East Asian Movies
by inpillform | created - 20 Oct 2013 | updated - 12 Feb 2022 | PublicJapan, Korea, China, Taiwan.
These movies are sorted by when I first watched them. I have an affinity for gritty movies, more often than not related to organized crime. I welcome suggestions, if anyone feels so inclined.
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1. Blue Spring (2001)
83 min | Drama
A group of a run-down Tokyo high school students face the struggles of growing up, growing apart from their friends and worrying about their future, while living in a highly violent environment.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Hirofumi Arai, Sôsuke Takaoka, Yûsuke Ôshiba
Votes: 4,368
This movie got me into Asian cinema. It will always hold a special place in my heart. I even visited the filming location! If you want to see the pictures I took or just talk about the movie, feel free to send me a message.
2. Chûgoku no chôjin (1998)
TV-PG | 118 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A salaryman and yakuza are each sent by their bosses to a remote Chinese village but discover more than they expected.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Renji Ishibashi, Mako, Michiko Kichise
Votes: 4,920
3. Crying Out Love in the Center of the World (2004)
138 min | Drama, Romance
While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.
Director: Isao Yukisada | Stars: Takao Osawa, Kô Shibasaki, Masami Nagasawa, Mirai Moriyama
Votes: 3,889
4. Fireworks (1997)
103 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Nishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Ôsugi, Susumu Terajima
Votes: 33,122 | Gross: $0.23M
Rewatched 07 Jul 21
5. Kids Return (1996)
107 min | Crime, Drama, Sport
Dropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with them.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Ken Kaneko, Masanobu Andô, Leo Morimoto, Hatsuo Yamaya
Votes: 6,763
6. Beyond Outrage (2012)
R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Drama
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Toshiyuki Nishida, Tomokazu Miura, Takeshi Kitano, Ryô Kase
Votes: 7,250
7. Cold Fish (2010)
Not Rated | 146 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The lives of a bored suburban couple are changed forever when a seemingly nice old man gives their daughter a job at his fish store, and soon his gruesome hobbies are brought to light.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Denden, Asuka Kurosawa, Megumi Kagurazaka
Votes: 14,493
8. Ichi the Killer (2001)
R | 129 min | Action, Crime, Drama
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Ômori, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Paulyn Sun
Votes: 59,982 | Gross: $0.02M
This movie is a must-watch if you are into Japanese cinema. Violent, shocking, unforgettable.
9. 9 Souls (2003)
120 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Nine convicts escape from prison; most are convicted murderers. They commandeer a van from a strip club.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda | Stars: Yoshio Harada, Ryûhei Matsuda, Michio Akiyama, Yû Fujiki
Votes: 1,910
10. Battle Royale (2000)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama
Votes: 194,226
11. Outrage (2010)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The boss of a major crime syndicate orders his lieutenant to bring a rogue gang of drug traffickers in line, a job that gets passed on to his long-suffering subordinate.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Kippei Shîna, Ryô Kase, Fumiyo Kohinata
Votes: 14,646
12. Tokyo Rampage (1998)
98 min | Crime
A young man gets off the train in the morning and wanders the business districts aimlessly. He runs across some yakuza gangsters, whom he despises, and goes on a killing spree, but soon becomes involved with a subordinate gang.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda | Stars: Chihara Junia, Onimaru, Akaji Maro, Rin Ozawa
Votes: 1,130
13. Gôruden suranbâ (2010)
139 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Aoyagi meets an old friend and ends up framed for the murder of the prime minister.
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura | Stars: Yûko Takeuchi, Nao Ômori, Masato Sakai, Hidetaka Yoshioka
Votes: 1,374
14. Monga (2010)
Not Rated | 140 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Set in 1980s Taiwan after the end of military dictatorship, Monga centers around the troubled lives of five boys coming of age together. The narrator of the story, Mosquito, is invited to ... See full summary »
Director: Doze Niu | Stars: Ethan Juan, Mark You-Ting Chao, Ju-Lung Ma, Chia-Yen Ko
Votes: 3,119
15. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003)
R | 116 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
The blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Yui Natsukawa, Michiyo Yasuda
Votes: 51,494 | Gross: $0.85M
16. A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007)
121 min | Drama
When eighth grade cool guy Hiromi transfers from Tokyo to a small elementary/middle school with only six kids enrolled, wholesome and honest Soyo becomes enthralled with his sophisticated world.
