Best Asian movies
by Zeruda | created - 15 Oct 2011 | updated - 07 Oct 2015 | Publicmy favorite east asian movies. (Japan, Korea, China etc)
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1. Hero (2002)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A defense officer, Nameless, was summoned by the King of Qin regarding his success of terminating three warriors.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang
Votes: 187,559 | Gross: $53.71M
China
2. 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: 634,680 | Gross: $0.71M
Korea
3. Nana (II) (2005)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A chance encounter between two girls of the same name, "Nana," triggers a series of events and relationships.
Director: Kentarô Ohtani | Stars: Mika Nakashima, Aoi Miyazaki, Hiroki Narimiya, Yûta Hiraoka
Votes: 4,010
Japan
4. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Rain, Park Byeong-eun, Kim Byeong-Ok
Votes: 25,875
Korea
5. 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)
TV-PG | 63 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Told in three interconnected segments, Takaki tells the story of his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondou, Satomi Hanamura, Ayaka Onoue
Votes: 63,652
Japan
6. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
TV-PG | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A high-school girl named Makoto acquires the power to travel back in time, and decides to use it for her own personal benefits. Little does she know that she is affecting the lives of others just as much as she is her own.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura, Ayami Kakiuchi
Votes: 70,797
Japan
7. The Host (2006)
R | 120 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-Bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona
Votes: 132,535 | Gross: $2.20M
Korea
8. 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: 71,528 | Gross: $0.55M
Korea
9. 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: 215,817 | Gross: $0.01M
Korea
10. Kamikaze Girls (2004)
102 min | Comedy
Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima | Stars: Kyôko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Sadao Abe
Votes: 8,081
Japan
11. Departures (2008)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama
Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
Director: Yôjirô Takita | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Ryôko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Votes: 54,921 | Gross: $1.50M
Japan
12. 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: 86,740 | Gross: $2.38M
Korea
13. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase
Votes: 169,933 | Gross: $13.76M
Japan
14. The Good the Bad the Weird (2008)
R | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The story of two outlaws and a bounty hunter in 1940s Manchuria and their rivalry to possess a treasure map while being pursued by the Japanese army and Chinese bandits.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Jung Woo-sung, Yun Je-mun
Votes: 37,909 | Gross: $0.13M
Korea
15. Mao's Last Dancer (2009)
PG | 117 min | Biography, Drama, Music
In Maoist China, a boy is taken from his family and trained to become a dancer, but everything he knows is challenged when he is chosen to attend a ballet summer school in Houston, Texas.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Chi Cao, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Penne Hackforth-Jones
Votes: 8,295 | Gross: $4.81M
an Australian production, but i still think it counts.
16. 3-Iron (2004)
R | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A transient young man breaks into empty homes to partake of the vacationing residents' lives for a few days.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Lee Seung-yun, Jae Hee, Hyuk-ho Kwon, Joo Jin-mo
Votes: 58,224 | Gross: $0.24M
Korea
17. Moon Child (2003)
120 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
The story of love and friendship on the harsh streets of 2014 Mallepa, a small corner in Asia.
Director: Takahisa Zeze | Stars: Hyde, Gackt, Leehom Wang, Tarô Yamamoto
Votes: 2,102
Japan
18. Ip Man (2008)
R | 106 min | Action, Biography, Drama
During the Japanese invasion of China, a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home when his city is occupied. With little means of providing for themselves, Ip Man and the remaining members of the city must find a way to survive.
Director: Wilson Yip | Stars: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Siu-Wong Fan, Ka-Tung Lam
Votes: 233,434
China, Japan
19. Joint Security Area (2000)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
After a shooting incident at the North-South Korean border DMZ leaves two North Korean soldiers dead, a neutral Swiss and Swedish team investigates what actually happened.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lee Yeong-ae, Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Kim Tae-woo
Votes: 34,142
Korea
20. Summer Wars (2009)
PG | 114 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend at her grandmother's 90th birthday.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura, Takahiro Yokokawa
Votes: 31,749 | Gross: $0.08M
Japan
21. The Man from Nowhere (2010)
R | 119 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug-and-organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.
Director: Lee Jeong-beom | Stars: Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Hee-won
Votes: 74,778 | Gross: $0.01M
Korea
22. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
R | 99 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
In Shanghai, China in the 1940s, a wannabe gangster aspires to join the notorious "Axe Gang" while residents of a housing complex exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.
Director: Stephen Chow | Stars: Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen, Siu-Lung Leung
Votes: 150,678 | Gross: $17.11M
China
23. Confessions (2010)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, Thriller
A psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death.
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima | Stars: Takako Matsu, Yoshino Kimura, Masaki Okada, Yukito Nishii
Votes: 42,015
Japan
24. Poetry (2010)
TV-PG | 139 min | Drama
A sixty-something woman, faced with the discovery of a heinous family crime and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, finds strength and purpose when she enrolls in a poetry class.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Yun Jeong-hie, Lee Da-wit, Kim Hee-ra, Ahn Nae-sang
Votes: 13,516 | Gross: $0.36M
Korea
25. Aftershock (2010)
Not Rated | 135 min | Drama, History
The epic story of a family separated as a result of the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: Daoming Chen, Chen Li, Yi Lu, Fan Xu
Votes: 9,723 | Gross: $0.06M
China
26. Aeja (2009)
111 min | Drama
An emotional portrayal of the tender bond between a workaholic daughter and her witty mother suffering from a serious illness. (Korean with English subtitles).
Director: Gi-hoon Jeong | Stars: Choi Kang-hee, Kim Yeong-ae, Bae Soo-bin, Choi Il-hwa
Votes: 144
Korea
27. The Lady (2011)
R | 132 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of Aung San Suu Kyi as she becomes the core of Burma's democracy movement, and her relationship with her husband, writer Michael Aris.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, Jonathan Raggett, Jonathan Woodhouse
Votes: 11,282 | Gross: $0.36M
Cambodia
28. The Witch of the West Is Dead (2008)
115 min | Drama, Family
Mai, a school student, refuses to go to school. Her parents are living apart, so her mother sends her to stay with her grandmother. Her grandmother gives Mai training as a witch and also teaches Mai important values on life itself.
Director: Shunichi Nagasaki | Stars: Sachi Parker, Mayu Takahashi, Ryô, Nao Ômori
Votes: 221
Japan
29. One Million Yen Girl (2008)
121 min | Drama
A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
Director: Yuki Tanada | Stars: Yû Aoi, Mirai Moriyama, Pierre Taki, Terunosuke Takezai
Votes: 1,693
Japan
30. Rent-a-Cat (2012)
110 min | Comedy, Drama
A single woman runs a rent-a-cat service to provide companions for lonely people.
Director: Naoko Ogigami | Stars: Mikako Ichikawa, Reiko Kusamura, Ken Mitsuishi, Maho Yamada
Votes: 2,191
Japan
31. 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: 19,698
Korean
32. Last Life in the Universe (2003)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A suicidal, obsessively compulsive Japanese librarian is forced to lie low in Thailand with a pot-smoking woman coping with the recent loss of her sister.
Director: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Sinitta Boonyasak, Takashi Miike, Laila Boonyasak
Votes: 11,554 | Gross: $0.03M
Thailand
33. The Housemaid (2010)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
A man's affair with his family's housemaid leads to dark consequences.
Director: Im Sang-soo | Stars: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Youn Yuh-jung, Woo Seo
Votes: 12,467 | Gross: $0.15M
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