Cinema
Animated and live-action features, from Kurosawa to Bong Joon-ho, from Tokyo theatres to the Palme d’Or.
Japan
Akira
Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk manga and film, a milestone of Japanese animation.
Seven Samurai
Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1954, in which a village of farmers recruits seven ronin samurai to protect them from bandits threatening to plunder their harvest.
Rashomon
Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1950, in which four witnesses give radically contradictory versions of a murder and rape committed in a forest in medieval Japan.
My Neighbor Totoro
Animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli in 1988.
Princess Mononoke
Animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli in 1997.
Shoplifters
Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda in 2018, portraying a marginal Tokyo family that survives through shoplifting and takes in a little girl neglected by her parents.
Perfect Blue
Animated film directed by Satoshi Kon in 1997, produced by Madhouse studio.
Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)
Animated film directed by Makoto Shinkai and produced by CoMix Wave Films in 2016.
Spirited Away
Animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli in 2001.
China
Kung Fu Hustle
Hong Kong film directed by Stephen Chow in 2004, a wild action comedy set in 1940s Shanghai.
Hero
Wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou in 2002, in which a nameless warrior presents himself before the King of Qin, claiming to have eliminated his three most fearsome assassins.
Fallen Angels
Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai in 1995, a neo-noir drama set in nocturnal Hong Kong.
Infernal Affairs
Hong Kong film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak in 2002, a crime thriller in which a cop infiltrates the triad while a triad mole infiltrates the police, each trying to unmask the other before being discovered.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Wuxia film directed by Ang Lee in 2000, a co-production between China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States.
In the Mood for Love
Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai in 2000, set in 1960s Hong Kong.
Korea
The Handmaiden
South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook in 2016, an erotic thriller set in 1930s Korea under Japanese occupation.
Memories of Murder
South Korean film directed by Bong Joon-ho in 2003, inspired by the real Hwaseong serial murder case that terrorized rural South Korea in the 1980s.
Decision to Leave
South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook in 2022, a romantic neo-noir in which a meticulous detective investigates the suspicious death of a mountaineer and develops an obsession with the deceased's mysterious widow.
Oldboy
Revenge thriller directed by Park Chan-wook in 2003, the second installment of his 'Vengeance Trilogy.' Oh Dae-su is imprisoned for 15 years in a hotel room without explanation, then released to discover the truth behind his confinement.
Parasite
South Korean film directed by Bong Joon-ho in 2019, exploring class inequality through the infiltration of a poor family into the household of a wealthy Seoul family.