For a long time and still to some degree now, it seemed the only East Asian movies or TV that became popular in North America were martial arts, horror, Japanese anime, and crime (triads & yakuza). There was a bit of change when Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries got a bit into martial arts and horror. The biggest change has been the Hallyu wave spilling over from East Asia to the rest of the world. South Korean TV dramas aka Kdramas (especially romance ones) have become hugely popular alongside Kpop, in a way displacing the positions that Jdramas and Jpop had in the past. South Korean movies have also dabbled in horror, action, crime, and thriller genres too. Of course there’s that one Korean film that won four academy awards including best picture in 2020.
While there are many excellent movies in these genres, when I started actively trying to discover more East Asian movies, I deliberately tried looking for more “everyday life” or slice of life type movies. Movies that were about regular people living their everyday lives in a more realistic setting and mostly without sensationalist or thriller elements. I’m glad I did because some of my strongest emotions as a movie-goer were felt when watching these sorts of slice of life human dramas. These were films that made me gain a new perspective on an issue or made me feel empathy for someone or a situation that I wasn’t familiar with or with something I was all too familiar with.
Japanese cinema in particular seems quite fond of slice of life and family dramas as there is no shortage of these films from that country. Mikio Naruse and Yasujiro Ozu are the big names that come up during the black & white era of Japanese films with their film careers ending just as the more common usage of color film began to emerge from the 50s into the 60s. Sadly many of their early films made in late 1920s and early 1930s are lost. I am personally not very familiar with these directors and have only seen a couple of Ozu films but I highlight these two because they are often mentioned as inspirations to one of my favorite Japanese directors working today, Hirokazu Kore-eda. Film critics like to compare him to Ozu but Kore-eda himself says his main inspiration was Naruse.
The first Kore-eda film I saw was at a small film festival that screened I Wish (2011). This movie would actually be considered one of his of “lesser” works but I enjoyed the simple story of two kids who are brothers but each living separately with a divorced parent. After this his films never seemed to appear at another film festival again in Montreal for some unknown reason. But luckily most of his subsequent films got limited theatrical screenings in Montreal and I would make sure to catch each one before it made a premature exit from the cinema. I was able to watch Like Father Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), After the Storm (2016), and Shoplifters (2018). All of them great with only After the Storm feeling a bit underwhelming despite having some of my favorite Japanese actors. It baffled me how Kore-eda seemed to get little recognition (at least outside of Japan) over the years although thankfully that changed with Shoplifters winning the Palme d’or in 2018.
Kore-eda is known for his documentary-like style (unsurprisingly since he made documentaries before) and it definitely shows in his films as you feel like you really are watching these people’s private lives as an invisible observer. It’s an absolute shame that a lot of his films are not easily accessible. A couple of his older films are available from the Criterion Collection (After Life, Still Walking) which is great but they are pretty expensive. What limited DVD releases there have been in North America appear to be made in small quantities and quickly sell out. I could only get Shoplifters on DVD recently. I regret not buying some of the other DVDs while they were actually available.
As for Chinese cinema, it can be a bit tricky for mainland China movies due to censorship. Zhang YiMou has made many different types of movies including epic historical dramas with lavish costume design but he does have some more quaint, normal everyday life movies. The Road Home (1999) which was also the debut of Zhang YiZi and Sun HongLei comes to mind. There are probably others that I haven’t seen but a more recent one I’ve seen is Coming Home (2014) starring Chen DaoMing and Gong Li (in a sort of reunion as the director and actress had collaborated on many movies in the past). It’s extremely unfortunate that some of his most celebrated works from the past are hard to get on physical media. Even a boutique brand like Criterion doesn’t seem to have much in the way of mainland Chinese films in their catalog.
As for directors who mostly seem to focus on normal people and everyday lives in most of their filmography from what I can tell, I think Wang Xiao Shuai fits that description. I’ve only seen two films by him and they are really far apart in time but they were both really eye opening to me. It doesn’t seem like his films are accessible so I’ve never been able to see any of his other works. I borrowed Beijing Bicycle (2001) from the university library. I saw So Long, My Son (2019) at a film festival. The latter is quite long but worthwhile. I consider it to be one of the best movies in recent years.
One director whom I’ve begun to appreciate more and more is Jia ZhangKe. I haven’t seen most of his films but I’ve seen a few and while sometimes a bit slow I can really appreciate the sorts of issues and themes he covers. His wife, Zhao Tao, is the lead actress in most, if not all his films. I’ve seen Mountains May Depart (2015) and Ash is Purest White (2018) as theatrical screenings but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen one or two of his much earlier films that I borrowed from the university library. I don’t really recall much of the specific films but it made enough of an impression on me that I never forgot his name. He’s also filmed documentaries.
