Ranked: the 12 best Asian films of 2022, from RRR to Decision to Leave and Plan 75

South Korea’s Decision to Leave is one of the year’s most rewarding cinematic pleasures, while in RRR the world has seen unparalleled directing talent

Hong Kong, too, produced plenty of good films in 2022, from Louis Koo’s long-awaited sci-fi Warriors of Future to the pandemic-set drama The Narrow Road

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A still from RRR, one of the Post’s picks for the 12 best Asian films of 2022 and a film that allowed global audiences to see the talent of its director, S.S. Rajamouli, and of India’s Telegu cinema industry.

Published: 7:15am, 22 Dec 2022Updated: 10:10am, 24 Dec 2022

Tom Cruise and James Cameron may be vying for global box office dominance this year, but there has been no shortage of films emerging from Asia to delight, inspire and provoke audiences around the world.

Not least, it has been a banner year for Hong Kong productions, with more genuinely engaging offerings premiering in 2022 than in recent memory.

Here are our picks for the 12 best Asian films of the past year.

12. Plan 75 (directed by Chie Hayakawa, Japan)

After the success of speculative Hong Kong anthology Ten Years, Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda came aboard to produce a similar project from his own country.

Chie Hayakawa’s segment about a voluntary government euthanasia programme, introduced to help curb the ageing population, has now been expanded into a stand-alone feature film.

His movie focuses not only on the elderly enticed to sign up but the young staff responsible for guiding them through the transition. Read our review

11. Project Wolf Hunting (dir. Kim Hong-sun, South Korea)

This absurdly violent thriller from the director of The Con Artists begins as a South Korean riff on Con Air, with a shipping tanker transporting the country’s most notorious convicts from the Philippines to a new facility.