35. Ilo ilo (2013)

Country: Singapore
Directed by Anthony Chen

A very pleasant to watch 'family' movie , with a bit of American-like line of narration . where the outsider gets step by step the acceptance, without though a happy end. But also financial crisis, immigration, blending of different cultures and classes. The kind of movie that almost everyone likes.

Watch the full movie here without English subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crNzml0-hTs

34. Secret chronicle: She beast market (1974)

Country: Japan
Directed by Noboru Tanaka

A kind of avant guard soft porn, this film is a very interesting moment of the Asian erotic cinema as is probably one of the best pink movies of the era. Very artistic for its genre, with a beautiful black and white photography -only close to the end it gets color- and with some very characteristic scenes of brutal sexuality the film has without doubt a place in this list

You can watch the full movie here without subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGzomb4A0Wg

33. Crazed fruit (1956)

Country: Japan
Directed by Ko Nakahiro

Under the today's lights this movie doesn't seem too impressive. Is a typical provocative story of wasted and rebellious youth , the kind of movie that you suspect that is trying to scandalize the viewers in order to get fame and to sell tickets. However, 'Crazed fruits' is much more than this. Experimenting with the form , presenting ambiguous characters, displaying sexuality and violence, the movie left the door wide open for a generation of young film makers that followed : they picked all these elements up forming the new Japanese cinema of the 60's

32. Adrift (2009)

Country: Vietnam
Directed by Bui Thac Chuyen

The contradicted human feelings , the simplicity but in the same time the complicity of getting satisfaction, the secret lives and desires of the people, relations that can't go as planned, the endless try for happiness and fulfillment under the social norms that unify us all . A beautiful movie of contemporary Vietnamese cinema.

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pA7Zmplqtc

31. Ruang talok 69 (1999)

Country: Thailand
Directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

A comedy crime film , full of black humor and irony ,intelligently written and directed by a leading figure of the first wave of the modern Thai cinema. In the film is lot of satire for things related to Thai society and many  remarks for various issues as for example the Asian financial crisis or the identity of a woman in an indifferent megapolis but mostly the plot is what is this movie about. Is a film that is a real fun to watch!

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfvfLfD85H0

30. Twenty-four eyes (1954)

Country: Japan
Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita

A classic masterpiece that voted by critics and people repeatedly as one of the best Japanese movies of all time as evokes to Japanese feelings of sweetness, nostalgia, sorrow and guilt with unique way. The movie, overloaded with tenderness , is dealing with a young dedicated school teacher who ,full of love for them, follows the lives of her  students from the magical era of their childhood until the traumatic and tragic adulthood : the period of the heavy defeat in the war, of the death,  poverty and  humiliation

29. Cry me a river (2008)

Country: China
Directed by Jia Zhangke

A short movie about the reunion of four former students and lovers after many years. Everyone looks that is doing great, nothing extraordinary really happens but the main characters are wrapped with a deep melancholy even if are smiling. The time that gone , the sadness that the past can't come back again, the distance that grew, the changes on them both physically and mentally,  are painfully present.

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE0FAkWr06s

28. A City of sadness (1989)

Country : Taiwan
Directed by Hou Hsiao Hsen

The story of  the destruction of a family , during one of the most dark periods in the modern history of Taiwan, is given  by Hou Hsiao Hsen  without to be dramatized , as he is keeping his view distant with a way that in the end makes the film very realistic . Although the movie is long, slow and complicated, as you need a lot of time until to get familiar with the main characters, is masterfully made and more than worth watching

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uudx6d71tdQ

27. Secret ballot (2001)

Country : Iran
Directed by Babak Payami

One of my favorite new wave Iranian movies 'Secret ballot' presents a story of two people , a gap that are not permitted to cross and a affection that can't be fulfilled ,with a very touching way . But in a second level the movie makes a lot of bitter-sweet comments about the life in modern Iran under the iron government rule, where  poverty, low education and old style ideas are mixed with a rapid development, formation of a middle class, calls for modernization and a sort of democracy that under these conditions seems useless and absurd. The film also makes a lot of comments about the women position in Iranian society showing it as not homogeneous,  both in terms of reality and terms of social imaginary.

