In a small town in Japan, Kirie comes upon her boyfriend's father silently videotaping a snail. He seems unaware of her presence and she thinks no more of it. Later, the mans obsession with spirals becomes more and more bizarre, ending in his suicide in a washing machine which turn his body into a spiral. Soon other inhabitants become possesed with different forms of spirals, one student seems to be mutating into a snail, another's hair becomes strangely medusa-like. The entire town becomes possesed.

When Lee Jin-woo rescued Su-eun from a fire, they both defied the odds in surviving. He fell in love with her older sister Soo-jeong Lim, who now desires the brave fireman to propose marriage thinking that this will make him less fearless in facing the flames and lessen her greatest fear. He wishes to do so, but his romantic streak causes him to seek the proper moment. Su-eun works as a "character" in an amusement park. Her face was scared in the fire, and she's also a deaf-mute. Feeling free to be more forward when in costume and under a large "Raggedy-Ann" head, she approaches a handsome artist who frequents the park to paint. He becomes infatuated with her despite never having seen her face or heard her voice, and she starts to fall in love with him. Choi Suk-hyun informs her boyfriend Jung Ha-seok that she wishes to break up for he is still unemployed after 3 years and she cannot face a future of poverty. He vows to get a job to reverse her feelings, and when a stranger enlists him to tell her boyfriend a final "goodbye" on the phone, he decides that he can turn doing this into an online business and starts a "separation agency." Busy with her career, Eom Jung-hwa neglects her young son Park Hwi-chan, and he becomes a problem at school. When she is hospitalized he becomes happier since he can visit her anytime and she has time to spend with him. Separation looms as a possible outcome for all of these inter-twined souls who who live and love in Seoul, Korea.

A man searches for his fiancée who vanished without a trace just before their wedding ceremony, only to discover the shocking identity of her.

A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.

A sixty and something year old captain has been raising for ten years a girl since she was six in his old fishing vessel that is permanently anchored offshore with the intention of marrying her on her seventeenth birthday. He survives bringing fishermen to fish in the vessel and predicting the future using his bow and shooting arrows in a Buddhist painting on the hull of the vessel while the girl moves back and forth in a swing. He also uses the bow and arrows to protect the girl against sexual assault of the fishermen. They live happily until the day that a teenage student comes to the ship and the girl feels attracted to him. When the teenager discovers that the girl was abducted when she was six and does not know the world, he returns to the vessel to bring the girl back to her parents.

2005 South Korean film directed by Kim Ki-duk

For 10 idyllic years, young Mija (An Seo Hyun) has been caretaker and constant companion to Okja-a massive animal and an even bigger friend-at her home in the mountains of South Korea. But that changes when a family-owned multinational conglomerate Mirando Corporation takes Okja for themselves and transports her to New York, where image obsessed and self-promoting CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) has big plans for Mija's dearest friend. With no particular plan but single-minded in intent, Mija sets out on a rescue mission, but her already daunting journey quickly becomes more complicated when she crosses paths with disparate groups of capitalists, demonstrators and consumers, each battling to control the fate of Okja...while all Mija wants to do is bring her friend home. Deftly blending genres, humor, poignancy and drama, Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer, The Host) begins with the gentlest of premises-the bond between man and animal-and ultimately creates a distinct and layered vision of the world that addresses the animal inside us all. Okja is a Plan B Entertainment, Lewis Pictures and Kate Street Picture Company production in association with Netflix.

A Japanese couple stuck with part-time jobs and hence inadequate incomes avail themselves of the fruits of shoplifting to make ends meet. They are not alone in this behaviour. The younger and the older of the household are in on the act. The unusual routine is about to change from care-free and matter-of-fact to something more dramatic, however, as the couple open their doors to a beleaguered young girl. The reasons for the family's habit and their motivations come under the microscope.

A young man becomes infected with a ferocious parasite.

Hae-won is a beautiful single woman in her thirties who works at a bank in the Seoul city. She leads a busy life until she becomes a witness to an attempted murder case, and at the same time, things get complicated at work. When things get out of hand she is forced to take a vacation so she heads for 'Moodo', a small undeveloped island, where she had once visited to see her grandparents. And where she had befriended a girl named Bok-nam who stills writes to Hae-won asking her to visit despite the fact that Hae-won never bothered to reply. Upon arriving at the island, Hae-won is shocked to see everyone treating Bok-nam like a slave. As practically the only young woman on the island, she is a plaything for all the men and a free laborer for the women. Sick of all the inhumane treatment, Bok-nam had tried to escape the island several times in the past but had failed each time. She begs Hae-won to help her escape the place, but Hae-won remains indifferent not wanting to be involved in complicated situations. When Bok-nam realizes that her own daughter will follow her footsteps, she tries to escape the island with her daughter.

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl (Sookee) is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress (Hideko) who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle (Kouzuki). But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.

Wrongfully accused of child abduction and murder, the angelic-faced single mother, Lee Geum-ja, is released from prison after thirteen long years. Hell-bent on taking her sweet revenge on the man behind the hideous crime, Lee hatches an infallible plan of retribution with the help of her cellmates; however, planning is easier than doing. Now--as Lee Geum-ja struggles to make amends with the daughter she was forced to give up--at the same time, she finds herself torn between her insatiable thirst for vengeance and the desperate need for atonement. Can she have both?

Asian Movies

More lists by Julie De Deken

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Autumn Vibes

Great TV shows

Background TV show

Drama

Thriller

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Cartoons

80s 90s 00s movies