Sane's AsiaPac Top 100

Great stuff, Sane. Thanks for doing this. You know, I know I'm in the minority but I really didn't like 3-Iron. This list also seems very modern. Is that personal preference or just not watching older films as much? Perhaps you lack access to the older films? And these are not criticisms of your list, I enjoyed it a lot and grabbed a few recommendations in the process.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Everyone needs to watch more Asian cinema There is such a rich history going back almost as far as America's and I really enjoy the fact that over time more Asian countries have started releasing quality movies and bringing new styles, ideas and their culture to the world.

We now have Thailand becoming an artistic force, a Saudi movie directed by a woman and so on. 30 years ago the only films out of China were from Hong Kong & Taiwan and now they make over 400 per year. Compare that to the 1000 or so coming from America and you can see the potential to find great new movies. India releases over 1000 per year, Japan about 500.

I genuinely find that exciting and, it has nothing to do with Asia, but I'm going to start trying to find more African movies soon. Nigeria alone makes over 900 per year - sure, they will mostly have no budget but that doesn't stop great directors. Apparently Senegal has a growing movie industry ...

Finding new, great movies and experiencing other cultures genuinely excites me ... as you may be able to tell

Maybe a bit of both but it probably also relates to some of the movie industries really being in their infancy. For example, I thought the 2000 - 2009 decade really belonged to South Korea but if you go back before that they really weren't making all that much and what I've seen wasn't very good. I've read that Shiri is considered the film that re-started their industry but I thought it was awful.

I also find that industries like Hong Kong's and Taiwan's really changed - perhaps in the early 90s ... or maybe 80s for Taiwan. I think I read that there was a noticeable change in Taiwan when directors decided they could no longer compete with Hong Kong in terms of martial arts films and that opened up opportunities for Hou, Yang and later Tsai.

It's interesting if you look at Wong Kar Wai's early films - they were like a bridge between the old Hong Kong and the new. If you see As Tears Go By it's kind of a standard Hong Kong action movie ... and not a very good one.

So I guess a lot of it is about when the industries started producing movies that fit my tastes. For example China changed back in the late 80s/early 90s as well with the likes of Zhang Yimou but also a number of real arthouse directors like Tian ZhuangZhuang. I think directors like him are referred to as the 5th wave of Chinese directors (Chen Kaige is in that group also) and anything earlier I've seen just wasn't that great.

OK, new page, here's the full list:

