5 New Asian Movies To Binge Watch This Weekend

If you’re getting stuck with the same “great Asian film recommendation”, I am here to save your day. Ditch those Top 10 Greatest Asian lists that were mere copies of other articles. Hang out with me.

Here are five more recent Asian movies you can binge-watch this weekend.

Summary

A student decided to make money by giving charging classmates for copying her exam answers but as her financial needs go up, so does her scheme.

Comments

I never thought a simple qualifying exam can be so excited. I was at the edge of my seat and couldn’t look away from the screen even though I wanted to. I initially didn’t want to watch it it because I thought it was going to be a juvenile attempt at creating a school version of a heist and it will be so over the top that I won’t be able to suspend reality because I’d be too irritated to do. I gave in to watching because I wanted anything new from Thailand and I am so glad I did because I have never seen a movie about school systems that is so thrilling, exciting and downright badass.

Things to Note About the Movie

• The editing and camera movement created “the movement” in what could have been the most boring scene in any movie. It felt like there were so much going on even when they were just sitting and taking the test.
• The characters were also not an Einstein trapped in a couple of highschool student’s body. They thought, acted and decided according to what you will expect of a highschool student which made things more believable and relatable.
• I wanted an ending as sick as the narrative or the cinematography but this is not to say the ending is bad. It is, in fact, what I would have called a justifiable end.

Summary

A typical high school student who is more interest in sleeping than school is forced to go back home when his uncle fell ill. He is then faced with the possibility of having to manage the hotel he hates so much.

Comment

I almost regretted watching it in the first 15 minutes because it felt like it was trying too hard to make me laugh with slapstick comedy, old jokes, old tricks which isn’t specifically a problem for me. I specifically but right around 15 minutes, succeeded!

Why You Should Watch Secrets in the Hot Springs

• This isn’t a movie with a profound thesis. It’s plainly and simply a comedy film that aims to entertain not make a political or social statement through effortless satire.
• The color and cinematography far exceeded what you would have expected of a slapstick comedy film. It felt like you are watching one of those manga portraits with a million layers of colors and perhaps that was what the filmmakers were aiming to do, transport you into the imagination of little kids who like adventures and have great imagination.
• There are tiny details that will make you chuckle if you’re paying attention but missing those won’t really affect your experience of the film. It’s film that lets you can just sit down, not think and just watch a bunch of people do silly things.

Summary

When powerful men need to kill someone, they make prisoners do the dirty job.

Comment

The narrative mirrors the cinematography. Within minutes into the film, you’ll feel suffocated with the often narrow locations and crowded spaces. It’s almost as if it is making your wish you didn’t start the film but the only way out is by finishing the film the same way the characters didn’t have a choice but to follow the only path they have in front of them even though they know they will most likely end up dead before reaching the end.

Why You Should Watch On the Job

• It is not just one of the few Filipino films with a unique story but one of the few films all over the world with a unique story.
• It succeeds in trapping you into this big, crowded and dirty world and it does so in so many layers, from the blocking that seems to constricted and limited, to the acting where everyone looks like they are drowning in their naivete, to the background noise and production design that all seem to suffocate everyone including the audience, it’s a trap, one that will you suffer with the characters.
• The twists are unexpected but believable which tells you the brilliance of the scriptwriting.

Summary

A group of police officers is given a final assignment to prove they are worthy of being police officers after countless failures. They had to buy a restaurant in order to penetrate the world of the gang they need to arrest. The only problem is that the restaurant became successful.

Comment

I’ve always loved Korean comedy. They never fail to floor me with their humor but this didn’t do the trick. I never found my tummy hurting from laughing too much but the story is great enough to make me stick it out.

Why You Should Watch Extreme Job

• It’s the story, the narrative, and the unfailing ability of Koreans to surprise me with their comedy that will hold you to this movie.
• There are no superstars in the movie but it is the top grossing film of the first half of the year in Korea which signifies just how good this movie is.

Summary

After being broken up for years, a girl and a guy meet again by accident and gets stuck together through the holidays. As they try to get through the days, the movie reveals exactly what happened to their relationship.

Comments

It’s a story about love but I can’t say if it is a romantic love story. The story explored how the two of them grew as individuals even while they were together.

Why You Should Watch Us and Them

• Love was explored in so many levels that it would be a great disservice to the director and writer to just call it a romantic love story. The details, so intricately showed in all the perfect moments, portray love in a much higher level.
• The cinematography is no less than divine. It feels as if every scene is a perfectly planned photoshoot and the perfection adds to the illusion of bliss that you will so desperately hold on to as the movie progresses.
• Like life, the story is not all fine and dandy because each happy memory you build contribute to the pain of growth but strangely enough, the film will make you realize that it’s all inevitable. Whatever they decide on is inevitable. It’s a choice they can make, it is a choice they have to make.
• Towards the end, however, you will feel just how much they have been each other’s true love all along regardless of whether or not they will stay together.

I know there is a shortage of good Asian film reviews nowadays. It seems every list out there is a mere copy of another. I’ll be coming out with regular movie recommendations and reviews and I’ll centering on Asian ones so make sure to follow me.