42. Made in Hong Kong (1997)

Country: Hong Kong
Directed by Fruit Chan

Fruit Chan's first movie that he completed with great difficulty , in very low cost , using just leftover film reels, is an important moment of independent Hong Kong cinema . Fruit Chan puts in the center of action very young characters who struggle to find their identity as , for different reasons, are all hardly acceptable from a society that approves only certain models of social behaviors. The film is fresh (both in form and content), realistic, sensitive (but without too much drama), avoiding to glorify or to condemn the actions of its marginalized characters

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4orEvBZiq2k

41. Tropical malady (2004)

Country: Thailand
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

The general influence of Apichatpong Weerasethakul in contemporary independent Thai cinema is really tremendous: watching his films,  an entire generation of Thai directors realized that the art of making movies is something much more than to narrate stories with a pleasant way that will satisfy the audience. Even if most of cinephiles  are not ready yet to watch something out of the mainstream , under - but of course not only- Apichatpong 's inspiration, the underground film scene really boomed in Thailand , with dozens of young artists willing to explore the limits of their art both thematically and as a form. 'Tropical malady' even if not as 'revolutionary' as other of his works, is a movie that helped Thai cinema to move some steps ahead.

40. The face of another (1966)

Country: Japan
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara

A man ,whom his face gets disfigured by an accident, goes out of the social isolation wearing a miraculous mask that  gives to him a new face :  as a new person now is trying  to seduce his own wife. The movie , having undoubtedly an interesting plot, not always successfully , arises a lot of questions about existence , identity and social roles : the facade that all of us show to outside, seems that devours our inner selves to the point that we are always just the masc that we wear

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0bfPBmjlAg

39. East palace, West palace (1996)

Country: China
Directed by Zhang Yuan

Although I am disappointed from the second part of the movie ,when the narration begin to lose connection with reality, getting more and more pretentious , I give a lot of credits to this movie not only because is the first film produced in mainland China that discuss openly the homosexuality and its oppression there ( actually is banned in China and was smuggled out the country to have the chance to be watched ). 'East Palace, West Palace', in most of its duration,  is powerful, direct, bold , intense and at times emotional  ,the kind of movie that you get yourself drown on it , without to be able to stop to watch it

You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhAKETrQ47k

38. Uzumaki (2000)

Country: Japan
Directed by Higuchinski

Adaptation on screen of a popular manga, that brings to the mind works of David Lynch and , mostly, of Tim Burton, 'Uzumaki' hardly can be called a terror movie , as is not scary nor makes you feel real tension and fear for the fate of its characters. However, is unusual, bizzare and disturbing with many ways, something that makes you at the end to feel uncomfortable while you are watching it, as the film seems almost threatening and ominus

 You can watch the full movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-W8RjWooOM

37. The terrorizers (1986)

Country: Taiwan
Directed by Edward Yang

One of the best moments of Taiwanese cinema , a real masterpiece that many critics described as post modern, 'the terrorizers' is a movie really ahead of its era. Multiple characters and many narrations that are running together to meet with some way in the end, just scenes one after the other in a plot that hardly narrates a story, dream, imagination and reality that are mixed together, people who just act without explained backgrounds or solid psychological portraits. Still the greatness of the movie , how modern and fresh it looks even today is difficult to be described : in a city of Taipei ,that is under urbanization and capitalist development, Edward Yang , in a unique moment, captures with masterful way the alienation, the absent of feeling and the fakeness of the human relations

You can watch the full movie here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbHqT7s-VN0

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36. Not one less (1999)

Country: China
Directed by Zhang Yimou

Directed with a semi-documentary neo-realistic style with amateur actors, 'Not one less' is very emotional without any of the cheap tricks that the sugary movies and melodramas usually use. The movie is speaking about the gap between the rural and the urban China, about the educational problems, about the poor that have to try hard to improve their lives. The film easily can be mistaken as pro-government propaganda but in my opinion is not: even if the director followed the rules and the censors set by Chinese government , so avoided to show too much misery or to portray the state as part of the problem, this the message of the movie for social changes is still quite loud.