Why East Asian Cinema Is Worth Your Time

The scene is set. You’re sitting in your favorite chair with a cup of tea, ready to dive into the world of East Asian cinema. But what should you choose? Are there any genres that are more suitable than others? What makes this kind of film so special? And how can you find your perfect movie night on the couch with some popcorn and other snacks? Well, read on!

I have been fascinated by films for most of my life — but my curiosity peaked during the pandemic. The few times that I left the cinematic path were rather because of the bad level of films in general, and not because of a certain genre. Therefore, it should not be surprising that I also highly appreciate East Asian cinema, which is sometimes referred to as Asian cinema.

Emotional depth is a key element of Asian cinema and its cinematography (the way it presents visual information). The emotions are in abundance but this emotion is often never directly expressed by the characters on screen. Instead, it seems that it wants to hide or doesn’t show itself at all. And yet this very emotional depth makes these films intriguing and exciting to me.

The high level of closeness to reality in these films, their closeness to nature (the way they use light and color), and finally the way they tell stories.

The first factor is what I think draws me into a film. It’s a kind of realism that feels unforced and natural, even though it might be fantastical or supernatural at times. The second factor is how close to nature these films are; for example, if you watch something like “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” (2000), you’ll see some scenes where there’s just one person against an entire landscape; it gives an idea of scale without being excessive or overly laboured. The third factor is how they tell stories; usually, through flashbacks, we get some sense of who characters are by seeing them interact with other people or things before we meet them again later on in life. This allows us as viewers to relate better with characters because those flashbacks give us insight into their motivations for doing certain things later on in life when we meet them again (or even earlier). In addition, these flashbacks are often accompanied by music that mirrors whatever emotion may arise during said flashback which further strengthens its impact on our feelings toward certain characters throughout the movie.

When it comes to historical events in Asia, and if they are linked to wars or other tragedies, then Asian films rarely leave out that huge amount of emotionality which would be inevitable in such events. This means that tragic moments, some really terrible atrocities, and also evildoers are shown on screen without making them look too ugly or evil or making their victims look like great heroes or good guys (as in Hollywood productions).

I hope this article has given you some insight into why East Asian cinema is a great choice for cinema enthusiasts. I love watching these movies because they are able to show human emotions in such a raw and honest way, while still being entertaining at the same time. I think that if you have never seen an East Asian film before then I would recommend starting off with something like Wong Kar-Wai’s In The Mood For Love or Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy (2003), both of which are classics of their genres.

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