 

26. Samaritan girl (2004)

Country: South Korea
Directed by Kim Ki Duk

Is difficult for someone to not like any of the movies of Kim Ki Duk. Samaritan girl  is not an exception: the movie is so vibrant , so fresh, so full of feelings that are transferred directly to the faces of the actors , that  you find yourself to be drown in the plot watching it , without to realize how the time is passing. When the movie ends you feel a kind of sweetness, a deep love for its fictional heroes (that you almost got to believe that exist in reality) and for the entire human race

 You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XjCPkuNDfI

25. The last communist (2006)

Country:  Malaysia
Directed by Amir Muhhamad

Banned in Malaysia , the film gives at beginning the impression that is about Chin Peng, the ex leader of Malaysian communist party. Soon we realize that Chin Peng is rather an excuse for the director to connect a past that is kind of taboo in Malaysia with the present without taking sides .The last communist' is a very interesting movie that plays with the historical documentary, the musical, the filmed cultural journey, the indirect political essay .At the end is none of them: as often with the movies of Muhhamad what you receive is a complex reality that celebrates the diversity of his country

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTM0BwgDXn8

24. Francais (2009)

Country: Thailand
Directed by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit

A 30 minutes movie about a blind student that tries to prepare herself for the next day exam  without to have the proper braille textbook. Directed as a documentary with a nearly zero budget , Francais , without to be sentimental at all , is a deeply human movie that when it ends leaves you with a mixture of optimism and sadness. I find this film really great even if not everyone with appreciate it as was not made to be popular

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wUKaJspCdE

23. Onibaba (1964)

Country : Japan
Directed by Kaneto Shindo

Raw, weird, poetic, directed in some wild natural locations and having as a main theme the human condition as a part of this wildness , Onibaba is a movie that you can't easily forget. Some times may look a bit out of date or not convincing as a horror movie, but there are too many things to appreciate on the film: the white and black photography, the music, the almost violent erotism. Years passed since I watched the film but still the field with the reeds, the river, the huts , the wind that blows in the landscape when the light is fading, still are fresh in my memory

 You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQOBI0ixNFI

22. Cyclo (1995)

Country: Vietnam
Directed by Tran Anh Hung

I didn't really like the film. I find it fake, with a catchy but unrealistic plot, directed with a style that is heavy influenced by the kind of European cinema that I don't really appreciate, with the way that hardly you can call the movie Asian. However, I chose to include it in this list , as still has it's good moments, it portrays Ho Chi Minh city during most of it's length and is a rare representative of Vietnamese movies,  as is really difficult to have access to them and to have a picture of what's going on in contemporary Vietnamese cinema

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq2lqfy5GFc

21. Tale of two sisters (2003)

Country: South Korea
Directed by Kim Jee-woon

Even if I find it slightly overrated , this psychological horror film deserves all the awards and the attention that it got : in terms of plot complicity , atmosphere ,photography etc but as production in general as well  , is far ahead from loads of the genre movies of the same generation. Commercial but also artistic , belongs to a category of movies that you have to watch at least twice for fully appreciate it

20. Affair in the snow (1968)

Country: Japan
Directed by Yoshishige Yoshida

In the first 30 minutes the movie seems a bit artificial and pointless but as the time pass we realize that portrays really well how complicated, empty, meaningless, absurd, alienated is often the world of sexual and sentimental relations : the heroes keep struggling with them though as they do trying to cross the unfriendly endless spaces of snow

 
You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGO-XOGU5Mo

19. Dorm (2006)

Country: Thailand
Directed by Songyos Sugmakanan

One of the best of its kind, sensitive and tender , with solid plot , spooky atmosphere and great performances from the children actors , Dorm stands out avoiding absolutely the cheap horror of dozen and dozens mainstream Thai ghost movies

