Top Ten Movies from Asia
From hilarious comedies to poignant—even heartbreaking—stories about culture and society, here's one critic's list of Asian movies worth watching.
by Stefan Ulstein | posted 8/31/2004
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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)
Directed by Park Chan-Wook
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)
Directed by Ching Siu-Tung
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.
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