Culture
Beyond Hollywood: A Beginner's Guide to Korean and Japanese Cinema
From Parasite to Kurosawa, Korean and Japanese films have conquered the world. A friendly guide to the directors, genres and movies to start with.
Korea: the world's most exciting film industry
South Korea's cinema renaissance began in the late 1990s and has never slowed. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite (2019) became the first non-English film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, while Park Chan-wook's Oldboy and Decision to Leave, and Lee Chang-dong's Burning, are modern classics. Korean thrillers are famous for twisting genres and emotions in a single scene.
Where to start: Parasite, Oldboy, Memories of Murder, Train to Busan and The Handmaiden.
Japan: a century of masters
Japanese cinema shaped world film like few others. Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Rashomon influenced everything from westerns to Star Wars. Yasujirō Ozu's quiet family dramas, like Tokyo Story, are regularly voted among the greatest films ever made.
And then there is animation: Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli — Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke — created some of the most beloved films in any language, while directors like Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue) pushed animation into thrilling new territory.
Where to start with Japanese film
- Seven Samurai (1954) — the template for every team-up adventure since.
- Tokyo Story (1953) — Ozu's gentle, devastating portrait of family.
- Spirited Away (2001) — Miyazaki's Oscar-winning masterpiece.
- Godzilla (1954) — the original, a haunting meditation on the atomic age.
- Your Name (2016) — Makoto Shinkai's gorgeous modern anime romance.
Why explore world cinema?
Every country's films carry its heart: Korean cinema's energy and emotional daring, Japan's patience and beauty, India's color and music, the Philippines' warmth and grit. The subtitles fade after five minutes; the stories stay forever. Try our Foreign Movie Picker to find your next favorite.