Playlists > My Favorite Asian Films of All Time (except Martial arts)

My Favorite Asian Films of All Time (except Martial arts)
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No films that are basically strictly kung fu in this list. That deserves its own list.

Every film on this list I have seen, loved, & recommend.


Creator: JennyFromBlockD
Posted: 4 years ago
 
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Movie: Oldboy ( 2003 )
After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in five days.
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Movie: Princess Aurora ( 2005 )
A woman gets killed in a department store. No one imagines this could lead to serial murders, but two days after the first murder, another homicide occurs. A woman is suffocated to death and the only evidence left at the crime scene is a sticker of the cartoon character "Princess Aurora". A veteran detective OH suspects an attractive and lively woman named JUNG Soon-j...Read all
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Movie: The Man from Nowhere ( 2010 )
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.
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Movie: Hwayi: A Monster Boy ( 2013 )
A boy with five fathers who is attached to the criminal underworld. A sinister past is about to be revealed as he is forced to join the killing spree.
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Movie: Mother ( 2009 )
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
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Movie: I Saw the Devil ( 2010 )
A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
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Movie: The Chaser ( 2008 )
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.
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Movie: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance ( 2002 )
A recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' friend's daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.
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Movie: Lady Vengeance ( 2005 )
After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.
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Movie: Battle Royale ( 2000 )
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
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Movie: Infernal Affairs ( 2002 )
A story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.
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Movie: Infernal Affairs II ( 2003 )
In this prequel to Mou gaan dou (2002), Chan Wing Yan has just become an undercover cop in the triads while Lau Kin Ming joins the police force. Both the triads and the police find an enemy in a rival crime boss.
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Movie: The Warlords ( 2007 )
Set in China in the 1860's during the Taiping Rebellion, the story is based on the assassination of Ma Xinyi in 1870. Loyalist General Qingyun is the only survivor of a battle with anti-Qing rebels. He encounters a starving village, whose inhabitants engage in banditry to survive, where he is nursed back to health by the attractive Liansheng. With his strength regained, Qingyun impresses one of the village bandit leaders, Jiang Wuyang, with his fighting skills. Wuyang introduces him to his "big brother", who also happens to be Liansheng's husband, Zhao Erhu and Qingyun begins to assist them with their raids. Qingyun convinces his two new comrades to form a loyalist army unit to fight the rebels and feed their own people. The three men swear a blood oath. Their stunning military successes impress the governing powers, but as Qingyun's influence begins to grow, they soon fear him. The political and emotional stakes will be tested, leading to differences between the blood brothers.
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Movie: A Bittersweet Life ( 2005 )
Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't proceed by his boss's orders.
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Movie: A Company Man ( 2012 )
When a change of heart moves a well-trained hitman to tender his resignation to his employers, no good comes of it for anyone.
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Movie: The Good the Bad the Weird ( 2008 )
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.
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Movie: Cold Steel ( 2011 )
It sets in the era of Japan invasion over China. An ordinary hunter joined army to be a sniper.
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Movie: A Better Tomorrow ( 1986 )
A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
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Movie: A Dirty Carnival ( 2006 )
A small time thug collecting debts for the local triad is torn between his criminal aspirations and his devotion to family.
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Movie: Traffickers ( 2012 )
Young-Gyu (Im Chang-Jung) is a former leader of a human organ trafficking group, but after the death of a member he has quit the group. Since that time, Young-Gyu has become a broker for smuggled goods from China. He has also fallen in love with Yoo-Ri (Jo Yoon-Hee), a ticket agent at the local international port terminal. Meanwhile, Yoo-Ri's father (Choi Il-Hwa) is gravely ill and needs an organ transplant. She turns to the black market and goes to Dong-Bae (Shin Seung-Hwan), a loan shark and an organ dealer. Dong-Bae, knowing that Young-Gyu loves Yoo-Ri, calls him in for a meeting and asks Young-Gyu to do a job for him. Young-Gyu doesn't want any part of it, but when he learns Yoo-Ri has turned to Dong-Bae, he decides to take the job. Young-Gyu then reforms his old team and they board a ship for Qingdao, China. Meanwhile, Sang-Ho (Daniel Choi), who works as an insurance agent, takes his wife Chae-Hee (Jung Ji-Yoon) on a cruise ship to Qingdao, China. Sang-Ho's wife is also the target of Young-Gyu's crew, who plan on kidnapping her and removing her organ before they land in China
