6.8

A reclusive elderly poet feels the fire of his youth when gamine schoolgirl Eun-gyo enters his life, to the chagrin of the old man's assistant.



The Broken Crown
6.5

In a Spain consumed by ambition and power, the future of an empire depends of the mind state of a single woman.



The Yellow Sea
7.343

A Korean man in China takes an assassination job in South Korea to make money and find his missing wife. But when the job is botched, he is forced to go on the run from the police and the gangsters who paid him.



The Beast
The Beast(2019)
6.678

Two rival detectives with different methods try to solve the murder of a missing girl after discovering her mutilated body in the tidelands of Incheon.



The Childe
7.13

Han, a Filipino-Korean boxer hits the final punch against his opponent at an illegal game and returns home with a few dollars to pay for his mother's surgery.



Voice of a Murderer

After Gyeong-bae's son is kidnapped, he receives a call from the kidnapper asking for 100 million won. The detectives are teamed up for the case, yet the culprit gets away at every opportunity.



Painted Fire
7

In a time of political and social unrest in 19th century Korea, uncouth, self-taught painter Jang Seung-up explores his natural talent amidst the repressive world around him.



Steel Rain 2: Summit
7.048

A futuristic film about a crisis near the brink of war after three leaders are kidnapped by a North Korean nuclear submarine in a coup d’état during a summit between the two Koreas and the United States.



The Chaser
7.8

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.



Pulgasari
Pulgasari(1985)
5.5

In feudal Korea, a group of starving villagers grow weary of the orders handed down to them by their controlling king and set out to use a deadly monster under their control to push his armies back.



Silmido
Silmido(2003)
7.1

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.



The King
The King(2019)
7.2

England, 15th century. Hal, a capricious prince who lives among the populace far from court, is forced by circumstances to reluctantly accept the throne and become Henry V.



The Merciless
7.2

Jae-ho, who aims to become the number one in a crime organization, gets to build up trust with Hyun-su, an ambitious newbie in the prison. While they try to take over the organization after the prison release, their ulterior motives starts to emerge.



The Chase
The Chase(2017)
6.726

After people in his town start turning up dead, a grumpy landlord is visited by a man who recounts an unsolved serial murder case from 30 years ago that may hold the clue to what is happening now.



Hide and Seek
6.545

Sung-soo has everything a man could want: a beautiful wife and children, a comfortable home and luxury car, and plenty of money in the bank. When he learns that his estranged brother, Sung-chul, has gone missing, haunting memories of their troubled past urge him to visit his brother’s apartment in search of answers.



Alienoid
Alienoid(2022)
6.793

Gurus in the late Goryeo dynasty try to obtain a fabled, holy sword, and humans in 2022 hunt down an alien prisoner that is locked in a human's body. The two parties cross paths when a time-traveling portal opens up.



The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure

A gutsy crew of Joseon pirates and bandits battle stormy waters, puzzling clues and militant rivals in search of royal gold lost at sea.



V.I.P.
V.I.P.(2017)
7.8

A son to a high-ranked official in North Korea commits a series of murders going across the countries around the world. The movie depicts the following events as South Korea, North Korea and Interpol start chasing down after him.



An Actor's Revenge
6.6

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.



The Guillotines
5.52

In the time of the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor Yongzheng created a secret army known as the Guillotines. It was the job of the Guillotines to protect the Emperor by killing anyone who posed a threat to him or his rule. After 348 successful missions to eliminate their target, the 349th assignment proves to be their last.



The Message
7.4

After a series of assassinations in Nanking, a Japanese spy master gathers a group of suspects in a mansion, then a tense cat-and-mouse game erupts as the Chinese agent tries to keep his or her identity a secret.



Helpless
Helpless(2012)
7.082

A woman suddenly disappears. Her fiance then sets out to find her and, in the process, uncovers layers of dark hidden secrets.



Cinderella
6.106

With a renowned plastic surgeon for a mother, Hyun-soo is always surrounded by girls in line for beauty consultations. But her happiness comes to an end as her friends who have received facial surgery from her mother start to commit mysterious suicides by cutting out their faces.

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