1. Late Spring (1949) - Yasujiro Ozu
2. In the Mood For Love (2000) - Wong Kar Wai
3. Oldboy (2003) - Park Chan Wook
4. 3-Iron (2004) - Kim Ki Duk
5. A Separation (2011) - Asghar Farhadi
6. Spring Summer Fall Winter ... and Spring (2003) - Kim Ki Duk
7. Once Were Warriors (1994) - Lee Tamahori
8. Dolls (2002) - Takeshi Kitano
9. Grave of the Fireflies (1988) - Isao Takahata
10. Still Walking (2008) - Hirokazu Koreeda
11. Confessions (2010) - Tetsuya Nakashima
12. Equinox Flower (1958) - Yasujiro Ozu
13. High & Low (1963) - Akira Kurosawa
14. The World of Apu (1959) - Satyajit Ray
15. Close-Up (1990) - Abbas Kiarostami
16. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961) - Masaki Kobayashi
17. Like Father Like Son (2013) - Hirokazu Koreeda
18. Whisper of the Heart (1995) - Yoshifumi Kondo
19. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) - Abbas Kiarostami
20. All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) - Shunji Iwai
21. Breathless (2009) - Yang Ik Joon
22. Hero (2002) - Zhang Yimou
23. Poetry (2010) - Lee Chang Dong
24. I Wish (2011) - Hirokazu Koreeda
25. Oasis (2002) - Lee Chang Dong
26. Early Summer (1951) - Yasujiro Ozu
27. Harakiri (1962) - Masaki Kobayashi
28. Pather Panchali (1955) - Satyajit Ray
29. Chungking Express (1994) - Wong Kar Wai
30. In the Heat of the Sun (1994) - Jiang Wen
31. Late Autumn (1960) - Yasujiro Ozu
32. My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - Hayao Miyazaki
33. Fireworks (1997) - Takeshi Kitano
34. Garden of Words (2013) - Makoto Shinkai
35. Yi Yi (2000) - Edward Yang
36. 2046 (2004) - Wong Kar Wai
37. Gate of Hell (1953) - Teinosuke Kinugasa
38. I Was Born, But ... (1932) - Yasujiro Ozu
39. Mabarosi (1995) - Hirokazu Koreeda
40. Memories of Matsuko (2006) - Tetsuya Nakashima
41. Tokyo Twilight (1957) - Yasujiro Ozu
42. Boy (2010) - Taika Waititi
43. City of Sadness (1989) - Hou Hsiao Hsien
44. Ikiru (1952) - Akira Kurosawa
45. Life and Nothing More ... (1992) - Abbas Kiarostami
46. Like Someone in Love (2012) - Abbas Kiarostami
47. Mary & Max (2009) - Adam Elliot
48. Sansho the Bailiff (1954) - Kenji Mizoguchi
49. Tokyo Story (1953) - Yasujiro Ozu
50. The Bow (2005) - Kim Ki Duk
51. No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009) - Bahman Ghobadi
52. The Piano (1993) - Jane Campion
53. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) - Zhang Yimou
54. The Road Home (1999) - Zhang Yimou
55. Vive L'Amour (1994) - Tsai Ming Liang
56. 5 Centimetres per Second (2007) - Makoto Shinkai
57. The Face of Another (1966) - Hiroshi Teshigahara
58. The Grandmaster (2013) - Wong Kar Wai
59. Ponyo (2008) - Hayao Miyazaki
60. A Time to Live, A Time to Die (1985) - Hou Hsiao Hsien
61. Ballad of Narayama (1983) - Shohei Imamura
62. Nobody Knows (2004) - Hirokazu Koreeda
63. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) - Phillip Noyce
64. Tokyo Godfathers (2003) - Satoshi Kon/Shogo Furuya
65. Woman in the Dunes (1964) - Hiroshi Teshigahara
66. Beautiful City (2004) - Asghar Farhadi
67. The Crucified Lovers (1954) - Kenji Mizoguchi
68. In My Father's Den (2004) - Brad McGann
69. A Taste of Cherry (1997) - Abbas Kiarostami
70. After Life (1998) - Hirokazu Koreeda
71. Distant Thunder (1973) - Satyajit Ray
72. Castaway on the Moon (2009) - Lee Hae Jun
73. Floating Weeds (1959) - Yasujiro Ozu
74. Happy Times (2000) - Zhang Yimou
75. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959) - Masaki Kobayashi
76. Memories of Murder (2003) - Bong Joon Ho
77. Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa
78. Shutter (2004) - Banjong Pisanthanakun/Parkboom Wongpoom
79. Tracks (2014) - John Curran
80. April Story (1998) - Shunji Iwai
81. Blissfully Yours (2002) - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
82. About Elly (2009) - Asghar Farhadi
83. From Up on Poppy Hill (2011) - Goro Miyazaki
84. Gallipoli (1981) - Peter Weir
85. The Isle (2000) - Kim Ki Duk
86. The Terrorizers (1986) - Edward Yang
87. Lady Vengeance (2005) - Park Chan Wook
88. Lust, Caution (2007) - Ang Lee
89. Peppermint Candy (2000) - Lee Chang Dong
90. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005) - Zhang Yimou
91. Through the Olive Trees (1994) - Abbas Kiarostami
92. A Touch of Sin (2013) - Jia Zhang Ke
93. Turtles Can Fly (2004) - Bahman Ghobadi
94. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
95. What Time is it There? (2001) - Tsai Ming Liang
96. After the Rain (1999) - Takashi Koizumi
97. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003) - Takeshi Kitano
98. Fallen Angels (1995) - Wong Kar Wai
99. Fireworks Wednesday (2006) - Asghar Farhadi
100. Ploy (2007) - Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Great list Sane and a good starter for someone not familiar with Asian films