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James Marsh

In 2025, Asian cinema continues to make its mark around the world.
Animated features from mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as Japan, have shattered box office records, while filmmakers and performers from across the region have been honoured at the world’s most prestigious film festivals.
From established auteurs to promising newcomers, the region remains a thriving hotbed of rich and diverse commercial and artistic talent.
Below are our picks of the 12 best films released this year across Asia.
12. Another World


Hong Kong takes a bold step forward in the realm of animation courtesy of this visually stunning, Miyazaki-esque odyssey, adapted from Naka Saijo’s Japanese novel Sennenki: Thousand-Year Journey of an Oni by director Tommy Ng Kai-chung and writer-producer Polly Yeung Po-man.
Christy Choi Hiu-tung voices Yuri, a young girl being escorted through the underworld by spirit guide Gudo (Chung Suet-ying) as she searches for her little brother. What unfolds is a riveting, at times surprisingly dark fantasy about grief and reconciliation. Read our full review
11. A Foggy Tale


Set during Taiwan’s tumultuous White Terror – a period of martial law from 1949 to 1987 – Chen Yu-hsun’s thoroughly absorbing period drama was named best film at this year’s Golden Horse awards, and deservedly so.
After her brother is executed by the Kuomintang, teenager Yue (an excellent Caitlin Fang) resolves to bring his body home and sets out alone for Taipei. Upon arrival, she finds herself desperately out of her depth, until a former soldier-turned-rickshaw driver (the equally brilliant Will Or Wai-lam) comes to her aid.
10. Mag Mag


The debut feature from Japanese comedian Yuriyan Retriever is an outrageous deconstruction of female obsession that retools the familiar tropes of J-horror to great effect.
Hilarious, absurd and genuinely terrifying, the film introduces Mag Mag, the heartbroken ghost of a teenage girl, who now haunts handsome boys to death. She unwittingly incurs the wrath of lovestruck high-schooler Uehara (Sara Minami) after killing the boy she is secretly obsessed with, setting the stage for a deliriously deranged showdown.
9. Ne Zha 2


When discussing the best Asian films of 2025, it is impossible to ignore China’s animated behemoth that smashed box office records on its way to an astonishing 15.4 billion yuan (US$2.19 billion) haul.
Perhaps more surprising is just how good Jiaozi’s hyperactive two-and-a-half-hour fantasy turned out to be, delivering a compelling tale of magic and adventure, driven by themes of family and fate, brought vividly to life by eye-popping visuals on a par with anything Hollywood can offer. Read our full review
8. She’s Got No Name


While a version of She’s Got No Name debuted at Cannes Film Festival in 2024, Peter Chan Ho-sun’s stirring true-crime epic has been split in half and reconfigured so extensively that what was unveiled to the general public this year should be considered a different film entirely.
In this first instalment, Zhang Ziyi is back to her commanding best as a young woman in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, who is put on trial for the murder and dismemberment of her husband – a crime she could not possibly have committed on her own. Read our full review
7. A Useful Ghost


A delightfully surreal fantasy with a dark underbelly of sociopolitical subtext, Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s A Useful Ghost sees the spirit of a young bride (Davika Hoorne) possess an ordinary household vacuum cleaner so she can remain close to her husband, March (Witsarut Himmarat).
When it is discovered that the ghost will be expelled should her loved ones forget about her, March’s wealthy and overbearing family sends him to a psychiatric hospital to have his memories erased.
6. The World of Love


Korean writer-director Yoon Ga-eun has built a career on intimate dramas focusing on young female characters. That trend continues with The World of Love, in which 17-year-old Jooin (Seo Su-bin) refuses to sign a class petition protesting the release of a convicted sex offender.
Anchored by Seo’s potent, star-making performance, the film follows a once smart, outgoing student as she becomes the subject of gossip and suspicion for standing her ground.
5. No Other Choice


Lee Byung-hun has never been better than as a newly laid-off paper factory foreman in Korean auteur Park Chan-wook’s playful black comedy. Desperate for a new job to continue providing for his model family, he hatches a devious scheme to literally eliminate his competition.
Adapted from an English-language novel by Donald E. Westlake, the film serves as a cautionary tale about our shrinking role in a workplace increasingly overrun by machines and artificial intelligence. Read our full review
4. Left-Handed Girl


Sean Baker’s long-time producer, Tsou Shih-ching, returns to her homeland for her first solo directorial outing, which proves a fabulously upbeat and life-affirming story of three women forging their own paths in contemporary Taipei.
Debutante Ma Shih-yuan ignites the screen as the rebellious older daughter of a noodle stand worker (Janel Tsai), while Nina Ye’s eponymous southpaw causes heaps of trouble after her grandfather scolds her for using her “devil’s hand”.
3. It Was Just an Accident


Even when forbidden from working by his own government, Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi persists in dazzling with his extraordinarily innovative and sharply observed critiques of his homeland.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, his latest sees a lowly mechanic kidnap a man he believes to be his former torturer, setting in motion a chain of events exposing the scars of the past and the fragile subjectivity of truth, memory and collective trauma. Read our full review
2. Resurrection


The 36-year-old Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan challenges his fans and critics in equal measure, delivering sprawling, surreal avant-garde meditations that defy easy explanation.
Unfolding in a near-future where humanity has traded the ability to dream for immortality, one of the last remaining “deliriants”, played by Jackson Yee, experiences a century of history through the medium of cinema, en route to a peaceful death.
Perhaps Bi is highlighting the importance of documenting history before it is erased and forgotten, or maybe it is a love story about vampires. What is certain is that he has created a hypnotic, transcendent and wholly cinematic experience. Read our full review
1. Kokuho


No other film from Asia, or anywhere for that matter, married a celebration of performance and artistry with a dramatic narrative fuelled with such genuine emotion as Lee Sang-il’s remarkable adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s acclaimed novel.
Set in the highly disciplined world of kabuki theatre, Kokuho sees the orphaned son of a yakuza ascend to become Japan’s finest onnagata performer.
Along the way, Kikuo (wonderfully portrayed by Ryo Yoshizawa) finds himself in constant competition with his adoptive brother, best friend and arch rival (Ryusei Yokohama), as they strive to bring the opulent, sonorous and meticulously choreographed art form to life. The results are nothing short of breathtaking. Read our full review
For the 12 best Asian films of 2024, read our ranking here.
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Our pick of the best Asian films of the past year includes a record-breaking animation and a movie that is nothing short of breathtaking


Our pick of the best Asian films of the past year includes a record-breaking animation and a movie that is nothing short of breathtaking.


The 12 best Asian films of 2025 ranked, from Ne Zha 2 to No Other Choice and Kokuho

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Our pick of the best Asian films of the past year includes a record-breaking animation and a movie that is nothing short of breathtaking

12. Another World

Our pick of the best Asian films of the past year includes a record-breaking animation and a movie that is nothing short of breathtaking