Asian Films to See Before You Die
by matthew_gist | created - 19 Nov 2012 | updated - 19 Feb 2013 | Publicno particular order
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2. 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
3. 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: 634,797 | Gross: $0.71M
4. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 847,920 | Gross: $10.06M
5. 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: 9,726 | Gross: $0.06M
6. Thirst (2009)
R | 134 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Through a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Choi Hee-jin, Seo Dong-soo
Votes: 51,361 | Gross: $0.30M
Director's cut
7. The Warlords (2007)
R | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
China, 1860s: Having his army slaughtered, General Qingyun joins 2 bandit leaders in raids on rebels and in blood oath. They form a Qing loyal army with eyes on rebel held Suzhou and Nanjing.
Directors: Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Wai-Man Yip | Stars: Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Jinglei Xu
Votes: 27,804 | Gross: $0.13M
8. Harakiri (1962)
Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
When a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 68,470
9. Ran (1985)
R | 160 min | Action, Drama, War
In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Votes: 136,018 | Gross: $4.14M
10. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,442 | Gross: $0.27M
11. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,427 | Gross: $0.06M
12. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 180,231 | Gross: $0.10M
13. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
PG | 125 min | Drama, Romance
China in the 1920s. After her father's death, Songlian is forced to marry the wealthy Master Chen. With three wives already, each living in a separate house, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Jingwu Ma, Saifei He, Cuifen Cao
Votes: 35,299 | Gross: $2.60M
14. Castle in the Sky (1986)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada
Votes: 182,079
15. Princess Mononoke (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Billy Crudup
Votes: 433,106 | Gross: $2.38M
16. Dersu Uzala (1975)
G | 142 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Maksim Munzuk, Yuriy Solomin, Mikhail Bychkov, Vladimir Khrulyov
Votes: 33,464
This is actually a Soviet-Japanese coproduction, but the director, Akira Kurosawa, is Japanese, so we'll count it as "Asian."
17. Red Beard (1965)
Not Rated | 185 min | Drama
In 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yûzô Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Reiko Dan
Votes: 21,073
18. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 42,194
19. 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: 58,229 | Gross: $0.24M
20. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 281,490 | Gross: $128.08M
21. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
G | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their teenage daughter Arrietty is discovered.
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi | Stars: Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Mirai Shida
Votes: 104,157 | Gross: $19.20M
22. 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: 72,674
23. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
Not Rated | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
Depicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentarô Mikuni, Kurôemon Onoe
Votes: 9,503
Let this title represent Hiroshi Inagaki's entire Samurai Trilogy, including Duel at Ichijoji Temple and Duel at Ganryu Island.
24. 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: 34,145
25. Throne of Blood (1957)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 55,875
26. Yojimbo (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa
Votes: 131,213
Let this title represent both Yojimbo and its 1962 sequel, Sanjuro.
27. 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: 86,747 | Gross: $2.38M
28. Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)
PG | 162 min | Drama, History, War
A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu
Votes: 38,128
29. Failan (2001)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Romance
A marriage of convenience between a petty gangster and an illegal immigrant he has never met has unforeseen consequences for them both.
Director: Hae-sung Song | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Cecilia Cheung, Son Byung-ho, Kong Hyeong-jin
Votes: 6,213
30. Painted Fire (2002)
Unrated | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
In a time of political and social unrest in nineteenth-century Korea, an uncouth, self-taught painter explores his natural talent amidst the repressive world around him.
Director: Im Kwon-taek | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Ahn Sung-ki, Yoo Ho-jeong, Kim Yeo-jin
Votes: 2,823 | Gross: $0.06M
31. 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: 37,913 | Gross: $0.13M
32. The Front Line (2011)
Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Drama, History
A drama centered on the Korean War's final battle that will determine the border between north and south.
Director: Hun Jang | Stars: Shin Ha-kyun, Go Soo, Ryu Seung-su, Ko Chang-seok
Votes: 7,097 | Gross: $0.01M
33. Rough Cut (2008)
Not Rated | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A gangster who wants to be an actor; an actor more gangster than anything. Here their paths and lives begin to cross.
