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This is the second of a four-part series on some of the best foreign-language films—at least according to two of our critics, foreign-film buffs Agnieszka Tennant and Stefan Ulstein. This installment examines the best films from Asia. Part 1 looked at the best European films; part 3, coming next week, will examine the best films from the Middle East, while part 4, in two weeks, looks at the "best of the rest" of the world.

Early Asian films were difficult for Western audiences to understand. While North American films were rooted in the Enlightenment, The Reformation and democracy, Asian films built their characters and conflicts on Buddhism, the Tao, and the Analects of Confucius.

The most notable exceptions came from Japanese auteur Akira Kurasawa. His masterful Seven Samurai was remade in America as The Magnificent Seven, and George Lucas took premise and plot from The Hidden Fortress and made it into Star Wars (where the Imperial Storm Troopers wear a version of samurai armor and fight kendo-style with their light sabers). Japanese audiences consider Kurasawa more Western than Japanese, however.

The films in this list—most released within the last decade or so—are an introduction to trends in modern Asian cinema. They have been chosen for their artistic merit, and for their accessibility to non-Asian audiences. All of these films were critical and commercial successes in their home countries.

Joint Security Area

(South Korea, 2000)

South Korean draftees Sergeant Lee and Private Nam man a border post on the Demilitarized Zone that separates them from their North Korean enemies. The capitals of both Koreas are within artillery range of the DMZ, the most heavily fortified border in the world.

While on night patrol, Sergeant Lee gets lost and is helped by North Korean Sergeant Oh. Later, as the chronic boredom of night watch grinds on, Lee decides to start a tenuous, secret friendship with his Northern counterparts. This riveting military thriller examines the terrors of over-militarization and the longing of Koreans to unite with their countrymen and relatives on the other side of the border—and it might help explain why South Korea is more willing to deal with the North than the U.S. government is.

Content: An excellent film for thoughtful high school students and adults.

Chinese Ghost Story

(Hong Kong, 1987)

This wildly funny sword opera concerns a wandering Taoist monk who falls in love with the ghost of a beautiful young woman—think Spielberg's Poltergeist, but with a much more humorous twist. While North American thriller/chillers are often based on pre-Christian superstitions like the walking dead, the witching hour, etc., Chinese supernatural films often draw on ancient beliefs that are not necessarily believed per se, but part of a general worldview. Chinese Ghost Story gives great, accessible insights into the Tao and traditional Chinese superstitions.

Teenagers will find it hilarious, and it serves as a great springboard for discussions about the universality of ghost stories and the way Christians and others often unwittingly adopt such beliefs.

Content: Brief sexual references. Lots of satirical violence. Suitable for high school and above.

My Sassy Girl

(South Korea, 2001)

This is the all-time favorite movie of my high school film students. A hapless college slacker meets up with a self-destructive young woman and develops a chaste, and infuriating, relationship. The essential question is whether or not lovers can be destined for one another. The Greeks and Romans believed in Cupid's arrow. The person struck would fall in love with the next person they saw. Asian beliefs in karma and reincarnation also lend themselves to the idea that people are destined for one another. But can people who are destined for one another meet too early or too late?

Despite its broad humor, My Sassy Girl makes a profound statement about love and destiny. It's a great introduction to the similarities and differences between Asian samsara and Christian ideas of God's sovereignty and free will. Adults will appreciate it most if they see it in a room full of teenagers.

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Related Elsewhere:

Top Ten Movies from Europe	Printer view
From stories of grace and beauty to those depicting the horrors and heartbreak of war and death, here's one critic's list of European movies worth watching.

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Top Ten Movies from the Middle East	Printer view
In a time when so many images from this part of the world remind us of war, two of our critics list ten outstanding films from the area that give us a better understanding of its people.

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Top Ten Movies from the Rest of the World	Printer view
Previous articles in this series looked at the best films from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Here's the best of the rest of the planet, as chosen by two of our critics.