As you may know, I have a soft spot for films hailing from the far east; Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand and so on. Therefore I decided to sit down and make a list of the real defining films that hail from such territories. I’m sure a lot of people would disagree with some of my choices, but let me stress that I’m not branding this list ‘The Top 10 Best Asian Films Ever’, I’ve merely created a list based upon my own personal opinion. The process of choosing the titles for the list was incredibly hard and I had to leave some ridiculously good films out of the final 10, but what the hell, all of the final movies are literally badass…I suppose you shall all draw your own conclusions anyway. Forge ahead!

A Better Tomorrow (1986, John Woo)
If you’ve read my review of this film then you’ll already know just how much I like it. It marked the union of Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo as an unstoppable force in Cantonese cinema and also showed that Asian cinema had just as much, if not more, firepower than Hollywood in the 80s, with A Better Tomorrow surpassing even its most astute and blistering Western counterparts.

A Bittersweet Life (2005, Ji-Woon Kim)
The first of many Korean films to grace the list, A Bittersweet Life is an action thriller from the mind of Ji-Woon Kim, an extremely versatile director who, prior to this, displayed his mettle in both the comedy and horror genres with The Quiet Family and A Tale of Two Sisters respectively. Often quoted by me as one of my favourite films of all-time, there is some serious adrenaline junkie fodder here. And as a result of his foray into this rather tough-to-break genre, Ji-Woon has been compared to the likes of Tarantino and Scorsese. Can’t be bad then eh?

Battle Royale (2000, Kinji Fukasaku)
Adapted from the popular novel by Koushun Takami, Battle Royale is a blood-splattered social critique with an ingenious concept to support it. Taking place in what Wikipedia describes as an “alternate timeline”, we are confronted with the idea that Japan’s youth has become ideologically out of control, they’re physically abusive, careless, destructive and as a result, the Government decides to take some extreme action, hence the introduction of the ‘Battle Royale Act’. What the act entails is simple: a class of school children must be confined to an island where they must fight to the death, thusly leaving one winner. Children with weapons is not the most attractive of notions, but Kinji Fukasaku has taken this dark tale and created a modern cinema classic. It’s a pity the sequel was so very poor.

Election (2005, Johnnie To)
I surprised myself by including Election in this list, sure it’s a great film, but one of my top 10? It was only at the last minute that I decided to take Memories of Murder from the list and substitute it with this account of the triad’s inner-workings. Election is rather true to its name, it’s all about the selection of a new mob boss for a Hong Kong based organised crime society and we join the race in the last few days before the society’s elders are to vote on the matter. Needless to say, the two candidates are both hungry for power and whilst displayed in different ways, we witness their ruthless determination as they attempt to rise to power. Simon Yam and Tony Leung, as they usually do, deliver a couple of outstanding performances which really makes the film stand head and shoulders above similar offerings.

Hard Boiled (1992, John Woo)
The second John Woo film in the list and without a doubt, his finest hour. An old fashioned, all guns blazing Hong Kong cop drama, Hard Boiled sees bereaved cop Tequila (played by the majestic Chow Yun-Fat) team up with an undercover cop (Tony Leung) in order to try and take down the merciless mob boss Johnny Wong. There is as much early 90s saxophone as you can handle here and it compliments the expulsion of deadly ammunition rather well.

Infernal Affairs (2002, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak)
An inevitable inclusion, Infernal Affairs revived Hong Kong’s domestic film market and when you get an eyeful of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s masterpiece, you’ll fully understand why too. Blistering action and an unpredictable plot make for a gripping couple of hours. Scorsese (I’m mentioning him again!) created a great film with The Departed, but, for me at least, the original shall always reign supreme.

Oldboy (2003, Chan-Wook Park)
As one of the films leading the charge for Asian films within the global scene, Oldboy is Park Chan-Wook’s critically acclaimed tour de force. The first time I saw it I was literally blown away, I hadn’t actually seen many other Korean films at the time so it acted as the beacon which alerted me to South Korea’s ever evolving film industry and particularly, the ‘hallyu’ movement. Oldboy follows Oh Dae-Su, a man who seems to have been imprisoned at the request of a rich captor for 15 years. Upon his release he is faced with the task of finding and confronting the being behind his incarceration. Trust me, it’s breathtaking.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter…Spring (2003, Ki-Duk Kim)
To say that this is one of the most aesthetically stunning films of all-time is, I feel, rather fair. The lake upon which the film is set - Jusan Pond in North Kyungsang Province in Korea - is so idyllic it hurts. Coming from the ever inspiring Ki-Duk Kim, it’s unsurprising that this tale of buddhism, morality, belief and desire is so affecting and, dare I say, touching. Featuring a poignant cameo from the director himself, this is his most notable triumph.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002, Chan-Wook Park)
The first film in the Vengeance trilogy, Sympathy, is a fantastic flick. The unmistakable vein of brutality runs deep here, as with Oldboy, and makes this stuff so very watchable. After all, who doesn’t enjoy seeing someone getting brained with a baseball bat or having their achilles heel cut? It’s all in good fun! I think the reason I included this in the list above other excessively violent and macabre films by directors such as Takashi Miike, is the fact that Chan-Wook Park has the knack to make even the most heinous situations look rather appealing. Byeong-il Kim’s masterful cinematography mixed with fantastic performances by the likes of Kang-Ho Song and Ha-Kyun Shin is a powerful combination and adds up to yet another golden feather in Park’s lavishly adorned cap.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003, Satoshi Kon)
The international face of anime, with regard to feature length productions, is dominated by the likes of Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo and Mamuro Oshii, but - for me at least - Satoshi Kon is the man behind some of the best anime films of the last few years. Tokyo Godfathers is a film with a beautifully scripted narrative and similarly attractive visuals, it follows the story of three homeless friends who discover a young baby in amongst some rubbish during Christmas in Tokyo. Different yet so very close, the three friends endeavour to reunite the child with it’s parents, only to encounter their own stories along the way.

Honourable Mentions: 3-Iron, Akira, A Tale of Two Sisters, Audition, Bad Guy, Crying Fist, Dumplings, Infernal Affairs II, Lady Vengeance, Marebito, Memories of Murder, Police Story, Versus, Visitor Q, Way of the Dragon + a whole load more, it was a hard list to make!