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita | Stars: Kaho, Masaki Okada, Elisa Yanagi, Shôko Fujimura
Votes: 1,503
17. Love Exposure (2008)
Unrated | 237 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
A bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, Sakura Andô, Yutaka Shimizu
Votes: 15,867
18. Suicide Club (2001)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A detective is trying to find the cause of a string of suicides.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho, Tamao Satô
Votes: 22,177
19. Hanging Garden (2005)
114 min | Drama
A family struggling to live together even with the outrageous behaviors from each family members.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda | Stars: Kyôko Koizumi, Anne Suzuki, Itsuji Itao, Masahiro Hirota
Votes: 945
20. Himizu (2011)
129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After two teenagers from abusive households befriend each other, their lives take a dark adventure into existentialism, despair, and human frailty.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Shôta Sometani, Fumi Nikaidô, Tetsu Watanabe, Mitsuru Fukikoshi
Votes: 4,696
21. 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: 145,932 | Gross: $0.13M
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: 72,651
23. 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: 42,886
24. 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: 634,557 | Gross: $0.71M
25. The Yellow Sea (2010)
R | 136 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When the attempt to kill a professor goes wrong, a series of violent events are triggered which force a taxi driver to run for his life.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Lee Yoo-mi, Ha Jung-woo, Lee Hee-joon, Kim Yoon-seok
Votes: 22,934
26. 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: 22,881 | Gross: $0.09M
27. Fish Story (2009)
113 min | Action, Comedy, Music
Several seemingly unrelated but surprisingly intertwined tales reveal how a Japanese band that independently invented punk rock in 1975 is, 37 years later, connected to a comet that is about to destroy the world.
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura | Stars: Atsushi Itô, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Noriko Eguchi, Hidekazu Mashima
Votes: 3,432
28. 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: 19,697
29. Gozu (2003)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A yakuza enforcer is ordered to secretly drive his beloved colleague to be assassinated. But when the colleague unceremoniously disappears en route, the trip that follows is a twisted, surreal and horrifying experience.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Yûta Sone, Kimika Yoshino, Shohei Hino, Keiko Tomita
Votes: 12,718 | Gross: $0.05M
30. Sonatine (1993)
R | 94 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Several yakuza from Tokyo are sent to Okinawa to help end a gang war. The war then escalates and the Tokyo drifters decide to lay low at the beach.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Aya Kokumai, Tetsu Watanabe, Masanobu Katsumura
Votes: 23,246
31. Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen (2015)
125 min | Action, Comedy
Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen (2015) is about the story of Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen who love derby race want to do the last battle with Yakuza guys.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takayuki Akaike, Kiyomi Aratani, Masahiro Asano, Makoto Ashikawa
Votes: 2,122
32. Graveyard of Honor (2002)
Not Rated | 131 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However his fear of nothing soon causes problems.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Gorô Kishitani, Ryôsuke Miki, Narimi Arimori, Mikio Ôsawa
Votes: 2,346
33. Rainy Dog (1997)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama
A Japanese assassin stranded in Taiwan must take work from a local crime boss to make ends meet when suddenly a woman from his past delivers a son to him.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Shô Aikawa, Li-Wei Chang, Shih Chang, Xianmei Chen
Votes: 2,878
34. Ley Lines (1999)
Not Rated | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A group of Chinese youths living in Japan struggle to make their way in life and eventually find trouble with the local crime syndicate.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Kazuki Kitamura, Tomorô Taguchi, Dan Li, Naoto Takenaka
Votes: 1,786
35. A Taxi Driver (2017)
Not Rated | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
A widowed father and taxi driver who drives a German reporter from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the 1980 uprising, soon finds himself regretting his decision after being caught in the violence around him.
Director: Hun Jang | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Thomas Kretschmann, Yoo Hae-jin, Ryu Jun-Yeol
Votes: 31,092 | Gross: $1.53M
36. Cruel Winter Blues (2006)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Along with a partner, a small-time crook arrives at the hometown of his mentor's killer to seek revenge, but gets caught in a fix upon befriending the killer's mother.
Director: Lee Jeong-beom | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Jo Han-sun, Na Moon-hee, Woo-Sung Choi
Votes: 797
37. 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: 81,711
38. Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time (2012)
Not Rated | 134 min | Action, Crime, Drama
On the verge of being fired, a corrupt customs official finds a haul of drugs and teams up with a vicious gangster to become the most powerful crime partnership in Busan.
Director: Yoon Jong-bin | Stars: Choi Min-sik, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Ma Dong-seok
Votes: 7,286
39. Little Forest (2018)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama
A young woman grows tired of life in the city and returns to her hometown in the countryside.
