1 South-East Asian Collection
A list of Films I have seen set in this Region or made by Directors from this Area, including , Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos the Philippines and Vietnam in that order
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- DirectorLuc BessonStarsMichelle YeohDavid ThewlisJonathan RaggettThe story of Aung San Suu Kyi as she becomes the core of Burma's democracy movement, and her relationship with her husband, writer Michael Aris.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsPatricia ArquetteU Aung KoFrances McDormandLaura is trying to pick up the pieces of her life after the murder of her husband and son, and goes on vacation with her sister to Burma. After losing her passport at a political rally, she is left on her own for a few days, during which time she falls in with students fighting for democracy. She and their leader, U Aung Ko, travel through Burma, whilst witnessing many bloody acts of repression by the dictatorship, in an attempt to escape to Thailand. Based on a true story.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsErrol FlynnJames BrownWilliam PrinceA platoon of special ops are tasked to parachute into the remote Burmese jungle and destroy a strategic Japanese radar station, but getting out isn't as easy.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsSam WaterstonHaing S. NgorJohn MalkovichA journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians.
- DirectorRithy PanhStarsRandal DoucJean-Baptiste PhouRithy Panh uses clay figures, archival footage, and his narration to recreate the atrocities Cambodia's Khmer Rouge committed between 1975 and 1979.
- DirectorRithy PanhStarsIsabelle HuppertGaspard UllielAstrid Bergès-FrisbeyA troubled mother's spirit crumbles when her adult children strike out for independence. Feeling abandoned she contemplates taking drastic action.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsJacques GamblinIsabelle CarréBruno PutzuluThe trials and tribulations of a French couple's efforts to adopt an orphan baby in Cambodia.
- DirectorJoshua OppenheimerAnonymousChristine CynnStarsAnwar CongoHerman KotoSyamsul ArifinA documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonSigourney WeaverLinda HuntA young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.
- DirectorKim MordauntStarsSitthiphon DisamoeLoungnam KaosainamSuthep Po-ngamLaos. In a land ravaged by war and exploitation, a boy whose family believe he is cursed must redeem himself by taking part in a dangerous rocket competition.
- DirectorLav DiazStarsSid LuceroAngeli BayaniArchie AlemaniaAn embittered law student commits a brutal double murder; a family man takes the fall and is forced into a harsh prison sentence; a mother and her two children wander the countryside looking for some kind of redemption.
- DirectorSean EllisStarsJake MacapagalJohn ArcillaAlthea VegaThis riveting crime thriller follows Oscar, a recent emigrant to Manila who gets pulled into a harrowing world of corruption and violence when he takes a job as an armored car driver to support his family (in Tagalog w/ English subtitles).
- DirectorBrillante MendozaStarsAnita LindaRustica CarpioTanya GomezTwo elderly women bear the consequences of a crime involving their respective grandsons. One is the victim, the other is the suspect. Both weak and poor, they laboriously solicit money in the midst of a storm, one for the victim's burial, the other for the suspect's bail bond.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsGael García BernalMichelle WilliamsMarife NecesitoWhen a father has to leave his family in New York, for a business trip to Thailand in the gaming industry, fatal destinies collid.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsGuy PearceFreddie HighmoreJean-Claude DreyfusTwo tigers are separated as cubs and taken into captivity, only to be reunited years later as enemies by an explorer who inadvertently forces them to fight each other.
- DirectorJ.A. BayonaStarsNaomi WattsEwan McGregorTom HollandThe story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsClaire DanesKate BeckinsaleBill PullmanTwo women are arrested for smuggling while vacationing in Thailand.
- DirectorMads MatthiesenStarsKim KoldElsebeth SteentoftLamaiporn Sangmanee HougaardDennis, a painfully shy 38-year-old bodybuilder who lives with his mother, sets off to Thailand in search of love.
- DirectorAndy TennantStarsJodie FosterChow Yun-FatBai LingThe story of the romance between the King of Siam and widowed British schoolteacher, Anna Leonowens, during the 1860s.
- DirectorEkachai UekrongthamStarsAsanee SuwanSorapong ChatreeOrn Anong PanyawongBiopic of transgender Muay Thai boxer Parinya Charoenphol who pursued the sport to pay for her gender reassignment surgery.
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsThanapat SaisaymarJenjira PongpasSakda KaewbuadeeDying of kidney disease, a man spends his last, somber days with family, including the ghost of his wife and a forest spirit who used to be his son, on a rural northern Thailand farm.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsJane MarchTony Ka Fai LeungJeanne MoreauIn 1929 French Indochina, a French teenage girl embarks on a reckless and forbidden romance with a wealthy, older Chinese man, each knowing that knowledge of their affair will bring drastic consequences to each other.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsGeorge LamCora MiaoSeason MaA Japanese photojournalist revisits Vietnam after the Liberation and learns harsh truths about its regime and its "New Economic Zones".
- DirectorAnh Hung TranStarsKen'ichi MatsuyamaRinko KikuchiKiko MizuharaToru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.
- DirectorAnh Hung TranStarsLe Van LocTony Leung Chiu-waiNu Yên-Khê TranWhen a poor bicycle-taxi driver has his cyclo stolen, he is forced into a life of crime. Meanwhile, his sister becomes a sex worker.
