Asian favourites
by dwilhelm28 | created - 13 Mar 2021 | updated - 28 Apr 2021 | PublicFilms from Japan, Korea, Taipei etc since around the turn of the century
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1. Stray Dogs (2013)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama
An alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross path with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.
Director: Tsai Ming-liang | Stars: Kang-sheng Lee, Kuei-Mei Yang, Yi-ching Lu, Shiang-chyi Chen
Votes: 3,098
2. The Hole (1998)
95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Musical
While never-ending rain and a strange disease spread by cockroaches ravage Taiwan, a plumber makes a hole between two apartments and the inhabitants of each form a unique connection, enacted in musical numbers.
Director: Tsai Ming-liang | Stars: Kuei-Mei Yang, Kang-sheng Lee, Miao Tien, Hui-Chin Lin
Votes: 4,408
3. Mother (2009)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Goo, Yun Je-mun
Votes: 71,694 | Gross: $0.55M
4. Memories of Murder (2003)
Not Rated | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roe-ha, Song Jae-ho
Votes: 216,696 | Gross: $0.01M
5. Oldboy (2003)
R | 120 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong, Kim Byeong-Ok
Votes: 636,344 | Gross: $0.71M
6. The Handmaiden (2016)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Moon So-ri
Votes: 172,941 | Gross: $2.01M
7. Lady Vengeance (2005)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Nam-mi Kang, Jeong-nam Choi, Hye-Sook Go, Bok-hwa Baek
Votes: 86,153 | Gross: $0.21M
8. A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Not Rated | 119 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't follow his boss's orders.
Directors: Jung Doo Hong, Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Shin Min-a, Kim Yeong-cheol, Hwang Jung-min
Votes: 42,934
9. I Saw the Devil (2010)
Not Rated | 144 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan, Chun Ho-jin
Votes: 146,344 | Gross: $0.13M
10. Peppermint Candy (1999)
Not Rated | 129 min | Drama
Following a man's suicide, time traverses back to reveal six chapters of his life on why he committed suicide.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Yeo-jin, Moon So-ri, Se-beom Park
Votes: 10,846
11. Burning (2018)
Not Rated | 148 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Jong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Soo-Kyung
Votes: 76,408 | Gross: $0.72M
12. Shoplifters (2018)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Kirin Kiki, Mayu Matsuoka
Votes: 86,515 | Gross: $3.31M
13. Castaway on the Moon (2009)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A failed suicide attempt leads a heartbroken man to live a life in the wilderness.
Director: Lee Hae-jun | Stars: Jeong Jae-yeong, Jung Ryeo-won, Yeong-seo Park, Yang Mi-kyeong
Votes: 19,721
14. The Chaser (2008)
Not Rated | 125 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Seo Yeong-hie, Kim Yoo-jung
Votes: 72,815
15. The Wailing (2016)
TV-MA | 156 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Soon after a stranger arrives in a little village, a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman, drawn into the incident, is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Jun Kunimura, Hwang Jung-min, Kwak Do-won, Chun Woo-hee
Votes: 82,110
16. Independencia (2009)
77 min | Drama
Mimicking early silent films, Independencia creates a lush metaphor that plays with cinematic illusions and the cultural and mythical history of the Philippines.
Director: Raya Martin | Stars: Sid Lucero, Tetchie Agbayani, Alessandra De Rossi, Mika Aguilos
Votes: 248
17. Cemetery of Splendor (2015)
Unrated | 122 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A group of soldiers in a small town on the Mekong River in northern Thailand are struck with a bizarre sleeping illness.
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Stars: Jenjira Pongpas, Banlop Lomnoi, Jarinpattra Rueangram, Petcharat Chaiburi
Votes: 5,428 | Gross: $0.05M
18. Pulse (2001)
R | 119 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Two groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka
Votes: 25,622 | Gross: $0.05M
19. Cure (1997)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Masato Hagiwara, Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa
Votes: 23,118 | Gross: $0.09M
20. Green Fish (1997)
111 min | Drama
Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Han Suk-kyu, Shim Hye-jin, Moon Sung-Keun, Yu-Kyeong Cha
Votes: 2,096
21. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
R | 103 min | Drama, Romance
A boy is raised by a Buddhist monk in an isolated floating temple where the years pass like the seasons.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Kim Ki-duk, Oh Yeong-su, Jong-ho Kim, Kim Young-min
Votes: 86,847 | Gross: $2.38M
22. Moebius (2013)
Unrated | 89 min | Drama, Thriller
A father driven into desire, a son coveting that of his father's and the sorrowful maternity that hovers them into tragedy.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Cho Jae-hyun, Seo Yeong-ju, Lee Na-ra, Na Chul
Votes: 6,565
23. The Bow (2005)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
On a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a baby. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthday, and she is 16 now. They live a quiet and secluded life, renting the boat to day fishermen and practicing strange divination rites. Their life changes when a teenage student comes aboard...
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Han Yeo-reum, Seo Ji-seok, Jeon Gook-hwan, Seong-hwan Jeon
Votes: 11,800
24. The Isle (2000)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Thriller
Working at a fishing resort in an idyllic location, but surrounded by various facets of human unpleasantness, a young mute woman falls in love with a man on the run from the law for committing murder.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Jung Suh, Kim Yu-seok, Cho Jae-hyun, Jang Hang-seon
Votes: 14,720 | Gross: $0.02M
25. Memoir of a Murderer (2017)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
A former serial killer with Alzheimer's fights to protect his daughter from her psychotic boyfriend.
Director: Won Shin-yeon | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Nam-gil, Kim Seol-hyun, Oh Dal-su
Votes: 12,662 | Gross: $0.09M
26. Confession of Murder (2012)
Not Rated | 119 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Lee Du-Seok publishes an autobiography describing murders he committed after the statute of limitations expires. A detective and one of the victim's mothers search for the author while an anonymous person claims to be the real killer.
Director: Jung Byung-gil | Stars: Jeong Jae-yeong, Park Shi-hoo, Jung Hae-kyun, Kim Yeong-ae
Votes: 11,698
27. A Hard Day (2014)
Not Rated | 111 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After trying to cover up a car accident that left a man dead, a crooked homicide detective is stalked by a mysterious man claiming to have witnessed the event.
Director: Kim Seong-hun | Stars: Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Jin-woong, Jeong Man-sik, Shin Jeong-geun
Votes: 16,610
28. The Wayward Cloud (2005)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Hsiao-Kang, now working as a pornographic actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.
Director: Tsai Ming-liang | Stars: Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Yi-ching Lu, Kuei-Mei Yang
Votes: 5,639
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