I know you’ve been waiting for this… Here are one hundred remarkable Asian films from 2023. Enjoy!

This curated list reflects a blend of films I personally enjoyed last year, acclaimed movies from Class A festivals, and noteworthy recommendations from 2023. I’ve also included some hidden cinematic gems from 2022 that I believe are worth mentioning. It’s important to note that the coverage of the AFF extends to festivals across East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. If you find this article engaging, feel free to share it with your friends. As always, thank you for your continued support. – Sebastián Nadilo

Note: This list may contain movies made by filmmakers with Asian ancestry.

#Manhole by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri – Japan | 2023 – 97 minutes

The top salesperson at the real-estate firm where he works, and set to marry the daughter of his boss, handsome and self-effacing Shunsuke earns the respect, and maybe the jealousy, of his friends and colleagues. The night before his wedding begins well, with a surprise party where the alcohol flows freely. After leaving and heading home, however, things take a sudden downward turn. Quite literally — Shunsuke has tumbled into a deep, dirty, concrete manhole, with a broken ladder and no passersby to hear him yelp for rescue. Worse yet, his leg has been badly gashed in the fall. His cellphone is of little use, initially, as calls to friends go unanswered and, when he finally calls the police, they are pointedly unhelpful. The one person he can reach, his ex-girlfriend, isn’t much more help, so Shunsuke turns to social media, concocting a false identity to lure assistance. As he soon finds out, pretending to be someone else can have rather complicated consequences… (Fantasia 2023)

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A Boy and A Girl by Hsu Li-Da – Taiwan | 2023 – 140 minutes

A girl shows her trust of a boy by showing him a dead fetus in a jar. Her relationship with the soccer coach she once loved left her haunted by the agony of murder. The boy, who desperately wants to leave after witnessing his mother’s affair, decides to pool money together with the girl. The unnamed protagonists of A Boy and a Girl act out a story about all boys and girls today who are extorted rather than protected by adults. The greatest tragedy of all lies in the fact that no matter what misdeeds they might commit, the unsympathetic, even malevolent punishment they face far exceeds their misdeeds. A feature debut film by Hsu Li-Da, who has built a career through short films and television dramas, this film will be world-premiered at the 2023 BIFF. (CHOI Eun | Busan2023)

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A Guilty Conscience by Jack Ng – Hong Kong | 2023 – 133 minutes

If you love stories about lawyers fighting unwinnable battles against legal Goliaths, A Guilty Conscience is the film for you. Adrian is an ambitious lawyer who must defend a woman accused of killing her daughter. The trial gets off to a bad start and, after being betrayed by a witness, the defendant is convicted. Two years later, a more worldly Adrian initiates the appeals process, but he soon finds himself up against the most powerful family in Hong Kong. (FEFF 2023)

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A Normal Family by Hur Jin-ho – Korea | 2023 – 116 minutes

Brothers Jae-wan and Jae-gyu hold clashing values. One is a successful criminal lawyer who has no qualms defending murderers, and the other, a compassionate and loving surgeon. When they discover a dreadful secret of their two teenage children, their values are profoundly challenged. To what lengths will parents go to protect their children? (SGIFF 2023)

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A Place of Our Own by Ektara Collective – India | 2022 – 88 minutes

Laila and Roshni, two trans women, are looking for a house after they are evicted from the place they rented. It soon becomes evident that their search for a home is also their ongoing search for a place in this society that wants to keep them away in a section that cannot be the center. (SIWFF 2023)

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A Song Sung Blue by Geng Zihan – China | 2023 – 92 minutes

In Harbin, China, in the early 2010s, fifteen-year-old Xian goes to live with her estranged father when her mother, a doctor, takes a job in Africa for a year. Her initial anticipation that this would be the worst summer of her life takes a dramatic turn when she encounters the captivating Mingmei at her father’s photo studio. A girl’s coming-of-age story, A Song Sung Blue is infused with the romantic fervor and nostalgic sentiments that come with a teenage girl’s admiration for another woman. Just as the vibrant Mingmei enters Xian’s quiet and solitary world, the film’s tonal scheme, dominated by aquamarine blue, is accentuated with vivid red accents whenever Mingmei steps into the frame, creating a dreamy atmosphere. Photography plays a significant role in the film, not only serving as a repository of memories but also a lens that captures elusive allure, desire, and concealed emotions. (HONG Soin | Busan2023)