From Taiwan, I recently finished watching A Brighter Summer Day (1991) by Edward Yang. It’s a very long movie but it absolutely merits it. I almost feel like it could’ve been longer even as I find the plot towards the end kind of rushes a bit to its surprising conclusion. It was also Chang Chen’s first acting role. This is currently available as a Criterion release with two bluray discs with what looks like a great restoration. I am very much interested in checking out some of Yang’s other films like Yi Yi and Taipei Story.
I can’t think of any Korean directors who primarily make a lot of slice of life movies that I like. Hong Sang-soo could be considered one I guess but I haven’t enjoyed a single movie of his and I’ve seen at least five of them at various film festivals over the years. They just seem to have no point or if there is a point the characters feel almost all forced to make that same point. But his movies appear frequently at film festivals so what do I know?
Instead I will mention some one off films that really resonated with me. Kim Bora’s House of Hummingbird (2018), a coming of age that has some autobiographical elements in it. I was moved by the film and I’m very interested in seeing a future film by her. Another Child (2019) by Kim Yoon-seok was also another interesting film and a surprising one coming from an actor who usually played very masculine types of roles in his career.
Although I haven’t seen it, Take Care of My Cat (2001) by Jeong Jae-eun appears to be a noteworthy example of slice of life Korean cinema. The director hasn’t made many other fictional films and has since transitioned to making documentaries.
A director whose works I’d like to explore more is Ann Hui. She seems to have directed a lot of different types of films but there are some that seem to be based on everyday lives. One in particular that impressed me was the semi-autobiographical Song of the Exile (1990).
A recent film that I was impressed by was My Broken Mariko (2022). It’s a live action webcomic adaptation by Yuki Tanada that was about a friend discovering an old childhood friend has committed suicide. I think I only just realized this now but I had actually seen a previous film by this director, Mourning Recipe (2013).
In the same year and same festival, I also saw My Small Land (2022) which was directed by Emma Kawawada (who has worked with Kore-eda) about Kurdish refugees struggling to get by in Japan. One of the rare Japanese films I’ve seen that focus on non-Japanese.
One last name I’ll mention is Yoji Yamada, a long-time director who has made a ton of films. The first film I saw of his was The Twilight Samurai (2002) which itself was more about a lowly samurai’s everyday mundane life than hacking and slashing. But his recent output seems to be more focused on contemporary slice of life themes. However, the only one I’ve seen was the more comedic What a Wonderful Family! (2016).
The following directors I wanted to mention even though they do not strictly follow the theme of this article but I felt they are worth mentioning because I feel like they often focus on characters and I could often relate to the characters’ feelings, thoughts and emotions even if it’s mixed up with elements of the fantasy, dreams or surrealism.
A director that encompasses some of those qualities would be Wong Kar Wai. In the Mood for Love (2000) was the first movie of his I saw but it wouldn’t be until a long time afterward that I would truly become obsessed and watch many of his other films. Although his movies often have no plot or some unrealistic coincidences there’s an authenticity to the characters’ emotions and their often unfulfilled dreams that I could relate to. After watching more of his films (by borrowing DVDs from the university library) such as Tears Gone By (1988), Days of Being Wild (1990), Fallen Angels (1995), my favorites would become Chungking Express (1994) and Happy Together (1997). I need to try watching 2046 (2004) again as that was the first and only movie I just could not get into. I haven’t seen The Grandmaster but mainly because it seems difficult to watch the original cut instead of the North American cut.
Another director with a really distinct style that I discovered through a film festival was Shunji Iwai. This was also somewhat random as I believe the first movie of his that I saw was his first animated film which was a prequel to one of his popular live action films. It was the case of Hana and Alice (2015) about how a couple of schoolgirls become friends. It was funny and heartwarming and I actually prefer it over the live action movie, which itself is still good. One amazing thing about him is that not only does he write and direct but often composes the music for his films. A Bride for Rip Van Winkle (2016) was the next film of his I saw at a festival. It was quite long but interesting. There’s a strong sense of nostalgia in his films and sometimes longing.
It would be a while before I would get to see more of his earlier works like Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? (1993), April Story (1998) and All About Lily Chou Chou (2001). The first being a coming of age story of kids with strong nostalgic vibes (and starring a very young Megumi Okina in her first acting role). The second a very simple love story of a young women (Takako Matsu in her second film role) choosing to go to the same university as her crush. Despite being predictable it somehow still managed to be effective at eliciting emotions. The last one is a particularly striking and more complex work which focused on the struggles of high school students and how they find solace in posting on an internet message board about their favorite singer Lily Chou Chou. It’s also a shame that his works are not easily accessible. The only one that could be easily purchased would be the animated film The Case of Hana and Alice.
Although many films of Yoshihiro Nakamura really don’t fit the theme of this article, I do often find I can relate to the characters in his films who are often just normal people or outsiders put into unusual situations. Fish Story (2009) might be one of his more popular works but I personally liked See You Tomorrow Everyone (2013) which was an interesting character study with a great lead performance by Gaku Hamada. It seems to be a comedy at first but has a basis in a reality with it being set in social housing (danchi).
Film Beats (from the East) 