Director: Soon-rye Yim | Stars: Kim Tae-ri, Ryu Jun-Yeol, Jin Ki-joo, Moon So-ri
Votes: 3,890
40. Parasite (2019)
R | 132 min | Drama, Thriller
Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly-formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-sik
Votes: 956,110 | Gross: $53.37M
January
41. Sympathy for the Underdog (1971)
93 min | Crime, Drama
A yakuza gang gets driven out of Yokohama by a big gang from Tokyo. They relocate to Okinawa to violently start over.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Kôji Tsuruta, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Tsunehiko Watase, Akiko Kudô
Votes: 1,040
Yokohama gang relocates to Okinawa. Includes the one-armed unibrow guy.
42. Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
During the violent chaos of post-War Japanese black market, a young gangster called Shozo Hirono has to keep up with the rapid shifts of power between unscrupulous bosses.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Kunie Tanaka, Eiko Nakamura
Votes: 4,302
From post WWII black-market thugs to Yakuza syndicates in the 70s. Hiroshima area. Deep-voiced protagonist.
43. 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: 86,269 | Gross: $3.31M
Non-biological family. Poverty. In Tokyo. Ando Sakura
44. 37 Seconds (2019)
115 min | Drama
Yuma is a young Japanese woman with cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, she struggles to lead a self-determined life.
Director: Hikari | Stars: Makiko Watanabe, Nanami Kawakami, Eita Okuno, Yuka Itaya
Votes: 3,111
Disabled main character. Soft voiced. Coming of age.
45. First Love (2019)
TV-MA | 108 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A young boxer and a call girl get caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme over the course of one night in Tokyo.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Becky, Bengal, Masayuki Deai, Mami Fujioka
Votes: 8,022
Meth in chest wound car chase scene
46. Naui gyeolhon wonjeonggi (2005)
120 min | Comedy, Drama
A 38-year-old single man, Hong Man-Taek is a petty farmer still living with his mother. Seeing a neighbor married to an Uzbekistan bride and frightened by the fact that his own grandson ... See full summary »
Director: Hwang Byeong-guk | Stars: Soo Ae, Shin Eun-kyung, Kim Eung-soo, Jeong Jae-yeong
Votes: 199
Korean men find Korean-Uzbekistani brides
47. Like Father, Like Son (2013)
Not Rated | 121 min | Drama
Ryota is a successful workaholic businessman. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another boy after birth, he faces the difficult decision to choose his true son or the boy he and his wife have raised as their own.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Yôko Maki, Lily Franky
Votes: 28,096 | Gross: $0.28M
Babies swapped at birth, family faced with choice of swapping back
48. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
R | 171 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, You Ge
Votes: 33,064 | Gross: $5.22M
49. Minari (2020)
PG-13 | 115 min | Drama
A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
Director: Lee Isaac Chung | Stars: Steven Yeun, Han Yeri, Alan Kim, Noel Cho
Votes: 96,703
30th of June, Klingenberg. Korean family moves to rural Arkansas in the 80s
50. Hit Me Anyone One More Time! (2019)
127 min | Comedy, Drama
Keisuke Kuroda (Kiichi Nakai) wakes up in a hospital bed and he is unable to remember who he is. He sneaks out of the hospital and happens to see the news on TV.
Director: Kôki Mitani | Stars: Kiichi Nakai, Dean Fujioka, Yuriko Ishida, Masao Kusakari
Votes: 617
Political comedy
51. Chungking Express (1994)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong
Votes: 95,551 | Gross: $0.60M
3. August
52. 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: 54,918 | Gross: $1.50M
28. November.
53. Boiling Point (1990)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two disquieted junior baseball players seek revenge on the local yakuza for attacking their coach.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Yûrei Yanagi, Yuriko Ishida, Taka Guadalcanal
Votes: 7,486 | Gross: $0.00M
Almost-mute protagonist. Baseball, Setagaya. Goes to Okinawa, Takeshi Kitano plays psycopathic Uehara.
54. Love Letter (1995)
PG | 117 min | Drama, Romance
When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han, Katsuyuki Shinohara
Votes: 10,968
お元気ですか？あたしは元気です！ 7. January, Lillehammer.
55. April Story (1998)
67 min | Drama, Romance
In spring, a young girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Takako Matsu, Seiichi Tanabe, Kazuhiko Kato, Kaori Fujii
Votes: 4,069
Quiet girl moves from Hokkaido to Tokyo. Musashino University. Only ~60 minutes.
56. Asakusa Kid (2021)
TV-MA | 122 min | Biography, Drama
Before he hit it big, Takeshi Kitano got his start apprenticing with comedy legend Fukami of Asakusa. But as his star rises, his mentor's declines.
Director: Gekidan Hitori | Stars: Gina Su, Keiko Agena, Feodor Chin, Nicole Fong
Votes: 1,774
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