Montage (South Korea, 2013)

A kidnapper disappeared 15 years ago without a trace. Five days before the case's statute of limitations expires, someone anonymously leaves a flower at the crime scene. A few days later, another kidnapping takes place using the same method on a similar target. Three people team up to solve the case before it's too late: the grandfather, who lost his granddaughter right in front of him, the mother, who has been searching for the person who abducted her daughter 15 years ago, and the detective with a guilty conscience, who puts everything into this long-unsolved case.

While not being very original, Montage still makes for a thrilling experience. Unlike most thrillers, Montage has a severe lack of violence but makes up for this in captivating entertainment, and it's good to see a kidnapping drama that don't have all the melodrama that other films have. 

Genre: Thriller

Love and Honor (Japan, 2006)

Shinnojo, a low level samurai, lives with his pretty, dutiful and loyal wife Kayo. He has come to find his position in a castle as a food-taster for a feudal lord to be boring and pointless, and talks about opening a kendo school. Before he can act on his dream he becomes ill with a fever after tasting some sashimi made from shell fish, but an investigation reveals that the poisoning was not due to a human conspiracy, but a poor choice of food out of season. After three days he awakes but finds that the toxin from the food has blinded him.  

Love and Honor is the last entry in the samurai-trilogy that includes The Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade. They're all stand-alone movies, but shares the same goal: telling a great story set in Japan's samurai period, but without having it revolve around fighting. If you're only going to see a few samurai movies in your life, these three movies should be top priority.  Highly recommended.

Genre: Drama/Romance

As Tears Go By (Hong Kong, 1988)

A low-level triad "big brother" has a hot-tempered "little brother" who can't keep out of trouble, and consequently is in constant need of being bailed out by his protector. The "big brother" is super cool, but lacks the ambition to rise in the ranks of the triad societies - and once he meets his cousin from Kowloon and falls in love with her, he even thinks about leaving "the life".

As Tears Go By was the directorial debut of Wong kar-Wai (2046) and shows his first use his trademark color palette. It also starred a very young Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs), who did a great job portraying a small time gangster.

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance

For Love's Sake (Japan, 2012)

Troubled high school student Makoto arrives in Tokyo to exact revenge from a past incident. He then falls in love at first sight with Ai, a daughter raised in a wholesome family. Around Makoto and Ai are Iwashimizu , who has feelings for Ai, and Gamuko , a gang member who eyes Makoto. Also Gamuko's leader, Yuki have eyes for Makoto too. Who will get him in the end?

Director Takashi Miike (Audition) is back with another wacky project that's like his very own Crows Zero, if everyone would start singing before every fight. It somehow feels so natural that it's made by him, it features some beautiful and very theatrical set pieces, and Miike plays around a lot with the presentation.

Genre: Musical/Romance

Farewell My Concubine (China, 1993)

In 1924 Beijing, the youthful Douzi and Shitou are brought together under the thumb of the strict master of a small acting troupe. It quickly becomes apparent that these are the most talented of the master's pupils, and he pushes them harder than his other students. Thirteen years later, their suffering has paid off. Douzi, now going by the name of Chen Dieyi, and Shitou, called Duan Xiaolou, are major opera stars, and their production, "Farewell My Concubine" is nationally known. The two are inseparable, until the woman Juxian comes between them.

Farewell My Concubine is an epic drama that spans 53 years, telling a story about two men who vows to stay together forever, and at the same time their home country is in turmoil. It's nearly three hours long, but that's what it took to tell a story of this magnitude and do it justice. 

Genre: Drama

The Berlin File (South Korea, 2013)

JUNG Jin-soo, a South Korean intelligence agent, comes across an unidentifiable operative, a 'ghost,' while surveilling a North Korean weapons deal in Berlin. The mystery figure is a North Korean secret agent, PYO Jong-seong, whose information cannot be found on any intelligence database. Jung quickly goes after Pyo to unveil his identity and gets himself embroiled in a vast international conspiracy. In the meanwhile, another North Korean operative, DONG Myung-soo, is dispatched to Berlin with a secret agenda to purge Pyo and take control of the North Korean embassy. Dong sets a trap to frame Pyo's wife, RYUN Jung-hee, for treason and tightens the noose around Pyo's neck. 

The Berlin File feels like a modern Bond movie done by asians. It packs some serious firepower, contains a lot of well-directed fighting scenes and is all about agents versus agents. Nothing new really, but nothing bad either. Also features some of South Korea's best actors.

Genre: Action/Thriller

Days of Being Wild (Hong Kong, 1990)

Set in 1960, the film centres on the young, boyishly handsome Yuddy, who learns from the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him that she is not his real mother. Hoping to hold onto him, she refuses to divulge the name of his real birth mother. The revelation shakes Yuddy to his very core, unleashing a cascade of conflicting emotions. Two women have the bad luck to fall for Yuddy. One is a quiet lass named Su Lizhen who works at a sports arena, while the other is a glitzy showgirl named Mimi. Perhaps due to his unresolved Oedipal issues, he passively lets the two compete for him, unable or unwilling to make a choice. 

Days of Being Wild is one of the earliest movies made by the universally praised director Wong Kar-wai, and even here we get to see his own characteristic film style that becomes more prominent in his later work. 

