96. Yi Yi: A one and a two (2000)

Country: Taiwan
Directed by Edward Yang

Is very common in Chinese movies to watch a depiction of a family circle: funerals, weddings, babies who are born, one generation that continues from where the previous one stopped. Yi Yi is this kind of film but at its best. I don't really remember the plot or the things that the movie was trying to say. But I still remember how vivid was the film, how intense, how you could feel the breathing and the heart beat of the characters,  who were presented in front of your eyes almost with flesh and blood, in a movie that was directed with a way of superior quality . I have a huge admiration for Edward Yang!

95. Martial law (1973)

Country: Japan
Directed by Yoshishige Yoshida

I have to admit that I couldn't really get the philosophical or ideological view of the director regarding the failed coup d etat of 1936 in Japan. However, I felt that is a movie about our deepest fears, our illusions, what we consider as our duties, the weakness of our nature, and the limits of our existence. The film visually with its minimal black and white photography with all these shadows is a masterpiece! You can watch it even without English subtitles enjoying it the same , giving to you the same strong impact. A lot of credits has to be given to the powerful music that gives from beginning an absurd tone , a feeling related to the unconscious , to the film

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

94. Baby Arabia (2010)

Country: Thailand
Directed by Panu Aree,Kong Ritcdee and Kaweenipon Ketprasit

Baby Arabia is a simple vivid documentary about a well known in Thailand naseb band (a band that plays Malay-Arab music). Is true that the film seems to not go very deep ,having a rather mainstream , ordinary approach and many weak sides . However, this is not the case:  narrating the story of the various singers and musicians involved with the band, the directors use this opportunity to depict cultural and religious issues that rarely are discussed in Thai cinema and  to present the every day life of the large Muslim community of Thailand. I consider the film as a fresh air in an industry that produces tones of stupid melodramas, teen love stories and idiotic ghost terror movies, a path that leads to a different cinema that trying to talk about the real society and real people: under this light the film doesn't seem mainstream at all!

93. Demons (1971)

Country: Japan
Directed by Toshio Matsumoto

From the first moments the film attracts your attention  and keep it captured until the end. 'Demons' is a  movie that is difficult to categorize to a genre and stays in your memory as something special and unique . Violent, haunted and sensual, with very interesting plot but also visually beautiful, is a fine example of the Japanese cinema of 60' and 70' , when traditional themes got a 'New wave'  modern approach.

You can watch the full movie here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trhGMMZ1RLI

92. Last life in the universe (2003)

Country: Thailand
Directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

One of my most favorite moments of the new wave Thai cinema , this film has a powerful beauty. It begins pessimistic and dark , full of alienation and emptiness. As it moves forward the desperation becomes hope: the dream and the reality are mixed with a very sweet way, the people come closer without even to needs words for it, the life gets color again . Still the melancholy is here but even the melancholy is now poetic and beautiful. Existence is magical -and love also- no matter how hard you try to deny it! At the end the movie little has to do with Thailand or Asia: is deeply existentialist and all the action is taking place in the isolated space, that semi-destroyed villa that in reality is the human mind and heart.

91. Death by hanging (1968)

Country: Japan
Directed by Nagisa Oshima

When I face masterpieces like this one, I feel that is useless to say much presenting them. 'Death by hanging' is political, is revolutionary, is minimal but at the same time complex, is poetic, is theatrical but also very beautiful visually, is philosophical, is realistically raw but also symbolic, is dark but also optimistic, is openly fake but also like a documentary. Oshima teaches what cinema is about and how you can make a film that can let you breathless with a really tiny budget

 

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9v0VT_ENUs

90. The fortune teller (2010)

Country: China
Directed by Xu Tong

This raw and vivid documentary depicts the life of the less fortunate, of the lower Chinese classes that are trying to survive day by day , and their lives are dirty, hard, brutal and governed by superstitions as it were for centuries. Industrialization and modernization of China, the 'economical miracle', very small effect has for a lot of people that are living in margin . Here you can see the real rural China that seems desperately undeveloped. However , although the movie  can be shocking and sad is at the some time optimistic : no matter in how difficult conditions are living , people always show incredible power, a spirit for surviving , are skillful and surprisingly energetic

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_WbrYfl5sI