I present the second part of my list of one hundred remarkable Asian films from 2023.

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

Dear Jinri by Jung Yoonsuk – Korea | 2023 – 101 minutes

Choi Jinri is the real name of the South Korean celebrity known by her stage name Sulli. Using her real name in the title, Dear Jinri is the product of efforts to get to know her through her last interview, given before she took her life on October 14, 2019, at the age of twenty-five. Who was Sulli? Director Jung Yoon-suk asks repeatedly as he explores a diverse archive of materials, including animation, music videos, films, journals, photographs, and vlogs. Yet, Sulli seems to be somewhere beyond the reach of language, as she responds with a long silence. While cutting out this silence might have been easy, Dear Jinri doesn’t. Even if every moment of the film, every utterance from Sulli appear to be foreshadowing or hinting at events to come, don’t be sad; just remember—this is the message that Dear Jinri conveys to the viewers. (KANG Sowon | Busan2023)

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Dear Renee by Kang Seung-won – Korea | 2023 – 104 minutes

There is a woman who strives to discover her talents and a man who yearns to relinquish his. As the woman embarks on learning the guitar under the guidance of the man, they often reminisce about someone they have long buried in their memories—Minkyung. She was once a friend to the woman and a lover to the man. Despite their estrangement, Minkyung’s presence remains palpable in their conversations and songs. Dear Renee elucidates the reasons behind this connection, while simultaneously observing the evolving dynamics that music has forged. Director penned all the lyrics for the OST resulting in an album-like auditory experience that harmonizes with the film. (Nam Sunwoo)

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Deep Sea by Tian Xiaopeng – China | 2023 – 112 minutes

Haunted by her mother’s abandonment, young Shenxiu is beset by bad dreams. But this nightmare creature, the Hyjinx, is no figment of her imagination. On an ocean cruise with her father and step-family, Shenxiu encounters the Hyjinx as a storm rages, before being cast overboard. Her life is saved, however, by the timely arrival of a submarine – repurposed as a bizarre and wonderful underwater restaurant catering to the denizens of the deep. The deranged dining spot and its oddball staff and crew are overseen by the manic chef Hanhe, who begrudgingly takes Shenxiu under his wing. She wants to follow the many-eyed Hyjinx to the heart of the ocean, in hopes of finding her mother, but can Shenxiu count on the mercurial madman Hanhe? And can they outrun the terrible monster called the Red Phantom? (Fantasia 2023)

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Defectors by KIM Hyunkyung – Korea, USA | 2023 – 84 minutes

When my older sister died, my mother withdrew into her memories of being a refugee during the Korean War. She began amassing discarded chairs, dishes, dolls, and plastic flowers, with which she filled the rooms of her house. I later encountered Mr. Kwon, a North Korean defector, who reminded me of my grandfather who disappeared during the war. (DMZ Docs 2023)

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Dreaming & Dying by Nelson Yeo – Singapore, Indonesia | 2023 – 77 minutes

An unhappily married couple reunite with their former schoolmate Heng at a seaside chalet after a long time. Latent romantic longings are quietly awakened and a love triangle ensues, though emotions lay deathly submerged. As the couple wend their way through a forest to release a fish in a karmic-cleansing ritual, the edges of reality start to fray. Unable to act on her feelings, the woman finds an outlet for her dreams through a romance novel she is reading which involves a merman. (SGIFF 2023)

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Essential Truths of the Lake by Lav Diaz – Philippines, France, Singapore, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, UK | 2023 – 215 minutes

“We follow orders, not laws.” Hermes Papauran is disillusioned with the irrationality of the Philippine government and police organization. To make matters worse, he finds himself haunted by nightmares compounded by the Duterte administration’s initiation of the ‘war on drugs.’ As a capable detective, Hermes delves into the unsolved case of Esmeralda Stuart to lessen his feeling of guilt. Esmeralda, a renowned fashion model and dedicated advocate for the endangered Philippine eagle, receives contrasting assessments from those around her. The question remains: what truth will Hermes ultimately confront? Essential Truths of the Lake is a kind of prequel of When the Waves are Gone (2022), released last year, and the second part of the ‘Hermes trilogy.’ In an era of contradictions and violence, the film encapsulates the relentless quest for justice through restrained yet lyrical monochrome frames. (BOO Kyunghwan | Busan2023)

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Evil Does Not Exist by Hamaguchi Ryusuke – Japan | 2023 – 106 minutes

