I continue with my list of one hundred remarkable Asian films from 2023.

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

Phantom by Lee Hae-young – Korea | 2023 – 133 minutes

In 1933, Korea is under the brutal Japanese occupation. The only ray of hope is the thriving resistance, making the occupant’s life miserable. Feeling threatened, the Japanese authorities gather five suspects at a secluded, elegant hotel to reveal the true identity of the elusive Phantom’s, a prominent figure among the rebels. An exciting game of life and death begins, which both sides are determined to win. Will find out who Phantom really is? Or whether he exists at all? – Marcin Krasnowolski (Five Flavours 2023)

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Push Pause by Ryoma Kosasa – Japan | 2023 – 86 minutes

The Coco guesthouse cultivates new relationships, providing a platform for confronting personal pasts and futures. Shiko, leaving her hometown due to family issues, lacked confidence and avoided connections. Yet, at Coco she gradually engages with others, seeking her unique way of life. Tomotsu, burdened by past mistakes and distant friendships, harboured mistrust. Reuniting with friends and new encounters empower him to face values and loved ones. Amid confusion in Tokyo, Xiao gains confidence through encounters and peers, deepening her connections. We observe young people fatigued by life gradually moving forward towards self-discovery. (WarsawFF 2023)

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Raging Grace by Paris Zarcilla – UK | 2023 – 100 minutes

A bold coming-of-rage story, Raging Grace details the life of Joy, an undocumented Filipina immigrant who is struggling to do the best she can for her daughter, Grace, when she secures the perfect job; taking care of an extremely wealthy but terminal old man. The new position pays well and guarantees a roof over their heads but very soon, Joy and her daughter Grace start to realize everything is not as it seems. Something is festering beneath the surface, threatening all they have worked for. Deeply personal, Raging Grace is a nightmarish fever dream from an exciting new voice—a horrifying Gothic thriller directed by the British-born Filipino writer-director Paris Zarcilla. Raging Grace premiered at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Award. Even more impressive is that this nightmarish thriller is Zarcilla’s feature debut. (Busan2023)

Rebound by Chang Hang-jun – Korea | 2023 – 120 minutes

Imagine no vengeance. Imagine no bloody retribution. Imagine no star-crossed lovers, no North vs. South. And yet, here it is, a quintessentially Korean tale of building a winning squad from a ragtag group of misfits and underachievers, against the worst odds. Rebound tells the inspiring true story of Busan Jungang High School’s underdog team, led by the fiery passion of its coach Yang-hyun (Ahn Jae-hong). Faced with the challenge of assembling a competitive team from basically nothing, his ingenuity and steely commitment bring his players together, transforming them into serious challengers against a seemingly infinitely superior opponent, Seoul’s Yongsan High, which has all the talent money can buy. Transcending the sports genre and eschewing the pitfalls of easy sentiment and melodrama, Chang Hang-jun’s Rebound elevates its premise with a singularly rousing screenplay, co-written by Kwon Sung-hui (The Spy Gone North, As One) and Kim Eun-hee (Netflix’s Kingdom). (NYAFF 2023)

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River by Junta Yamaguchi – Japan | 2023 – 86 minutes

In a quiet corner of Kyoto, there stands a quaint, one-hundred-year-old inn. There, attendant Mikoto (Riko Fujitani) finds herself stuck in a time loop, playing out the same two minutes over and over again. Director Junta Yamaguchi established his time loop bona fides in his very clever debut Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. In this film, he continues to play with time mechanics on a small scale, having characters enact plans that have to be pulled off just two minutes at a time. (QCinema 2023)

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Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus by Sora Neo – Japan | 2023 – 103 minutes

The late maestro, Sakamoto Ryuichi mustered all of his energy to leave the world with one final performance: a concert film, featuring just him and his piano. (TIFF 2023)

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Sand by Visakesa Chandrasekaram – Sri Lanka | 2023 – 100 minutes | Fiction

Rudran, an ex-Tamil militant returns home from military detention, looking for his lover Vaani who had disappeared during the war. Rudran’s mother, Sellamma who is gifted with a ‘boon’ of soothsaying, tells the locals whether their kith and kin are alive or dead, but she refuses to say the same about Vaani. While men and women defeated in the war find solace in massive Hindu temples, Rudran initially refuses to pray, but later in an act of desperation, he joins a month-long pilgrimage seeking help from God Ayyappa, hoping to unite with his lover. (Tasveer 2023)

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Sandstorm by Park Jaemin – Korea | 2023 – 78 minutes | Documentary

With the birth of the first female Ssireum champion in 2009, female wrestlers expect to have formal competitions and business teams. In the next 10 years, five female wrestlers who overcame unpopular sports and survived struggle to become Ssireum champions. (FIWOM 2023)

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Saving a Dragonfly by Hong Daye – Korea |2022 – 80 minutes

In her senior year of high school, the director films herself and friends preparing for the college entrance exam. Despite becoming a college student, she still suffers from the anxiety she felt during her high school years. One day, she gets a call from her friend that she is not doing well in college. She decides to write to her friend. (SIWFF 2023)

Self-Portrait: 47 KM 2020 by Zhang Mengqi – China | 2023 – 190 minutes

This is the newest addition to the film series shot in the homeland of the director’s father; a village called “47KM” in a mountainous region of China. In 2020, despite the onset of the COVID pandemic, farmwork continues across four seasons as it does each year. (YIDFF 2023)

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September 1923 by Tatsuya Mori – Japan | 2023 – 137 minutes

