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.

The Look of Silence

Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

The Look of Silence continues a horrific examination of post-genocide Indonesia. Following on from The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence is an even more gut wrenching and unbelievable documentary. These death squad killers boast and laugh about the people they killed and are proud to be seen as heroes by the country and parts of the community. Is this really real!? Unfortunately it is, and it is something that we should no about instead of leaving it hidden in history.

Why Watch This Film?

You didn’t know there was a genocide in Indonesia
To learn how a genocide can happen (and still happen) from the people who committed it – all real footage and real people!
Propaganda is bad
It’s available on Netflix

The Breakdown

The film begins with a long take of an old man looking through some optician’s glasses. This shot is followed by another long take of some cocoons jumping and moving around on a table. Then we are shown another long take of a man starring at the camera thoughtfully. He is watching an interview with two men re-enacting what they did for the Indonesian death squads.

The subject matter is bleak and horrific throughout, but the director Joshua Oppenheimer fantastically guides us without intervention throughout. Instead of interviewing subjects directly about the murders they committed, Oppenheimer finds an Indonesian whose brother was murdered to do the questioning. As a result, he poses the victim against the perpetrator without any biased foreign perspective. The interviewer doesn’t show any hatred towards the death squad members. His questions aren’t particularly heavy or deep but are extremely effective when he gives his interviewees time to talk. His silence facilitates their candid and horrific responses.

The look of silence is the interviewers only punishment. The director emphasises the interviewees guiltiness by showing extended shots of their faces during and after their answers. In a similar way to the effect that the lingering shots give in Tokyo Story, the lingering shots give us time to think about what the interviewee has said and then to judge them. The combination of the interviewers long and sombre look at his guilty interviewees and the interviewees extended silence emphasises their guilt. This is how the director shows their guiltiness, without even saying a word.

Oppenheimer has the skill of getting people to talk without saying a thing. This is the power of the look of silence. The guilty are open about their crimes and open about the things they did, which makes it easy for us to judge them. One man said that because he had killed so many people he had to either drink human blood or go crazy. (the horrific irony). If we didn’t think he was guilty at that point, the interviewer then asks the same man another question about a different topic. The distracted interviewee ignores the question and says “it was salty and sweet.”

Colour of Pomegranates (Armenia) – Travel Back in Time

Colour of Pomegranates Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

Colour of Pomegranates is not a biography of the 18th Century Armenian poet Sayat Nova, but a film which tries to depict his poetry on film. If you’re looking for plot, storyline, and a conclusion, stay away from this movie. However, if you want to explore how you can use film as an artistic medium, check out this brilliantly esoteric and stylish film.

From: Armenia, Asia
Watch: 
Amazon (Buy), YouTube
Next: Un Chien Andalou, Edvard Munch, Neruda

3 Idiots – A Feel Good College Buddy, Road Trip Musical

3 Idiots Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Why Watch 3 Idiots?

It’s a feel good movie led by one of the best friends ever
It taps into many genres you’ll be familiar with from Hollywood blockbusters
For a bromance and love story that’ll make you forget it’s flaws

From: India, Asia
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Netflix, Amazon Prime
Next: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, PK, Y Tu Mama Tambien

Silvered Water, Syria Self Portrait (Syria)

Silvered Water Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

How much do you know about the Syrian Civil War? Here’s an opportunity to learn how the crisis started and to see footage made by different sides of the crisis. Silvered Water is made from 1001 images shot by the Syrian people across the opening years of the Civil War. You will be presented with an array of evidence so you can debate the Syrian crisis with your friends and family.

Why Watch Silvered Water?

You want to know a bit more about why the Syrian refugee crisis started
Witness revolution and war from first hand mobile footage
Unlike some films, nothing is hidden from Silvered Water – the violence, the torture, the dead bodies are all real
To see how important film is in documenting history

The Breakdown

This film is a compilation of 1001 images shot by Syrian men and women. It starts with footage of a dripping water tap surrounded by rubble. Next we are shown a newborn baby being washed and a man in underwear crouched in a corner. The half-naked man is beaten and tortured. He is the one that wrote “Topple the Regime” in graffiti. The authorities tell his parents to “forget about him,” to “go make another one,” and if they can’t to “send their women to him”. This is the start of the Syrian crisis.

Silvered Water is a documentary of the Syrian crisis as recorded on the mobile phones of the population. Nothing is spared from the camera as phone cameras explore dead bodies lying in the street. The close-ups of the wounded and the deceased may seem a bit over-the-top just like a gory Tarantino film. However, this is real life, the camera focuses on the violence as if in disbelief of what is happening in Syria. The gore is shown as it is part of life in Syria, and it must be shown to shock people around the world into awareness.

The amazing part of Silvered Water is that it is constituted from footage of both sides of the crisis. Everyone is making their ‘movie’ of the events. As a result, Silvered Water, is a combination of the cinema of the murderer, the victim, the poetic, the realist, and more. It documents the perspectives of the nation.

Conclusion

The makers of Silvered Water want people to watch this film to then talk and debate about it. The narrator describes an acquaintance who asked for his help in setting up a film club. To start a film club, all you need is to watch a film and then talk and debate. Silvered Water is not meant to be watched alone. The makers want as many people watching it to then talk about the issues together.

The directors also imply that everyone should add their story or opinion to the film’s thread of images. They have documented the cinema of the murderer, the victim, the poetic, and the realist, but we must add the final piece.

A Chinese Odyssey – Pure Cinematic Mayhem

A Chinese Odyssey Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

I haven’t read Journey to the West and I’m completely unfamiliar with the story line, so I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this adaptation of the Chinese Classic. However, if you’re looking for pure cinematic mayhem, Chinese Odyssey Part One and Part Two are as good as you get.

From: Hong Kong, Asia
Watch: Trailer, Tubi, Vudu, Buy on Amazon
Next: Life of Brian, Star Wars, Kung Fu Hustle

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