11 Asian Movies: Selected Masterworks from Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, and South Korean Cinema, Detailed Commentary, plus Plot Points

Here is an eclectic and special collection of cinematic masterworks by exciting directors from China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

WARNING: Some of the reviews contain sexually explicit or suggestive language due to the subject matter and plot line of the movie.

Each movie is presented with detailed plot line, selected dialogue, and followed by main plot points.

The collection starts with "Sweet Sex and Love" (2003), a South Korean film by Man-dae Bong (WARNIN/G: explicit sexual scenes). Two lovers start their relationship on pure animalistic magnetism. But is that enough?

"Woman is the Future of Man" (2004) by Sang-soo Hong is the second South Korean film in this special collection that explores the following core dilemma: how to love a woman without betraying one's closest friend with whom the same woman also carries a relationship.

"The Wayward Cloud" (2005) by the Taiwanese director Ming-liang Tsai is arguably one of the most experimental and audacious movies ever made. In terms of sheer cinematographic imagination and outrageous creativity, this is a work that rates 110 out of 100.

"Stolen Life" (2005) from China by director Shaohong Li is a merciless drama about indignities of belonging to the lower class in China through the eyes of a hapless and not-so-smart beauty from the countryside who gets used in Beijing without mercy by an opportunistic heartbreaker. A gritty urban tale.

"Isabella" (2006) by Chinese director Ho-Cheung Pang is a story of redemption and a tour de force of sentimentality presented with stylistic authority where the soul-wrenching musical score (Portuguese Fado) is the third main character.

"M" (2006) from Japan by director Ryuichi Hiroki is another modern Asian masterpiece. A young house wife looks for the love and attention she thinks her husband owes her in all the wrong places.

"Maybe" (2009) by South Korean director Jihong Ju is the story of an adopted Korean-American woman arriving in Seoul to look for her real parents. The taxi driver she meets at the airport will change her life in more ways than one.

The last movie "Parasite" (2019) is a South Korean masterpiece that won the Academy Award for Best Film in 2020.