Genre: Drama/Romance

Once Upon a Time in China (Hong Kong, 1991)

Set in late 19th century Canton this martial arts film depicts the stance taken by the legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung (1847-1924) against foreign forces' (English, French and American) plundering of China. When Aunt Yee arrives back from America totally westernised, Wong Fei-Hung assumes the role of her protector. This proves to be difficult when his martial arts school and local militia become involved in fierce battles with foreign and local government. As violence escalates even Aunt Yee has to question her new western ideals, but is it possible to fight guns with Kung Fu?

Once Upon a Time in China is a showcase of brilliant kung fu and slapstick brawls. Jet Li plays the hero, but the real protagonist is the advanced martial art that's being unleashed on all the thugs and turns them into stew. A very entertaining fighting movie.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama  

Made in Hong Kong (Hong Kong, 1997)

Autumn Moon, a low-rent triad living in Hong Kong, struggles to find meaning in his hopelessly violent existence.

Made in Hong Kong is a stylish crime drama that almost has the feel of a Wong Kar-wai (Chungking Express) film, and that's a fantastic achievement. It earned a ton of awards and prizes upon its release, and rightfully so, because it's a well-crafted and convincing story that takes a handful of turns.

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance

Green Fish (South Korea, 1997)

Having just been discharged from the military, Mak-dong is on the train home when he finds himself in possession of a pink scarf. From the beginning, Mak-dong is entangled in a relationship that becomes his undoing. Home, Ilsan, is not the same for Mak-dong anymore. The fields and rice paddies have gone, replaced by high rise apartments, and the family has moved on while he has been away. All of his siblings except an invalid brother have left home, struggling to make a living. Mak-dong dreams of a time when the whole family can live together again.

Green Fish is a story about a man who makes the wrong decisions in life. It's a well acted drama with Han Suk-kyu (The Scarlett Letter, The Berlin File) in the lead role, and he plays his part really, really good. Check it out if you want a moody and great film.

Genre: Drama 

Linda Linda Linda (Japan, 2005)

Linda Linda Linda tells the story of a group of four high school girls who decide to put together a band for Hiiragi-sai, their school cultural festival. Three days before they are to play the festival, the guitarist and singer quit the band. The remaining members, Kei, Kyoko, and Nozomi must figure out what to do or risk cancelling. They decide to perform covers of The Blue Hearts songs, but all agree that they need to find a new member to be the singer. They ask the first girl that walks by - Son, a Korean foreign exchange student.

Linda Linda Linda is a sweet coming-of-age tale that you might think doesn't have much of a plot, but it has a cult following and is recognized as one of the more popular Japanese drama's in recent years. A likeable cast, good direction and enough side stories to keep things interesting makes the film an enjoyable watch.

Genre: Drama/Music 

The Foul king (South Korea, 2000)

Dae-Ho is an unproductive bank clerk who is late to work every morning and the object of his manager's frustrations. He was a fan of TV wrestling as a child, but can't get out of a headlock. He finds a local wrestling trainer and through a series of events eventually starts to train. He is slowly transformed as he begins his second job as the cheating villain wrestler known as the Foul King. He starts to stand up for himself in odd ways that are not really in his own best interest. Events get out of hand as conflicting influences come together.

The Foul King brings two massive names together: director Kim Ji-woon (I Saw the Devil, A Bittersweet Life) and actor Song Kang-ho (Thirst). It's quirky and a lot of fun, Kang-ho is such an amusing actor and really can save any scene that he's in. 

Genre: Comedy/Sport

After Life (Japan, 1998)

After people die, they spend a week with counselors, also dead, who help them pick one memory, the only memory they can take to eternity. They describe the memory to the staff who work with a crew to film it and screen it at week's end. 22 dead arrive that week, assigned to three counselors and a trainee. One old man cannot find a memory, so he watches videotapes of his life. Others pick their memory quickly, and the film crew gets right to work.

After Life is directed by one of Japan's best directors, Hirokazu Kore-eda, who gave us great films like Nobody Knows (2004) and Still Walking (2008). After Life is his brilliant view of life after death, and the complications that follows. It's like a personal investment in people's lives, and not just actors as Kore-eda wanted genuine emotions and real stories so we see many people that talks about real experiences. The film was planned a decade before being made and was directly inspired by Kore-eda's childhood memories of his grandfather's dementia, which made him aware of just how important memories are to our identity. 

Genre: Drama. 1h 58min.

Moonlight Whispers (Japan, 1999)

An offbeat study of the adult games that men and women play filtered through the actions of two seemingly innocent Japanese school kids, Satsuki and Takuya, two 17-year-olds who first meet practising kendo but later fall head over heels in love. They then discover the ways they can most exuberantly express their love for one another, no matter how perverse.

Moonlight Whispers (a.k.a. Sasayaki) portrays a twisted relationship that only becomes more disturbing as time goes on. A teenage romance gone perverse and deranged, but also a romance that feeds off the students own bizarre desires.

Genre: Drama/Romance

Karas (Japan, 2005)

Karas tells the story of Otoha, a former yakuza, living in a fictional version of Shinjuku, Tokyo populated by humans and yōkai (Japanese spirits). He is one of the titular karas, humans appointed as superpowered agents of the land. Able to transform into a car, an aircraft, and an armored crusader; the skilled swordsman is to stop his corrupt predecessor, Eko, from taking over Tokyo. Supporting characters such as Eko's former henchman, Nue; the yōkai; and Homura, the karas of another city, help Otoha in his quest. 

Karas was originally released as six episodes, and was later compiled into two feature length films. They featured extremely fast paced action, some incredible enemy design and gorgeous animations techniques that made viewers drool. It's a little light on the story, but that's okay, with visuals like these you can forgive a lot of things.

Genre: Action