A collaboration with Eiko Ishibashi, who composed the music for Drive My Car (2021), to create a performance video accidentally became a feature-length film, Evil Does Not Exist. Eiko Ishibashi’s music leaves a strong impression and opens another chapter in Hamaguchi’s oeuvre. The film is set in a small mountain village which is close to Tokyo but not yet developed. As the coronavirus crisis draws to a close, a town meeting is held to discuss the idea of building a glamping campground in the town. The developing company explains that the campground will help revitalize the local economy. As it faces opposition, however, it devises a stunt to convince the residents. The grandeur and beauty of the natural scenery and the somewhat surreal nature of the scenes evoke a different emotion from Hamaguchi’s previous films, and they are accompanied by his characteristically specific situational descriptions and dialog. It’s a movie that keeps you wondering how many masters there are in Hamaguchi’s cinematic roots further to Eric Romer or Kurosawa Kiyoshi. (NAM Dong-chul | Busan2023)

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FAQ by Kim Da-min – Korea | 2023 – 92 minutes

Dong-chun is a tired elementary school student who has been shuttled from one school to the next with enthusiasm by her mother, but finds that she does not perform well at any of them. One day, she picks up a barrel of rice wine at a summer camp and takes it home with her out of curiosity. She then realizes that the bubbling sound of the rice wine is not merely the sound of fermentation, but words spoken to her. Now, the bubbles, in Morse code, and Farsi language combine to reveal the truth of the world. The whimsical idea of connecting the unconnected is the core appeal of the movie. At the same time, the image of Dong-chun as a reticent, nerdy, yet bold character, and the director’s choice to cast her as such, gives the movie instant appeal. To call it a comedy that casts sarcasm on the issue of private education would be an understatement. This sci-fi adventure and comic fantasy about a girl named Dong-chun is endlessly cute, exciting, funny, and subversive. Clearly rice wine has much to teach us. (JUNG Hanseok | Busan2023)

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Flickering Lights by Anupama Srinivasan, Anirban Dutta – India | 2023 – 90 minutes

In the remote village of Tora near the India-Myanmar border, there are no roads, no water supply, no schools or hospitals. Despite over seventy years of independence in India, the village has been marginalized and forgotten because of its long history of rebellions. Then one day, news arrives that electricity will finally reach the village. The villagers are skeptical yet excited about illuminating their Christmas with bright lights. A small shop owner is thrilled at the prospect of purchasing a refrigerator and selling ice cream while the village men toil, digging a hole to erect a utility pole. With a tender and considerate gaze, Flickering Lights observe the villagers’ dreams and reality, hopes and despair until the day the village’s first lightbulb flickers to life. The villagers’ humor-laden optimism and yearning to escape the shadows of history shines brightly, much like the brilliant light that comes on after a few flickers. (KANG Sowon | Busan2023)

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Follower by Harshad Nalawade – India | 2023 – 98 minutes

Raghu is a small-time journalist working at a radical online media outlet in the linguistically polarised town of Belgaum in Southern India. He doesn’t mind the meagre pay, for he is committed to his cause, posting inflammatory, dubious content attacking his opponents. Objective news reports plant seeds of doubt, but he responds to this cognitive dissonance by redoubling his fanatical outpourings on the internet, with tragic consequences.

With a razor-sharp sense of place and culture, Harshad Nalawade’s astute, compassionate drama Follower makes us intimate with the diverse sources of Raghu’s radicalisation, relatively minor hassles in themselves, but all accumulating into a general feeling of being stuck in life. Every time Raghu sticks his head out, he is pulled back to be shown his place. Follower is a rare work that taps into the frustration of having to feel like an outsider in one’s own home. Yet the film refuses to reduce Raghu to these harsh experiences alone, giving him a nuanced, finely textured social life in the form of two close companions – upper-class YouTuber Sachin and a Muslim single mother, Parveen. Theirs is a relationship not exhausted by their identities but still susceptible to crack under external pressure. In their beautiful friendship, Follower reminds us of what is at risk of being lost. – Srikanth Srinivasan (IFFR 2023)

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From You by Shin Dong-min – Korea | 2023 – 102 minutes

This movie, consisting of three chapters, features different characters, similar in a way. In the first part, Minju, a graduate in costume designing, prepares for her graduation exhibition. In the second part, Seungju, an aspiring actor, gets ready for an audition. In the third part, Hyejeong and her son Dongmin head to their hometown, a rural village of Uncheon. They each encounter an unidentified being, at the end of their respective chapters. (SIFF 2023)

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Green Night by Han Shuai – Hong Kong | 2023 – 92 minutes

After leaving China to forget her past and leading a repressed life with her Korean husband, Xia embarks on a thrilling adventure with a mysterious green-haired woman. (TokyoIFF 2023)

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Her Hobby by Ha Myung-mi – Korea | 2023 – 118 minutes

What is your hobby? Jeong-in, who recently divorced a violent husband, moves back to her hometown. While suffering from nosy villagers, she is soon drawn to Hye-jung, a newcomer to the town. Two young women soon get closer and Hye-jung’s freewheeling and confident character inspires Jeong-in to break free of her wretched life. One day, Hye-jung suggests Jeong-in share a ‘hobby’ with her, and now their bloody hobby is about to begin. (BIFAN 2023)

