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A few of my favorite asian movies...
Hana-Bi by Takeshi Kitano is stunningly beautiful. Slow, contemplative, yet surprising at times, I personally consider it his best film (Sonatine being a close second, or maybe Dolls).
Tokyo Monogatari by Yasujiro Ozu may well be the best drama ever made. At least, in my opinion. It's slow, introverted and extremely realistic in its depiction of the tragedies of life.
Shichinen no Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, of course, needs no introduction. It's the original action movie, and still one of the - if not the - best ever. Other great movies by Kurosawa are Ikiru (a must-see), Yojimbo, Rashomon... pretty much everything he made, actually.
Bin-jip by Kim Ki-duk is a wonderful experiment in unconventional filmmaking, and definitely worth a watch. Other good movies by him are Samaritan Girl and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring Again.
The Killer by John Woo is one of the best Hong Kong action flicks there are, and one to watch if you haven't seen it already. Avoid the dubbed version at all costs though, it sucks.
Oldboy by Chan Wook Park is a great gritty action movie/thriller with some very unusual and some rather sick elements. Unexpectedly raw, but more balanced than his Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, which seemed somewhat forced.
Takashi Miike has tons of movies, and quite a few of those are worth watching. Over the top action/gore/weirdness is his main style, although he sometimes does completely different things. Ichi the Killer, Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive 2, Full Metal Yakuza and Audition are some movies of his I liked.
Koroshi no Rakuin by Seijun Suzuki is a gangster movie with a very specific, unusual style. I saw it about a decade ago, and although I don't remember much of the story it had some really powerful images I still remember.
Chungking Express by Wong Kar Wai is a combination of two loosely related stories, shot in such a way that they almost become urban fairytales of a sort. Absolutely beautiful (like most of his movies).
Infernal Affairs (forgot the name of the director) is somewhat of a generic action/crime movie, but the acting is done really well, and the story and shooting are good enough to make it worth watching.
Yi Yi by Edward Yang is great if you like extremely long movies with little action and a lot of contemplation on the meaning of life. I do, so I enjoyed it.
Rajio no Jikan is an extremely entertaining comedy about a rather unlikely subject. Mostly meaningless, but rather enjoyable.
Well, I could go on for a while. Lots of good stuff to be found in asian cinema.
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