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A Tour Guide by Kwak Eun-mi – Korea | 2023 – 95 minutes

Hanyeong, a North Korean defector, obtained a tourist guide license in Korea by utilizing the Chinese language she learned while living in China. She is still adapting to the unfamiliar environment and trying to improve her performance in South Korea. However, her life continues to undergo constant changes amid the flow of time. (SIWFF 2023)

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Absence by Wu Lang – China | 2023 – 100 minutes

Released from jail after 10 years, Han Jiangyu returns home to Hainan. Much has changed on the island in his absence, but in a coastal barber shop he finds his former flame, Su Hong, and her young daughter – who might be Jiangyu’s. Like many in Hainan, Hong is scrambling to find a foothold among the skyscrapers that have drastically altered the landscape over the past decade, and in Jiangyu she finds a potential solution: as a local, he can buy housing; he’s also working for property tycoon Kai. But when Kai’s latest development fails, the makeshift family take matters into their own hands. (MIFF 2023)

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And, Towards Happy Alleys by Sreemoyee Singh– India | 2023 – 75 minutes

Fascinated by Iran’s film culture and the poetic works of the feminist poet Forough Farrokhzad, Indian filmmaker Sreemoyee Singh sets out in search of the protagonists of Iranian cinema. The numerous interviews she conducts over a period of six years with filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Shirvani and human rights activist Nasrin Sotudeh, among others, show the precarious situation in which critics of the regime find themselves, including the constant threat of imprisonment and being banned from practising their profession. With a keen eye for unusual situations, she documents the effect of the Islamic Republic’s strict and omnipresent censorship on the daily lives of Iranian women whose uncompromising struggle has put them at the forefront of the protests that are currently rocking the country.

And, Towards Happy Alleys is a passionate declaration of love for the cinema and poetry of Iran which also provides a frank view of daily life, and bears witness to a fearless generation raising its voice and implacably demanding its civil liberties. (Berlinale 2023)

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Architecture & Cats by Ricky Junhyung Cho, Lee Kyuyiol – Korea | 2023 – 70 minutes

Yunseon’s day begins with taking food to the cat feeding station in the mountains behind her neighborhood. Her husband, Yunjae, is displeased with Yunseon, who prioritizes the cat’s food over her own but pretends to be indifferent and helps her behind the scenes. The two decide to build a house on the empty lot behind the house. The lot is already a hideout for the neighborhood cats. Can they build their house without harming the cats’ habitat? Is it possible for humans and animals to build a home together? (SIAFF 2023)

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Art College 1994 by Liu Jian – China | 2023 – 118 minutes

Art College 1994 is a portrait of youth set on the campus of the Chinese Southern Academy of Arts in the early 1990s. Against the backdrop of reforms opening China to the Western world, a group of college students live in full swing as they take their first steps into adulthood, where love and friendships are intertwined with artistic pursuits, ideals and ambitions. Caught between tradition and modernity, they now have to choose who they want to become. (BIAF 2023)

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ASOG by Seán Devlin – Philippines, Canada | 2023 – 101 minutes

Once a television comedian and schoolteacher, newly jobless typhoon survivor Jaya’s next steps are made clear by a Ms. Gay beauty pageant advertisement: ‘We’ll win for sure, look at these cheekbones’. Charting Jaya’s travels, Seán Devlin offers a fascinating portrait of Jaya’s worldview, alongside insights into governmental corruption in the aftermath of a natural catastrophe, illuminating an unbroken spirit of Filipino solidarity. – Matt Lulu (BFI LondonFF 2023)

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Bad Lands by Harada Masato – Japan | 2023 – 143 minutes

Slickly directed thriller about a woman and her younger brother, who are conning their way through life. One day, they make a big score, but now they are also on the radar of several different adversaries including the cops. Heir to the many 90s crime comedies that followed in the wake of Pulp Fiction, this frantically paced crime thriller focuses on both the plights of the main protagonists and their many enemies. (CameraJapan 2023)

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Best Wishes to All by Yuta Shimotsu – Japan | 2023 – 84 minutes