- DirectorAnh Hung TranStarsNu Yên-Khê TranMan San LuThi Loc TruongA Vietnamese servant girl, Mui, observes lives within two different Saigon families: the first, a woman textile seller with three boys and a frequently absent husband; the second, a handsome young pianist with his fiancée.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMatthew ModineR. Lee ErmeyVincent D'OnofrioA pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
- DirectorHans Petter MolandStarsDamien NguyenBai LingDang Quoc Thinh TranAfter reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsMichael CaineBrendan FraserDo Thi Hai YenAn old British reporter vies with a young U.S. doctor for the affections of a beautiful Vietnamese woman.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsHiep Thi LeTommy Lee JonesHaing S. NgorDuring the Vietnam War, a Vietnamese woman struggles hustling on the streets, where she comes face to face with those involved in the conflict around her.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsTom CruiseBryan LarkinRaymond J. BarryThe biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenTom BerengerWillem DafoeChris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.
- DirectorRégis WargnierStarsCatherine DeneuveVincent PerezLinh-Dan PhamEliane adopts Camille, whose Vietnamese parents were friends. In 1930, a French navy officer is interested in Eliane (owns 60km2 plantation) and later in Camille. There's an uprising in Vietnam against French colonial power.
- DirectorJiarui ZhangStarsJingchu ZhangNick CheungLoletta LeeA haunting, tragic love story about the aftermath of the American War in Vietnam, and the long-term effect it had on ordinary people's lives. Set in a border town between China and Vietnam, it is a universal story that could be about any war, in any country.
- DirectorTae-gyun KimStarsKo Chang-seokGabriel Da CostaJunior Da CostaAfter a series of pipe dream ventures go belly up, retired pro soccer player Kim Won-kang happens to visit East Timor, where he finds children playing the game barefoot on rocky pitches. Sensing a new business opportunity on finding the country doesn't have a single sporting goods store, he embarks on a scheme to get rich quick by purveying athletic shoes to the unshod youngsters. Sadly, no one there can afford to pay $60 for a pair of shoes, even on a generous installment plan, and before he knows it, he is reduced to coaching a team of ragged 10-year-olds and prospects are looking grim.
- DirectorHong KhaouStarsPei-Pei ChengBen WhishawAndrew LeungA young man of Chinese-Cambodian descent dies, leaving behind his isolated mother and his 4-year male lover, who grieve but don't speak a lick of each other's language.
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsLeonardo DiCaprioTilda SwintonDaniel YorkOn vacation in Thailand, Richard sets out for an island rumored to be a solitary beach paradise.
- DirectorSalvador CalvoStarsLuis TosarJavier GutiérrezÁlvaro CervantesIn 1898, Spain sends a military squad to the town of Baler, the Philippines, to protect one of the last colonies of the Spanish Empire, to prevent rebellious natives from recovering their ancient territories. Lead by Captain Enrique de las Morenas and Lieutenant Cerezo, proud military men, the soldiers are stalked at night by the rebels, and are forced to seek refuge in the church run by Fray Carmelo, Baler's priest. Turning the church into a military fort, the unrelenting heat and malaria starts to sweep across the men. After the Captain's death by a disease called beriberi, Cerezo steps in as the new leader of the squad, faced with a constant power struggle with Jimeno, a soldier from the previous squad annihilated by the rebels. Becoming more and more paranoid and obsessive with the victory and the glory of the Spanish Empire, the rebels close to Cerezo explain that Spain has already sold the Philippine Islands to the United States, ceding all the colonies of the Spanish Empire, and that the war is over. But Cerezo does not believe in the newspapers given by the rebels and is still obsessed to win at all cost. He makes a last stand in the church with his men, prolonging the battle for several months where one of the soldiers, Carlos, falling victim to opium use, searches a way to end the conflict, suspecting that all is lost, and wanting to prevent the death of his comrades.
- DirectorAsh MayfairStarsHong Chuong NguyenLong Le VuNu Yên-Khê TranIn 19th century rural Vietnam, May is ready to become the third wife of a wealthy landowner. Little does she know that her hidden desires will force her to decide between living in safety and being free.
- DirectorTrinh Dinh Le MinhStarsHong DaoLanh ThanhVo Dien Gia HuyNau Van returns home several years after staying in America on the anniversary of his father's death to meet his family. Unbeknownst to them, he returns with his long-term boyfriend, Ian.
- DirectorJean-Philippe DuvalStarsAnne DorvalLeanna CheaFrançois PapineauIsabelle and her partner adopted Clara in Vietnam, who died several years after. In order to heal her wounds, Isabelle flies to Hanoi to discover the culture of Clara and meet her biological mother, who will later become her friend.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsViggo MortensenColin FarrellJoel EdgertonA rescue mission is assembled in Thailand where a group of young boys and their soccer coach are trapped in a system of underground caves that are flooding.
- DirectorKamila AndiniStarsHappy SalmaLaura BasukiArswendy Bening SwaraNana, a gentle, beautiful young woman, escapes a violent anti-communist purge. Afterwards she lives comfortably as the second wife of a rich Sundanese man but her past re-emerges in her dreams.