Director: Hun Jang | Stars: So Ji-seob, Ko Chang-seok, Jang Hie-jin, Kang Ji-hwan
Votes: 2,996
34. Fearless (2006)
PG-13 | 104 min | Action, Biography, Drama
A biography of Chinese Martial Arts Master Huo Yuanjia, who is the founder and spiritual guru of the Jin Wu Sports Federation.
Director: Ronny Yu | Stars: Jet Li, Li Sun, Yong Dong, Yun Qu
Votes: 78,657 | Gross: $24.63M
Director's cut
35. Shinjuku Incident (2009)
R | 119 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A simple Chinese immigrant wages a perilous war against one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet.
Director: Tung-Shing Yee | Stars: Jackie Chan, Naoto Takenaka, Daniel Wu, Jinglei Xu
Votes: 13,562
36. 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: 42,892
37. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
G | 103 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi
Votes: 165,161
38. Dumplings (2004)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Horror
Aunt Mei's famous homemade dumplings provide amazing age-defying qualities popular with middle-aged women. But her latest customer - a fading actress - is determined to find out what the secret ingredient is.
Director: Fruit Chan | Stars: Bai Ling, Miriam Chin-Wah Yeung, Sum-Yeung Wong, Wai-Ling Chan
Votes: 10,281
39. Love and Honor (2006)
PG-13 | 122 min | Drama, History, Romance
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Takuya Kimura, Rei Dan, Mitsugorô Bandô, Takashi Sasano
Votes: 4,276 | Gross: $0.02M
40. Samaritan Girl (2004)
R | 97 min | Drama
Jae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates, taking care of the money and making sure the coast is clear. When Jae-Young... See full summary »
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Lee Eol, Kwak Ji-min, Han Yeo-reum, Hyun-min Kwon
Votes: 14,072
41. Red Cliff (2008)
R | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The first chapter of a two-part story centered on a battle fought in China's Three Kingdoms period (220-280 A.D.).
Director: John Woo | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 48,474 | Gross: $0.63M
Let this title represent the international cut of both Red Cliff and Red Cliff II.
42. 200 Pounds Beauty (2006)
Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A talented but obese girl, who ghost-sings for a not-so-talented pop star, undergoes extensive plastic surgery to become a slender beauty with a new identity.
Director: Yong-hwa Kim | Stars: Ju Jin-mo, Kim Ah-jung, Sung Dong-il, Kim Hyun-sook
Votes: 8,809
43. The Quiet Family (1998)
101 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A family opens a mountain inn where their first guest commits suicide. Suddenly all their guests befall horrible fates.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Park In-hwan, Na Moon-hee, Song Kang-ho, Choi Min-sik
Votes: 5,991
44. Fist of Legend (1994)
R | 103 min | Action, Drama
In 1937, a Chinese martial artist returns to Shanghai to find his teacher dead and his school harassed by the Japanese.
Director: Gordon Chan | Stars: Jet Li, Shinobu Nakayama, Siu-Ho Chin, Billy Chow
Votes: 24,908
45. Chushingura (1962)
207 min | Action, Drama, History
After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Yûzô Kayama, Chûsha Ichikawa, Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Mihashi
Votes: 2,235
46. Silmido (2003)
Not Rated | 135 min | Action, Drama
Based on a true story of 1968 Korean Republic Army plan to assassinate North Korean president Kim Il-Sung. 31 criminals and death row inmates are recruited into secret training on the ... See full summary »
Director: Kang Woo-suk | Stars: Ahn Sung-ki, Sol Kyung-gu, Huh Joon-ho, Jeong Jae-yeong
Votes: 4,722
47. Dreams (1990)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada
Votes: 29,139 | Gross: $1.96M
48. Art of the Devil II (2005)
100 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A group of high school friends reunite after two years when one of their fathers' committed suicide. They all spend the night at their friend's place. When darkness falls, strange things ... See full summary »
Directors: Pasith Buranajan, Kome Kongkiat Komesiri, Isara Nadee, Seree Phongnithi, Yosapong Polsap, Putipong Saisikaew, Art Thamthrakul | Stars: Napakpapha Nakprasitte, Hataiwan Ngamsukonpusit, Akarin Siwapornpitak, Chanida Suriyakompon
Votes: 1,686
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