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Home Sweet Home by Takumi Saitoh – Japan | 2023 – 113 minutes

In the harsh winter located Nagano, Kenji Kiyosawa, a sports instructor, is fascinated by a model house touted as a “magical house.” Kenji decides to build a house for his wife and daughter, who are sensitive to the cold, with a single air conditioner that can warm every corner of the house. With the new house completed and a second daughter joining the family, the family is at its peak of happiness. However, as soon as they move into the house, strange things begin to happen. A terrifying shadow in a baby’s eyes, Something who caught the girl in the basement… The wear things surrounding the “house” is not limited to only the family, but it begins to spread to those involved, and accelerates towards the ending of the shock that exceeds expectations. (LEAFF 2023)

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Hungry Ghost Diner by Cho We Jun – Malaysia | 2023 – 116 minutes

Bonnie begins experiencing strange incidents following her uncle’s mysterious appearance at her food truck late one night. Returning to her childhood hometown, she is stranded during a sudden Covid-19 Lockdown and is forced to take refuge in her family’s old coffeeshop, discovering that it is haunted by her relatives’ ghosts returning for the Hungry Ghost Festival. (BIFAN 2023)

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Ichiko by Toda Akihiro – Japan | 2023 – 125 minutes

On August 12, 2015, Hasegawa proposes to Ichiko. She is moved to tears by his proposal, but the next day, when she sees the news on TV, she suddenly leaves the house as if in shock. Where has she gone? Hasegawa reports her missing to the police, and the detective in charge of the investigation tells an unexpected story. Ichiko doesn’t exist in the first place. The movie is structured like notes in a detective’s investigative notebook. The narrative unfolds as characters come forward and give testimony about events of the past. As we piece together these fragmented testimonies like a puzzle, Ichiko’s identity is gradually revealed. As we learn more about her unhappy family history and the reasons she had to go into hiding, the camera delves deeper into Ichiko’s mind. We see how her dreams and hopes for the future were shattered. We realize how precious the brief moments of happiness she felt were. Ichiko is a movie that impresses with its creative and well-refined storytelling techniques. The character Ichiko is played by Sugisaki Hana, best known for her roles in Her Love Boils Bathwater (2016) and Blade of the Immortal (2017). (NAM Dong-chul | Busan2023)

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If only I could Hibernate by Puravdash Zoljargal – Mongolia, France, Switzerland, Qatar | 2023 – 99 minutes

“If only we could hibernate like bears in the winter, never get cold, never catch the flu,” says Ulzii’s younger brother. Ulzii’s family lives in a hut in Ulaanbaatar. His mother has gone to the countryside for work, leaving the youngest with her relatives. Ulzii, a teenager, is left to take care of his two younger siblings. Stubborn yet clever Ulzii dreams of winning the national physics competition to attend university and become an engineer, but finding firewood to heat his home is a problem every winter. Thanks to the neighbors, who tell the boy that it’s okay to cry, the story of the three siblings’ harsh winter unexpectedly warms the audience’s heart. With this debut feature film, which balances cool-headed reality with warmth, Purevdash Zoljargal, a Mongolian filmmaker and alumna of the BIFF Asian Film Academy, was invited to Un certain regard at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. (CHOI Eun | Busan2023)

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In Broad Daylight by Lawrence Kan – Hong Kong | 2023 – 106 minutes

Based on true events, In Broad Daylight reveals a little-known truth about residential care homes for the disabled that hides beneath the headlines. (TokyoIFF 2023)

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In My Mother’s Skin by Kenneth Dagatan – Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan | 2023 – 97 minutes

Stranded in the Philippines during World War II, a young girl’ Tala lives in a war-worn colonial house in the isolated forest with her sickly mother and younger brother. Her mother’s condition rapidly deteriorates. Desperate, Tala seeks out a mysterious fairy who has promised to protect her. Happy to oblige, the fairy gifts Tala a magical insect to cure her dying mother. Tala decides to release the magical insect which burrows deep into her mother’s flesh and begins living inside her. While her mother’s sickness disappears, in its place grows an insatiable craving for human flesh. As carnage ensues, Tala is forced to decide… Let her mother starve to death, or protect her mother and feed her bloodlust. (BIFAN 2023)

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In Our Day by Hong Sangsoo – Korea | 2023 – 84 minutes

A woman in her early 40s is temporarily living at the home of her friend, who is raising a cat. A man in his 70s, living alone, had a cat that died of old age. Today, each had a visitor — a woman in her 20s and a man in his 30s, respectively. Both visitors came with serious questions to ask. The woman answered them rather briefly; the man ended up giving longer answers. Both had ramyun for lunch in front of their guests and coincidentally, both added hot pepper paste to their ramyun, which is not a very common thing to do…

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To access Part 1, please go HERE
To access Part 3, please go HERE
Part 4 (Available on 01/10)
Part 5 (Available on 01/11)