Asia

Best Asian films

If you’re looking for the best Asian films, there’s plenty to choose from. Asia holds approximately 60% of the world’s population, so it’s no surprise the continent has a wealth of great films. The continent hosts one of the world’s largest (if not the largest) film industries in India’s Bollywood, the most famous animation studio outside the U.S. in Japan’s Studio Ghibli, as well as the second largest film market in the world by box office receipts in China (second only to the U.S.).

But that’s not all. The Iranian art-house cinema scene is still booming despite government bans. Southeast Asia holds two of the most famous torch-bearers of the transcendental film movement in Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Lav Diaz. Plus, there’s South Korean, Bong Joon-ho, whose Parasite became the first foreign language film to win the Best Picture. And we haven’t even mentioned the growing film presence of the countries in Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and the Caucasus.

So scroll down to see some of the best Asian films. Or, if you know where you want to go, pick a country from the links below.

Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, East Timor, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon,Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

*We’re still looking for the best Asian films from countries without links. Send us your recommendations.

Meteors – Martial Law in Kurdish Turkey

Meteors Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

What bad things happened in 2015? You may remember the Paris attacks, the Charleston Church shootings, or even the picture of the drowned Syrian boy lying face down on the beach. However, you probably didn’t hear about the Turkish crackdown on the Kurdish PKK. It seems like no professional cameramen were there to capture the events. However, just as in Silvered Waters, the public captured it all on their mobile phones.

From: Turkey, Asia
Watch: Trailer
Next: Silvered Water, Ahlaam, The Burmese Harp

Talvar (Guilty)

Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Not all Indian films are musicals! Talvar is an easy to watch and clever film from Meghna Gulzar which lacks the music and dancing of most Bollywood films. This one is mostly crime, with a touch of humour.

Why Watch Talvar?

What!? You haven’t seen any Indian films yet?
You like a good ‘whodunnit’ film.
Is this a contemporary take on Kurosawa’s Rashomon?
You can see a future in criminology.

The film starts in a special event, hosted by the Indian Central Department of Investigations (CDI). We are introduced to Ashwin, a lawyer who likes to play games on his mobile phone and carry out detective work at a local street food vendor. These things make him ‘normal’. He stops to look at one of the photos of the crime scene… and cut. [The discovery of the murder scene is re-enacted].

Here’s a few film tributes to look out for:

The Paparazzi who swarm the crime scene is shot just like they are shot in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. The camera moves with them and gets very close to the victims or protagonists they are chasing as if we are one of the paparazzi.
The vigil for the victim is cut in between reports from the news questioning who committed the crime. The way the news reports and snappy interviews with the public are cut around the candle-lit vigil reminded me of Gone Girl. Count Gulzar as a fan of David Fincher.
Those multiple murder narratives are inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. (A Japanese classic which you must watch if you haven’t already).

Otherwise listen out for the character’s seamless transitions from speaking Hindi to English in the same sentence. And watch out for the ‘water-container’ shot – a beauty!

In all, Talvar is worth a watch. An entertaining film with an clever message.

Rattle the Cage – An Eccentric Villain Confronts a Prisoner in his Way

Rattle the Cage Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Why Watch Rattle the Cage?

It’s an unexpectedly violent genre film from the United Arab Emirates
To be entertained by a charismatic lead villain
If you like your films confined to one room

From: United Arab Emirates, Asia
Watch: Trailer, Netflix, JustWatch
Next: The Platform, Silence of the Lambs, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution

Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

This film is 6 hours shorter than Melancholia but still just as hard to watch. You may not be accustomed to long takes and films which lack dialogue, so beware. That being said, those who take the time to watch Lav Diaz will be rewarded. He brings you as close to the Filipino psyche as you can get, allowing you to feel as if you are on the streets with the characters. Think of Lav Diaz’ films like a poem, the more you try to see and interpret, the more secrets you will find.

Why Watch Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution?

To watch something that defies conventional film rules
Explore the effect of colonialism and dictatorship on the psyche of the Filipino people
For a quicker introduction to Lav Diaz than the 7.5 hour Melancholia
See the director playing electric guitar!