What would you do for happiness? Director Yuta Shimotsu answers in his feature film debut. Executive produced by Takashi Shimizu (creator of Ju On: The Grudge) and starring Kotone Furukawa (Berlinale Silver Bear winner for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy), Best Wishes to All follows a young woman’s visit to her grandparents’ home and her discovery of what’s brought them happiness—a revelation that will lead her to question her choices, sanity and reality itself. Best Wishes to All starts slow and builds to a frantic, manic and disturbingly satisfying end. (JapanCuts 2023)

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Blue Giant by Tachikawa Yuzuru – Japan | 2023 – 120 minutes

Animated film adaptation of the popular “Blue Giant” manga series (sold over 11 million copies) , which has been described as “a manga that makes you feel like you can hear the music”. (TIFF 2023)

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City of Wind by Purev-Ochir Lkhagvadulam – France, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Qatar | 2023 – 103 minutes

Seventeen-year-old Ze attends a modern school in Ulaanbaatar, while also leading a traditional life as a shaman and communing with ancestral spirits. Unlike his older sister, who is grappling with the gap between urban life and traditions, Ze appears to maintain a good balance. When he goes to perform a rite for Maralaa, a rebellious and unstable girl of his age who is about to undergo surgery, he finds himself drawn to her, igniting a desire within him. City of Wind centers on the teenage protagonists on the cusp of adulthood and questions the values and the boundaries between individual desires and communal responsibilities, tradition and modern, urban and rural, and realistic life and spiritual life. The uncertainties, confusion, and loneliness that the teens face in this film reflect the anxieties of Mongolia’s youth in a society undergoing rapid changes. (HONG Soin | Busan2023)

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Cobweb by Kim Jee-Woon – Korea | 2023 – 134 minutes

Straight from Cannes, Kim Jee-woon’s (A Tale of Two Sisters, The Age of Shadows) latest is a deliriously funny and clever film about a director obsessed with re-shooting the end of his completed film. Stars Song Kang-ho (Parasite, SFF 2019). (Sydney 2023)

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Concerning My Daughter by Lee Mirang – Korea | 2023 – 106 minutes | World Premiere

An independent daughter moves into her mother’s house due to financial problems, and brings with her same-sex lover, Rain. Mom is left bewildered. Meanwhile, the mom, who works as a caregiver, strives to provide the best care for Je-hee, an elderly woman who lives alone. Based on the novel of the same name, Concerning My Daughter avoids exaggeration or haste, opting instead to meticulously and calmly develop the narrative. This deliberate approach leads to the poignant exploration of the situation and emotions. The story delves into the dilemma of feeling embarrassed when something that seems unrelated becomes your concern when viewed from a different perspective. The mother refuses to give up on Je-hee out of compassion, while the daughter and Rain find a way to be together, even if it doesn’t align with the traditionally heterosexual-centered notion of family. How different and distant they are from each other, who seek companionship beyond the confines of the family structure? As the mother turns the question inward, the introspective drama deepens and broadens. (JEONG Jihye | Busan2023)

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Day Off by Fu Tien-yu – Taiwan | 2023 – 105 minutes

A-Rui has been a hairdresser for over 40 years. Tireless and skilled with scissors, she’s an institution in her community, and she has also infected her children – who follow in her footsteps – with her love of the job. A love that leads her to use her day off not to rest but to go and cut the hair of a sick client. Much more than a feel-good movie, Day Off is a portrait of humanity in its most sincere, most sublime form. (FEFF 2023)

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Day Tripper by Chen Yanqi – China | 2023 – 90 minutes

On an ordinary day in a city in northern China, people struggle with their lives as usual. A middle-aged man finds his job has been given to a young person. He doesn’t know where to go. The man’s wife wants a new life. She tries to move to a new place and break up with her lover. Some high school students are numbly arranged in the schoolyard. And a young teacher is trying to change the traditional education system. At a remote bus stop, people wait for the bus all day. However, they don’t know the bus will never stop here. The owner of a barbershop forces the barbers to go into the streets to grab customers. Similarly, a barbecue shop owner is transforming his shop into a nightclub. When night falls, people finish work and come to the new nightclub. They lose themselves in the gorgeous illusion. (WarsawFF 2023)

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Part 5 (Available on 01/11)