KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — The British Film Institute (BFI) has listed six Asian movies among 25 Films of the Century, which it says is “a time capsule for the cinephiles of the 22nd century”.
The list, published in BFI’s Sight and Sound Summer Issue 2024, features two South Korean movies, including the 2003 Korean revenge thriller Old Boy helmed by director Park Chan-wook.
Old Boy made history as the first Korean film to win the Cannes’ Grand Prix in 2004 and its re-release last year grossed an estimated US$880,000 (RM4.1 million) in just five days.
The other Korean film on the list was Walk Up, a 2022 comedy drama that written, helmed and produced by director Hong Sang-soo.
25 Films of the Century from the Summer 2024 issue of @SightSoundmag - how many have you seen? https://t.co/zC0hHhf41X@letterboxd pic.twitter.com/lhKN2efVdb
— BFI (@BFI) June 17, 2024
Meanwhile, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s 2018 action drama, Kaala, directed by Pa Ranjith was the sole Indian film on the list.
Set against the backdrop of the Asia’s largest slum Dharavi, Kaala follows the struggles of Karikaalan (Rajinikanth) to foil a politician’s land encroachment ploy.
Likewise, Thai social drama Cemetery of Splendor was the only representative of the South-east Asia region on the list.
The 2015 film, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, follows the story of a troop of soldiers struck with a bizarre sleeping illness in a small town.
The 2019 Chinese documentary film, Self-Portrait: Window in 47KM — the eighth film in director Zhang Mengqi’s Self-Portrait series — also made it to the list.
The documentary narrates the story of 15-year-old Fanghong who paints the portraits of elders in a village.
The Japanese animated film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, directed by Isao Takahata, also joined the fold.
With an estimated budget of US$49.3 million, the 2013 film was the most expensive anime and Japanese film ever to be made.