Immediately after the destructive Great Kantō Earthquake, rumors emerge that ethnic Koreans are planning to commit crimes across Japan. In Fukudamara, a group of 15 traveling peddlers are stopped by a lynch mob and are mistaken for Koreans…

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Side by Side by Chihiro Ito – Japan | 2023 – 130 minutes

Miyama (Kentaro Sakaguchi) is a young man of an unknown past and an enigmatic look in his eyes. Apart from the fact that he is with Shiori (Mikako Ichikawa, known from “Rent-A-Cat”), we know very little about his life. He suddenly appeared in a small town and the locals welcomed him with open arms – probably because of his ability to read the minds of others. His unique talent turns him into a local witch doctor, despite his best efforts. Calmness and distance are the foundations of his personality, he is also an attentive listener, tuned to the physical and emotional ills of his surroundings. But the spiritual transformations of Miyama’s “patients” take a toll on his own psyche. With time, he becomes haunted by mysterious apparitions that only he can see. – Łukasz Mańkowski (Five Flavours 2023)

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Sleep by Jason Yu – Korea | 2023 – 94 minutes

When her husband’s strange sleeping habits escalate from disruptive to disturbing, Soo-jin is forced to take desperate measures to protect herself and her newborn. Director Jason Yu’s startling, genre-hopping debut will keep you guessing till the very end. (PSFF 2024)

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Smugglers by RYOO Seung-wan – Korea | 2023 – 129 minutes

Korea in the 1970s: a chemical plant is built in the peaceful seaside town of Guncheon. Due to the sea pollution the chemical plant is causing, Guncheon’s haenyeos, female divers who harvest seafood underwater, are in a financially difficult situation. To make a living, the haenyeos get involved in a risky deal: smuggling illegal goods out of the sea. Everything seems to be going well at first, until the haenyeos encounter a tragic accident. (KFFF 2023)

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Snow in Midsummer by Chong Keat Aun – Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan | 2023 – 116 minutes

13 May 1969: Ah Eng’s life is forever altered by the deadly racial riots breaking out across Kuala Lumpur. 49 years after the fateful night when she sought shelter with migrants of The Injustice to Dou E Cantonese opera troupe, Ah Eng finds her life invariably intertwined with the heroine Dou E who is similarly unable to move on from the tragedy. (SGIFF 2023)

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Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – China | 2023 – 109 minutes

A late film by Pema Tseden. In a mountain village where white leopards live, the film explores the symbiosis of humans and animals through the fantastical interaction of a young Tibetan monk and a leopard. (TIFF 2023)

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Solids By The Seashore by Patiparn Boontarig – Thailand | 2023 – 93 minutes

The Southern Thai town of Songkhla is under threat from coastal erosion. It is in this place that Muslim poet Shati (Ilada Pitsuwan) meets artist Fon (Rawipa Srisanguan), who has traveled from Bangkok for an exhibit bringing awareness to the impending environmental disaster. Shati is torn between her religious upbringing and a burgeoning affection for Fon, and faces an inner turmoil reflected in the chaos brought on by the monsoons. Casually melding folklore with modern concerns, director Boontarig employs a magical realist approach to sort through the eternal conflict between faith and identity. (QCinema 2023)

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Soulmate by Min Yong-keun – Korea | 2020 – 124 minutes

In 1998, Mi-so (Kim Da-mi) transfers to Jeju Island and meets Ha-eun (Jeon So-nee). Despite their very different personalities, they become intimate, as if each has met a soulmate. But even this seemingly perfect pair cannot avoid a fateful rift. A remake of Director Zeng Guoxiang’s SoulMate (2017), Soulmate retains the charm of the original but shines with subtly different colors. Director Min Yong-keun builds a solid female narrative, focusing less on the love triangle and more on Mi-so and Ha-eun’s fate. Like the original, where the actors stood out, Soulmate naturally creates situations that allow Kim Da-mi and Jeon So-nee to showcase their charms to the fullest. The camera captures nuanced emotions that are difficult to convey in a few words, and the connection between the two women through the medium of painting blossoms into a connection that goes beyond words. (SONG Kyung-won | Busan2023)

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Sura: A Love Song by Hwang Yun – Korea | 2022 – 108 minutes

A filmmaker, a citizen scientist and his son set out on a journey to protect Sura, the last tidal flat in danger of being destroyed due to the US military base expansion and new airport construction. Trying to find the evidence of life of protected species in Sura, they hope to hear a little bird singing and see the tidal flat full of life again. (SIWFF 2023)

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Ten Years Myanmar by Thaiddhi, Nay Wunn Ni, Myo Thar Khin, Aung Min, Lamin Oo – Myanmar | 2023 – 104 minutes

Ten Years Myanmar, an omnibus film, envisions a dystopian future ten years into the future. Following its debut in Hong Kong in 2015, the Ten Years series evolved into an international project, spanning across Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. This series, which combines social imagination and cinematic creativity, has consistently sparked discussions. Ten Years Myanmar presents five directors, each offering a distinct story. While previous installments were known for their straightforward and clear messages, Ten Years Myanmar exercises more restraint, requiring the audience’s greater imagination. Nevertheless, the keywords highlighted in each episode – mysterious deaths, political prisoners, resistance movements, violence, censorship, and more – serve as stark reminders of Myanmar’s grim reality since the military coup in 2021. With the support of creators from the earlier series, including those from Hong Kong, this completed work stands as a testament to the revival of the ‘Milk Tea Alliance’ among Asian nations striving for democracy, uniting within the realm of the film industry. (BOO Kyunghwan | Busan2023)

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To access Part 1, please go HERE
To access Part 2, please go HERE
To access Part 3, please go HERE
Part 5 (Available on 01/29)