18. Calcutta 71 (1972)

Country: India
Directed by Mrinal Sen

Poverty, hunger, humiliation,death  : the lives of the most Indians seem that don't have any value for their exploiters. Hundreds , thousand years are passing but nothing change! Mrinal Sen made this direct political movie/statement, taking clearly the side of Naxalites in the early 70's when Indian social system of inequality was been shaken from voices for radical change. Sen is narrating four short stories of misery , raw as they are, without to try to make the misery photogenic. The result is a punch in the stomach and a unique masterpiece of Indian cinema

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf8RARKcLkY

17. 15 Malaysia (2009)

Country: Malaysia
Directed by 15 different Malaysian directors

As is written to official 15Malaysia site : '15Malaysia is a short film project. It consists of 15 short films made by 15 Malaysian filmmakers. These films not only deal with socio-political issues in Malaysia, they also feature some of the best-known faces in the country, including actors, musicians and top political leaders. You may think of them as funky little films made by 15 Malaysian voices for the people of Malaysia.' Among the 15 directors are all the important figures of the new wave Malaysian movement .Although some short films are 'better' than others , is important to watch all of them to get a very accurate picture of the contemporary Malaysia and the issues that come out in Malaysian society

You can watch all the movies in youtube in separate videos. I will post here two of my favorites and then you can look for the other ones :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8siSkf5-6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xSHYP724Ok

16. Tetsuo: the iron man (1989)

Country: Japan
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto

Although has many weak sides,  this cult cyberpunk film is an unique experience ,a - in my opinion underrated - landmark for its genre . Someone described Tetsuo as if you combine the Cronenberg and Lynch films in one movie , but its weird and graphic style rather has roots to Japanese technology obsessions and to anime

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNJKBrDlW7M

15. The house is black (1962)

Country: Iran
Directed by Forough Farrokhzad

The only movie of the famous female poet Forough Farrokhzad ,who died a few years latter in car accident, is a 22 minutes documentary for the life of the patients in a leper colony. Although disturbing to watch , the film is a pure masterpiece , a landmark in the history of Iranian cinema. Images of ugliness are combined with quotes from the Quoran , Old testament and Farrokhazad poetry in a unforgetable way . The director described her motive to make the film as a way to sweep out the ugliness and to relieve the victims : after the initial shock soon we don't see ugliness in the screen but tenderness

You can watch the full movie here although at times is hard to follow the subtitles:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WL4w5ceO7w

14. Dara (2007)

Country: Indonesia
Directed by Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto

A 25 minutes black comedy, grotesque and hilarious, directed with amazing perfection

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhNmEGxuzl0

13. Stray dog (1949)

Country: Japan
Directed by Akira Kurosawa

On of my favorite films of the early Kurosawa , this film noir combines high aesthetics with a documentary feeling! Many years passed since I watched it but the shots of the almost demolished post war Tokyo are unforgettable

12. Butterfly (2004)

Country: Hong Kong
Directed by Yan Yan Mak

A beautiful , heartbreaking film ! As a married teacher at her 30s , feels uncontrolled attraction for a younger girl, recalls almost painfully the only real love of her life (with another girl ) , when she was teenager. Although the second part of the film is a bit weak , so can't really keep all its promises, I can't recall any other movie that can portray , with such intensity ,the repressed sexuality of a homosexual person in the closet

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x_kbonSybY

11. Hotel Angel (1974)

Country: Thailand
Directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol

A classic Thai movie by the master director Chatrichalerm Yukol  that looks still fresh today , narrating the story of Mali, a innocent young girl that is cheated and forced into prostitution. Although many movies were made with similar theme at the 70's in Thailand  , I think that Hotel Angel really stands out. The abortion scene in the movie is notable , as notable is the clearly feminist end

10. The beautiful washing machine (2005)

Country: Malaysia
Directed by James Lee

The most famous and awarded movie of the Malay-Chinese director James Lee , who is a leading figure of the new Malay cinema of the digital era. This - Mandarin speaking - movie and its plot is difficult to be described : somehow you end up like it very much , even if you can't specify what's so great about it

