[1] In 2006, he directed his first feature film How the Lack of Love Affects Two Men, which follows a widower and his son who both fall for and fight over their new basement tenant (played by Baek Yoon-sik, Bong Tae-gyu and Lee Hye-young).

"[2] Inspired by Pedro Almodóvar's Volver, Kim began writing a new screenplay in 2008, finished its first draft in 2009, and continued to edit it until 2013 when filming finally went underway.

[3] He cast Lee Sun-kyun as the antihero and Cho Jin-woong as his antagonist in a black comedy/thriller about a corrupt homicide detective who hides the body of a hit-and-run victim in his mother's coffin only to find himself terrorized by a mysterious yet formidable blackmailer.

[4][5] A Hard Day (the Korean title translates to "Take It to the End") premiered in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where it drew unanimously positive reviews, with Variety praising Kim for "handling a taut yet elaborately plotted narrative with poise, control and near-faultless technical execution.

"[6][7] Domestically, A Hard Day had a lackluster opening but strong word of mouth propelled it to becoming a box office hit, with more than 3.4 million tickets sold.