5 Asian movies from 2020 you need to watch
The pandemic has left us starved of a lot of good movies to watch: many festivals shut down, cinemas were closed, and studios held on to most films for fear of not making enough $$$ if they released it during that time. Still, some movies have trickled out, and some of the great stuff is coming out of Asia. If you’re looking for some top-level Asian flicks, look no further than the 5 recs below.
*alert: minor spoilers follow*
1. Taiwan — I weirdo
There are many reasons to love this kooky rom-com about two people with crippling OCD who start a relationship. The timing of the film could hardly be better, given our new-found obsession with germs (“Love in times of corona” is how Variety dubs it). The budget-to-execution ratio is incredible: a couple of characters, a handful of sets, and of course, the fact that they used an iPhone to film it, which takes nothing away from the visual composition of each shot. The script is fresh, with a few unexpected twists, and just the right tempo.
Favorite moment: Halfway through the film a character has a transformation, which is reflected visually in the aspect ratio.
Least favorite moment: The psychedelic representation of a character collapse. For my taste, a bit over-troped.
2. Hong Kong — Suk Suk
Although this one technically premiered at the end of 2019 in Busan, it only made it to the general public in 2020. Suk Suk tells the story of Pak, a retiring taxi driver, who finds the soft-spoken Hoi, who is more in touch with the older gay community. The story navigates the complexities of navigating a such a relationship at such a stage in life, as well as its thrills, with a refreshing serenity and pace (check out Arthur Tam’s review of it). The acting is superb — Tai Bo’s Pak is a Hong Kong version of a great Clint Eastwood, carefully balanced by Ben Yuen’s (Hoi) sensitive persona.
Favorite moment: The (first) sex scene — it’s very delicately crafted, both in visual as well as audio. It’s not easy to show a moment like this, and they nailed it (pun not intended).
Least favorite moment: If you’ve seen this kind of movie before, you know how it ends. This one is no exception.
3. Korea: #Alive
The “Zombie” genre is one of my favorites because the rules of the game are pretty set and then it’s up to the director to come up with ways of getting creative within those constraints. In recent years Korea has done a really good job at refreshing the genre. In 2020 alone it released 3 large zombie titles: Peninsula (the sequel to Train to Busan), which was a bust; Season 2 of Kingdom (a Korean version of Game of Thrones, but with zombies) which was very good; and #Alive. This is another pandemic-relevant film: When the zombie apocalypse hits, Joon-woo decides to lock himself in and try and stick it out by himself. He is soon beset by a lack of supplies, a lack of information about the outside world, and more importantly, a lack of companionship. Who didn’t feel at least one of those things in the last year?
The movie is the least ‘wow’ of the ones on the list, but it’s probably also the easiest to watch. It feels like the kind of film that Netflix likes to produce (though in fact it only bought the distribution rights in the end): contained script and set, minimalist budget, and yet very effective, or as this review puts it: fat-free but full-flavored treat. You will not regret watching this one.
Favorite moment: When he realized that the end of the world also meant no more computer gaming.
Least favorite moment: the make-believe scene with one of the neighbors. It’s been done many times before.
4. Japan: Giri / Haji
This one is not a movie, and technically premiered in the UK at the end of 2019, but I will include it since it’s not too long, and the rest of the world only got to see it (via Netflix) in 2020. Giri/Haji is a film noir series about a Tokyo detective who goes to London to find his gangster brother, previously thought to have been killed in some inter-yakuza exchange. As he gets deeper in the investigation, aided his spunky daughter, a silver-tongued sex worker, and a local cop, he finds himself uncovering a web of intrigue tracing back to Japan.
This series has a bit of everything: a Japanese gangster flick, a London law-enforcement precinct procedural, a shomin-geki family melodrama, an all-female road-trip movie in miniature, a tale of a drug addict’s downward spiral, a gay teen’s coming-of-age/coming-out story, a ghost story and a love story.
What’s great about it is that it feels like you’re watching a Japanese series with the sophisticated touch of the BBC, so a lot of the overacting, the tired tropes, the tension-building slow motion moments, etc. that you see in regular Japanese series are greatly reduced. The acting for the most part is okay, because everyone spends a lot of time trying to look stoic and badass, but the story, the pace, and the character development more than make up for it.
Favorite moment: Anything that Rodney, the half-Asian gay sex worker, does. He adds a lot of freshness to the watching experience, is a constant reminder that we’re in the 21st century, and his humor takes out the melodramatic aspects of any scene he’s in.
Least favorite moment: the dance scene at the end. I’ve seen it before in other good movies like Zatoichi, and I have never understood it. This one is no different, and it doesn’t add anything to the story that we didn’t already know.
5. China — 76 Days
Recommending a story about the pandemic during the pandemic doesn’t seem like best way to not think about the pandemic, but 76 Days is really something else. This fly-on-the-wall-style documentary captures the lives of the staff and patients of a Wuhan hospital during the 76 day lockdown in the initial outbreak. Running at just over 90 minutes, this tight piece of primary historical evidence shows harrowing moments of the people most affected by the COVID-19 virus: The grandpa relentlessly trying to get out of the hospital; the crowds trying to get in; the infected pregnant woman who gives birth and is not allowed to see her baby; the head nurse taking the time to call the relatives of the deceased to return their belongings; the staff drawing cute pictures and uplifting messages on their PPE... It’s the stuff of hospital dramas, except there is nothing dramatized about this. The pain, the anxiety, even the boredom, are all very raw, very real.
Favorite moment: The first few minutes of the film, where it’s a flurry of chaos and pain and suffering, compared the moment, a full hour later, where we finally get to see one of the medical staff in the flesh. Throughout the movie all the doctors and nurses are fully covered in PPE, which has the effect of anonymizing them (reminding us that these heroes were not just in one hospital in one city: they were everywhere), but finally we get a tranquil moment where a nurse finally takes off all her gear — revealing the imprints of the googles, the mask, etc. on the skin of her face — takes a breath… and suits up again.
Least favorite moment: Getting constantly distracted by the thought “how were they able to film any of that!?” especially in a country like China. The answer: some hospitals actually welcomed the media in the early days to help spread awareness of what was happening. Eventually this came to an end, and footage of 76 Days had to be smuggled out and some of the reporters involved asked to remain anonymous.
Bonus — Taiwan — Silent Forest
Silent Forest tells the true story of abuse at a school for the deaf in central Taiwan. As this review puts it, the movie goes straight for the jugular early on, weaving a tale of increasing fucked-uppery that leaves you shocked, dumbfounded, and extremely uncomfortable, as you are reminded again and again that this story really did happen. The main characters are two of the students, though the story really moves forward thanks to the investigative efforts of one of the teachers.
This is a great movie: Besides the main story the film digs deeper into the trauma caused by these events. A large part of the film is in sign language, which creates a new kind of tension, and the actors (mere teenagers) rise up to that challenge in an exquisite way. Nominated for 8 golden horse awards. You will both hate me and thank me for this recommendation.
Favorite moment: when the teacher finds out just how deep the problem is. Soul-shattering.
Least favorite moment: that this movie is based on a true story and required no exaggeration.