You can watch the full movie here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXsMMHizW3o

9. Funeral parade of roses (1969)

Country: Japan
Directed by Tochio Matsumoto

I can't say that I really love this movie, as is very theatrical and pretentious for my taste. Even so, I recommend to everyone to watch it as is has a lot of memorable moments and is an important part of the Japanese filmography of the era . It's experimental, weird and provocative , displaying the underground drug based pop art-ish night scene of Tokyo back then, having as absolute protagonists drag queens and cross-dressers .Pita (the leading androgynous heroine), as Eddie , shines in the screen with a way that is impossible to imagine this movie with some one else in her role

    You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skYKwLhT_GI

8. Segurista (1996)

Country: Philippines
Directed by Ticoy Aguiluz

A great bitter film about the hardships of life in Philippines , the internal immigration, the multiple faces that you have to incorporate to survive in a society that is changing rapidly, the utopia of American dream. Michelle Aldana , playing the leading role of the confident and successful girl , who sells insurance packages to rich customers that approaches working as a 'entertainment' girl at night , is just fantastic

You can watch the full movie here. The analysis of the picture is not very good though . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr7S96njSrA

7. The demon (1978)

Country: Japan
Director: Yoshitaro Nomura

An intense psychological drama with a strong story line that is getting emotional at times, as the children characters are lost in the cruelty of the adults . The action is escalating quickly and then you can't stop to watch the movie

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LsZQBZfFgw

6. Shadow film - A woman with two heads (1977)

Country: Japan
Director: Shuji Terayama

My favorite short movie of Terayama dealing with the memory, the loss, the unfulfilled expectations, the solitude, the women heart that at the end is crushed by the men and the time

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EAQ0djdDBw

5. A page of madness (1926)

Country: Japan
Director : Teinosuke Kinughasa

A silent masterpiece: poetic, wild and absurd .The story takes place in an asylum where the artist is trying to unfold in front of your eyes  'A page of madness'. The black and white images of the movie are just very powerful .Watch this movie in a movie theater if is possible , otherwise  some part of its beauty will be lost

Anyway if is not other option you can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4wopkgcvO4

4. The river (1997)

Country: Taiwan
Directed by Tsai Ming-Liang

Sometimes the films of Ming-Liang give you the impression that are either too shallow even if pretend the opposite, either too boring as are too slow with weak story line and  nothing really happens. In this film thought,  the story line is strong, the rhythm a bit more faster and his favorite themes are well documented :  the absurd of the human existence, the alienation and depression that the modernity causes , the difficulty of the people to place themselves in the world

3. Ghost child (2013)

Country: Singapore
Directed by Gilbert Chan

Not something very special of course but a quite decent terror movie from a country that rarely we have the chance to watch the movies that produces. The casting is nice, the rhythm just right, the terror is escalating slowly, are not too many exaggerations.

You can watch the full movie here with subtitles : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j7tZwXVnCs

2. Manila at the claws of light (1975)

Country: Philippines
Directed by Lino Brocka

Probably the most famous and quoted Filipino movie even made, even with its weak sides ,Manila at the claws of light is a real masterpiece! Lino Brocka, made it in the years of Marcos dictatorship but, somehow, he managed to throw a lot of social and political elements in that heart breaking melodrama that is directed almost as to be a documentary. While you are watching it , Manila is appeared almost naked in front of your eyes: dirty, ugly, wild, indifferent for the human drama. The end of the movie has so much force that is almost unbearable to watch

You can watch the full movie here , but in bad analysis and without English subtitles : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce6r64fqX0g

1. The Burmese harp (1956)

Country: Japan
Directed by Kon Ichikawa

Among the best anti-war movies of all time , with a delicate poetry and a strong inside power . Many years passed from the time I watched the film but still the fantastic black and white Burmese landscapes are glowing as a memory in my head

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpsZicyHMtQ (You can watch the full movie subtitled here)