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Asian cinema is under a global spotlight right now. Thanks to the success of movies like Parasite and the rising profile of Asian actors and TV shows, east Asian productions are surging in popularity with mainstream and arthouse audiences alike. While recent hits such as Past Lives and Tainted Love are garnering plenty of attention, and we eagerly wait for Lulu Wang’s Expats to drop, here are four seriously underrated East Asian movies to check out in 2024.

Breathless (2009)

Director: Yang Ik-june

Directed by and featuring Yang Ik-june in a lead role, 2009’s Breathless is a great example of Korean cinema that’s very much a hidden gem. Exploring the unlikely friendship between a hard-nosed debt collector and a student, the movie delivers an unflinching portrayal of the harsh realities of life.

The narrative unfolds as Sang-hoon (Ik-june) and Yeon-hee (Kim Kkobbi), two strangers from different ends of the spectrum dealing with great personal distress,...

The American Film Institute announced today the films that will screen in the World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs at AFI Fest 2015 presented by Audi.

AFI Fest will take place November 5 – 12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and events will be held at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, Dolby Theatre, the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, the El Capitan Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt.

World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award®consideration. This year’s Shorts jury features filmmaker Janicza Bravo,...

Stars: Kumi Takiuchi, Takashi Sasano, Aira, Itsuji Itao, Kkobbi Kim, Hôka Kinoshita, Kenji Matsuda, Wakana Sakai, Taro Yabe | Written by Eiji Uchida, Etsuo Hiratani | Directed by Eiji Uchida

In films that have a twisted edge, if a child grows up dysfunctional you know that somebody is likely to die. Greatful Dead is a twisted tale that brings slapstick humour to Japanese horror, looking at what happens when a child grows up without getting the attention she craves.

Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) is anything but ordinary, even though her sister would like her to be. As a child all she wanted was the attention of her parents, but with a mother who travelled the world to save needy children (though not her own) and a father who commits suicide soon after the mothers departure all Nami gets is a fortune to live on and peaceful solitude. Obsessing over lonely people she names...

Stars: Da-wit Lee, Jun Sung, Kim Kkobbi | Written and Directed by Su-won Shin

Su-won Shin (Reinbou) writes and directs Pluto, a film about social expectation and obsession in the form of a dark thriller which twists and turns through a series of flashback sequences intermingled with our main story, a style that works brilliantly with a pace that all comes to a tense conclusion.

The image of how far a certain group of teenage high school students are willing to go to in order to guarantee themselves a place in an illustrious university is looked at through the eyes of Kim June (Da-wit Lee), a transfer student who, after receiving devastating results in his first set of exams, discovers a secret sect of students who share notebooks which contain incredibly important information that allow them to pass exams with ease. In order for him to join the group, they set...

We always keep an eye out for the latest movie news from Koji Shiraishi, director of Carved and most notably, Grotesque, an exercise in torture porn that was banned in many countries including the U.K. Of course, you can still get hold of a copy if the mood takes you. It's an alarming (and incredibly gruesome) tale, and in the years that have passed, it doesn't look like Koji Shiraishi has learnt anything about restraint. Not if the teaser trailer for his latest movie is anything to go by. A Record of Sweet Murder is released back home on September 6, 2014. Even the trailer comes with a warning... Synopsis: Park Sang-Joon (Yeon Je-Wook) was held in a psychiatric facility and charged with a string of bizarre serial murders, but before long he escapes from the facility. He then contacts childhood friend turned journalist Kim So-Yeon (Kim Kkobbi). Park Sang-Joon promises...

Third Window Films is pleased to announce the theatrical release of Pluto, a film by Shin Su-won (Passerby #3). Starring Kim Kkobbi (Breathless, King of Pigs, Greatful Dead), Lee Da-wit (Poetry, War of the Arrows) and Sung Joon (Horror Stories II), Pluto is both out of this world and out at the Ica Cinema, Quad Derby and Regional Sites from June 6th, 2014. You can book your tickets here. Alternatively, the DVD and Blu-Ray releases fall on June 23, 2014. You can pre-order them here too. Synopsis: Pluto is a story of the extremes elite high school seniors are prepared to go to guarantee entry into prestigious universities, and asks what could possibly turn an innocent boy into a monster. June, a transfer student into an elite school, is driven to despair by the year’s first examination results. One day he discovers that a mysterious clique of fellow students are sharing secret notebooks,...

Director: Yeun Sang-ho. Review: Adam Wing. There’s a good chance Uncle Walt won’t be getting in line to adapt this ultra-violent Korean animation, available for the first time in the UK courtesy of Terracotta Distribution. The King of Pigs premiered at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival and has played at various international festivals since then, including the Director’s Fortnight 2012, making it the first animated Korean film to screen at the Festival de Cannes. It’s a darkly disturbing thriller, brutal and brilliant, complex and compelling. There is a talking cat that pops up from time to time, but I wouldn’t want to give Eddy Murphy the wrong idea about this one. Directed by Yeun Sang-ho, with the voice talent of Yang Ik-june and Kim Kkobbi (Breathless), The King of Pigs is a harrowing experience from start to finish, a startling vision that refuses to shy away...

The King of Pigs Trailer, Dwae-ji-ui wang Trailer. Sang-ho Yeon‘s The King of Pigs / Dwae-ji-ui wang (2011) movie trailer stars Ik-Joon Yang, Jung-se Oh, Hye-na Kim, Kkobbi Kim, and Hee-von Park. The King of Pigs‘ plot synopsis: “Kyung-min, a businessman, and Jong-suk, a failed writer, are former schoolmates. During [...]

Continue reading: The King Of Pigs / Dwae-ji-ui-wang (2011) Movie Trailer: Sang-ho Yeon...

Welcome back to This Week In Discs! As always, if you see something you like, click on the image to buy it. Shuffle Every time Lovell falls asleep he awakens at a different point of his life. His thirty year old mind and memories remain intact as a ten year old, a ninety year old, and anywhere in between. Things get even more complicated when he discovers his wife has died under potentially mysterious circumstances, but can he use his uncontrollable life-hopping ability to make things right? It’s tough making science fiction films on an indie budget, but writer/director Kurt Kuenne (Dear Zachary: A Letter To a Son About His Father) takes a sci-fi concept and uses it to tell a very human story. Loss, redemption, and forgiveness are just a few of the themes shown to transcend time, and the film explores them with beauty, humor and vitality. [Extras: Trailer, festival video diaries, making-of, black & white version] Breathless...

Decide If We Turn Into Saints Or Devils

“Ddongpari”, or “Breathless”, was nominated and won a slew of awards just a few years ago. It’s a full-length crime/drama flick directed and written by Ik-Joon Yang, who also features as the main character, Sang-Hoon. It’s always a bit narcissistic to write yourself into your own movie, especially as the main protagonist, but the teaser trailer alone was enough to put my mind at ease. Watch it now if you’d like (it’s at the bottom of the review), it shouldn’t spoil too much of the story.

The first thing that’ll strike you when you’re watching “Breathless” is the accuracy with which the violence is depicted. It’s got that ‘real time’ feeling to it, no silly slow-mos. Which is brilliant, really. I don’t think that there’s anything Hollywood, in real every day life,...