The Breakdown

All we see in the first shot is a road at night. Lav Diaz focuses on a zebra crossing with a restless woman pacing up and down at the other side of the crossing out-of-focus. No cars are passing down this street, it is empty. The woman lights a cigarette in frustration. As she walks a bit closer to us, we can see that she is a prostitute trying to signal a customer. Each minute, a single car approaches and she flicks back her hair and thrusts out her breasts, but she has no luck.

Just like in Melancholia each shot lingers for longer than we are used to, forcing us to observe each and every detail. As put by Lav Diaz:

I am capturing real time. I am trying to experience what these people are experiencing. They walk. I must experience their walk and I must experience their boredom and sorrows. I want people to experience the afflictions of my people who have been agonising for so long – under the Spaniards for more than 300 years, under the Americans for almost 100 years till now, under the Japanese [during WW2] and then under Marcos [and his 14 year fascist dictatorship].

Lav Diax splits Elegy to a visitor from the Revolution into three parts. An elegy to the first visit, an elegy to the last visit, and an elegy to the 2nd visit, in that order. Each part pieces together three scenes; of a prostitute, some gangsters, and a guitarist. Also, each part is visited by a ghostly figure of a woman who is the visitor from the Philippine Revolution of the late 1800s. She is a juxtaposition of the old and the modern. Her presence (and the three parts out of order) implies that Filipino history is cyclical. A cycle of colonisation/dictatorship and independence that has shaped the Filipino psyche. (Something that the recent election of brutal leader Duterte may replicate).

Conclusion

Elegy to a Visitor from the Revolution is another exploration by Lav Diaz of the Filipino psyche. Just as in Melancholia the Filipino people have not managed to escape the brutal history of colonisation and dictatorship. His long takes allow us to get as close to experiencing the silent suffering of the Filipinos.

Key of Life

Key of Life Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

You’ve had a long day at work but your mind is too active to go to sleep. You need a light comedy to watch to relax before bed. Well try Key of Life. It’s entertaining enough to keep you watching until the end, but not taxing enough to completely exhaust you for tomorrow.

Why Watch Key of Life?

You’re in the mood for an easy-to-watch, entertaining comedy
For an identity swap (you loved the body swap in Japanese anime Your Name)
Anything can happen in a Japanese bath house!
See the pre-recorded eulogy of Kanae’s father at his own funeral

The Breakdown

Key of Life opens with Kanae, a Lifestyle magazine editor. She vacuums her desk with a pocket vacuum, looks at her calendar, and circles her marriage date. She then stands up and informs her employees that she will be getting married in a few weeks and must take some time off of work. One of her employees asks who she is getting marries to but she says that she has not met him yet. Meanwhile hit-man Kondo carries out a successful murder and Sakurai, a failing actor, fails in an attempt to kill himself.

Stereotypically, the character’s rooms help build their characters. Kondo, a precise hit-man, has a very clean apartment with everything laid out and stored exactly where it should be. His apartment exudes wealth and decisiveness. In contrast, Sakurai’s wood shack is messy. This contributes to his status as a failing creative. If he can’t organise his own apartment, how can he organise his life. Lastly, whilst we don’t see Kanae’s house, we know that she is meticulous and precise like Kondo as she keeps a calendar and vacuums her desk. The director shows her vacuuming her desk to emphasise that she is a control freak.

In a similarly obvious way, the director uses music to influence the audience. The music changes from comedic major melodies to minor chords when we should be finding the film funny or tense. For example, when Sakurai is paying off his debts with Kondo’s money the music is comedic. It signifies that we should be laughing. Just like the rooms (and desk) tells us how to judge the characters, the music tells us when to feel amused or tense.

Conclusion

Key to Life is a great film to watch when you want to have a relaxing night on the sofa before you have a good night’s sleep. It is an easy-to-watch and enjoyable Japanese identity-swap comedy. However, if you want to watch something deep and challenging, I suggest you save this film for another time. There is no room for your input in this film as all the interpretation is taken out of the film. But who needs that in a comedy anyway?