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Movie: Breathless ( 2009 )
A bitter loan shark strikes a friendship with a troubled schoolgirl as he faces his own troubled past with his abusive father.
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Movie: No Tears for the Dead ( 2014 )
A hit man traumatized from accidentally killing a young girl during a job is given the mission to eliminate her mother, and begins the ultimate fight to save her life.
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Movie: A Better Tomorrow ( 2010 )
Arms trafficker Hyuk and Young-chun are practically brothers and nothing can separate them. When the two managed to escape from North Korea, they left behind Hyuk's younger brother Chul. Hyuk can never shake off the guilt as his family was punished for his treason and his mother died in prison. Three years later, Chul finally makes his way to South Korea and join the police force. Hyuk tries to earn the trust and love of his younger brother, but abandonment and betrayal are hard things to forget. Things come to a head when Young-chun pulls Hyuk into doing one last gig for the gang. It happens to be the case that Officer Chul is in charge of. The three brothers meet again one final time.
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Movie: Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time ( 2012 )
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.
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Movie: The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil ( 2019 )
A crime boss teams up with a cop to track down a serial killer.
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Movie: New World ( 2013 )
An undercover cop finds it difficult to play both a cop and a goon.
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Movie: Confession of Murder ( 2012 )
Lee Du-seok publishes an autobiography describing murders he committed after the statute of limitations expires. A detective and one of the victim's mothers search for the author while another killer begins a spree of murders.
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Movie: Soo: Revenge for a Twisted Fate ( 2007 )
A Legendary assassin and a renowned problem solver,Soo has been searching for the twin brother he has not seen since their days in an orphanage. But his brother is murdered when he turns against a vicious gang to become a police officer. In order to get revenge, Soo has no choice but to take on his brother's identity and use it to lure the gang into a trap.
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Movie: Beyond Outrage ( 2012 )
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.
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Movie: The Outrage ( 2010 )
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.
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Movie: Brother ( 2000 )
A Japanese gangster is exiled to Los Angeles where his brother lives with a small but respectable multi-racial gang, who he inspires to expand their influence.
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Movie: Rough Cut ( 2008 )
A gangster who wants to be an actor; an actor more gangster than anything. Here their paths and lives begin to cross.
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Movie: The Suspect ( 2013 )
Betrayed and on the run, a North Korean agent tries to uncover the volatile secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man.
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Movie: Godspeed ( 2016 )
A Taiwanese drug smuggler catches a ride with the wrong cab driver.
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Movie: Drug War ( 2013 )
A drug cartel boss who is arrested in a raid is coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.
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Movie: Ken and Kazu ( 2016 )
Ken was making his life by smuggling methamphetamine with long time buddy, Kazu. Ken has decided to start a new life when he learned that his girlfriend, Saki, became pregnant. At the same time, Ken finds out that Kazu started selling on the side without getting approval from his boss, Mr. Todo. Ken tries to stop Kazu; however, instead, Kazu approaches a new partner. Knowing that this new deal puts their lives in great danger once Mr. Todo finds out... Suspicious of their dangerous involvement, Saki decides to leaves Ken. Mr. Todo finds out and decided to take action... Todo's guys start chasing Ken and Kazu.
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Movie: Flu ( 2013 )
Chaos ensues when a lethal, airborne virus infects the population of a South Korean city less than 20 kilometers from Seoul.
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Movie: Skyfire ( 2021 )
Tianhuo Island is as beautiful as a paradise. It almost makes people forget that it is located in the "Ring of Fire" the world-famous Pacific Rim volcanic belt. The volcano erupted, and the fate of the people in the island was entangled.