9 Spooky Asian Movies to Watch this Halloween!
Commemoration of International Women's Day today ranges from being a public holiday in some countries to being largely ignored elsewhere. In some places, it is a day of protest; in others, it is a day that celebrates womanhood. In this article, I hope to inspire viewers with films that feature all women, in all their diversities.
The movies listed below focuses on the stories of women, presenting amazing female actors and their performances, as well as (some) titles directed by women.
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As One (2012)
Based on a true story, the movie recounts the dramatic tale of the first unified team representing the two Koreas that competed at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships held in held in Chiba, Japan. The two young women work hard to prove the world that teamwork can outshine the dark shadows of a painful history.
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Kim Ji Young: Born 1982 (2019)
Adapted from a best-selling novel, it tells the story of Kim Ji Young, a Korean woman juggling work and family, and the gender discrimination she faces at each phase of her life. Prior to the film's release, lead actress Jung Yu Mi's Instagram account was flooded with hate comments while a petition was made by anti-feminist groups pleading South Korea's president not to allow its release.
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Angry Rice Wives (2021)
Based on the rice riots of 1918, the film tells the bravery of women who fought not only against ingrained sexism, but also the deep poverty that put their families at risk of starvation.
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House of Hummingbird (2019)
Kim Bo Ra's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story was set in the 1990s that tells the life of a lonely eighth-grader named Eun Hee who feels like an outsider anywhere she goes. Deprived of attention from her family she experiences neglect and child abuse, in its psychological form. The film became a hit and won a total of 59 awards from various film festivals worldwide.
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Fagara (2019)
After her father died, a Hong Kong woman discovers she has two hitherto unknown sisters, one in Taiwan and one in China. To settle her father’s debt, she must reunite with them to run the family’s hot pot restaurant. The movie is a touching and quietly poignant reflection on the importance of family ties.
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Our Little Sister (2015)
When the Koda sisters were young, their parents divorced and they were abandoned. Not having seen their father in 15 years, they receive news of his death. Sachi asks her sisters, Yoshino and Chika, to attend the funeral where they meet 13-year-old Asano Suzu, their half-sister. The trio of sisters take in their half-sibling sharing family struggles and triumphs.
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Herstory (2018)
Based on the real-life story of the trials that took place at Shimonoseki, Japan in the 1990s, a group of Busan-based women engaged in a court case against the Japanese government, highlighting the ordeals of Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery as comfort women by the Japanese military during World War 2. The movie looks deep into the sufferings of the women who went on a 6-year battle for honor and justice within in the courtroom.
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Canola (2016)
Equally heartbreaking and heart-warming, the film dives into the story of Gye Choon who reunites with Hye Ji, who went missing for 12 years. A must-see emotional masterpiece that tells the great love and motherhood between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
