Apart from being shameless clickbait, lists like this serve two main functions for a website: they are a wishlist first and foremost. They are also a declaration.
The wishlist element is pretty self explanatory. Every year I get jazzed up about something new coming down the pipeline. Living in Australia, it’s then a matter of crossing one’s fingers that they will come to a festival, cinema or in-flight selection near you.
The declaration is part of a bigger challenge to myself this year. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, this list is a reminder to my readers and myself that The Reel Bits puts Asia in Focus above all else. It will be the primary focus of the site in 2020, even if I still cover a large range of other things. After all, 13 of my 20 most read articles last year fell into this category. I am, if nothing else, a man of the people.
Read more: 21 Asian films to see in 2021
So here’s 20 films that have me excited about 2020, from series finales to indie gems and the just plain weird.
Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 (Japan, Dir: Hideaki Anno)
This goes straight to the top of the “most anticipated” lists because it’s been ‘coming soon’ since 2012 when Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo was released. After a promised 2015 release, Hideaki Anno’s very public bouts with depression, and the production of Shin Godzilla, the final chapter of the Rebuild of Evangelion series will drop in June 2020. We can (not) wait.
His (Japan, Dir: Rikiya Imaizumi)
Japanese director Rikiya Imaizumi has made some of my favourite films of the last few years, including Just Only Love and Little Nights, Little Love in 2019 alone. Shun (Hio Miyazawa) and Nagisa (Kisetsu Fujiwara) meet and fall in love in high school, although Nagisa says he can’t see a future. We catch up with them years later with Shun living alone, until Nagisa turns up with his 6-year-old daughter.
Train to Busan: Peninsula (South Korea, Dir: Yeon Sang-ho)
One of the biggest Korean crossover hits of the last few years, Train to Busan has been rumoured for a Hollywood remake. Thankfully, series originator Yeon Sang-ho (who made the animated side-story Seoul Station in the intermin) is getting in on the sequel action first. Now officially known as Peninsula, it’s been announced for an August 2020 with a confirmed cast of Kang Dong Won, Lee Jung Hyun, Lee Re, Kwon Hae Hyo, Kim Min Jae and Goo Kyo Hwan.
Fengshen Trilogy (China, Dir: Wuershan)
“It’s just like Lord of the Rings, but even more massive,” claims director Wuershan, the filmmaker behind The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman and Mojin. According to a Variety interview, the director wants to elevate Chinese mythology to the level of Hollywood blockbusters. Not for nothing: it’s got a planned budget of $445 million and a crew of more than 2,000 – apparently featuring a whole lot of shirtless men. The first entry is due in 2020.
Prisoners of the Ghostland (US/Japan, Dir: Sion Sono)
Perhaps the only thing crazier than a Sion Sono film is the inclusion of Nicolas Cage in the cast. While the prolific director’s output has slowed down to 2 or 3 films a year (!), including 2019’s Forest of Love that quietly slipped onto Netflix, the film has recently added Sofia Boutella, Ed Skrei, Bill Moseley, Young Dais and Tak Sakaguchi to the cast. Described by Cage as “the wildest movie I’ve ever made” we wonder if 2020 is ready for this.
Memoria (Thailand)
While this is an international co-production with United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Thailand, Germany, and Colombia, acclaimed Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, 10 Years Thailand) will undoubtedly bring his distinctive voice to this film. Plus there’s this crazy cast: Tilda Swinton, Jeanne Balibar, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Juan Pablo Urrego and Elkin Diaz. Looks like another great year for distributor Neon.
Comes Morning (Japan, Dir: Naomi Kawase)
The legendary Naomi Kawase had an amazing decade with films like Hanezu, Sweet Bean and the Cannes Ecumenical Jury winning Radiance. 2020 is set to be her biggest year yet, not only helming the official Tokyo Olympics film but also Comes Morning based on the novel by Mizuki Tsujimura. It’s the story of a couple who adopt a child and then get a threatening call six years later from a woman claiming to be the biological mother.
Block Z (Philippines, Dir: Mikhail Red)
Billed as the Philippines’ first zombie film, indie director Mikhail Red is perhaps best known for 2016’s Birdshot and this year’s Netflix release Dead Kids. With a cast led by romantic comedy familiar Julia Barretto, it’s about a group of uni students trying to fight the undead during an outbreak of the bitey zombie stuff. The trailer looks like this will be an intense experience.
Theatre (Japan, Dir: Isao Yukisada)
After a few great years of critically acclaimed films like the Nikkatsu revival Aroused by Gymnopedies and the explicitly honest River’s Edge, his new film is based on the book by Naoki Matayoshi (The Great Passage). Filming began in June 2019 with the excellent leads of Kento Yamazaki (Kingdom) and Mayu Matsuoka (Shoplifters). It follows a struggling theatre owner who one day connects with a woman wearing the same sneakers as him.
Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane (aka Mustang) (China, Dir: Wei Shujun)
Filmmaker Wei Shujun made a promising debut with the much lauded On the Border short film when it debuted at Cannes in 2018. Listed as one of China’s hottest indie directors, his first feature is one to watch. Currently just billed on most sources as Ya Me Feng Zhong (野马分鬃), the title would appear to be derived from a basic Tai Chi pose. With a script co-written with On the Border collaborator Gao Linyang, the cast is listed as Tong Lin Kai, Zheng Ying Chen, Xiaomu Wang, and You Zhou.
The Asada Family (Japan, Dir: Ryota Nakano)
It’s unusual to hear about a forthcoming film inspired by photography books, but Masashi Asada (played in the film by Kazunari Ninomiya) is not your average photographer. Known for taking photos of his family in highly staged situations – as superheroes and firefighters or more everyday things like running a ramen shop – the film follows the events of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. From the director of Her Love Boils Bathwater and The Long Goodbye, film also stars Satoshi Tsumabuki.
Homecoming (Indonesia, Dir: Adriyanto Dewo)
While this had its debut at the Macao International Film Festival in December 2019, it will be rolled out to other festivals and cinemas throughout 2020. From Lima and Tabula Rasa director Adriyanto Dewo, it concerns a couple who are forced to confront their relationship following a fatal car accident during the pre-Eid homecoming journey.
Love After Love (China, Dir: Ann Hui)
Following 2017’s critically acclaimed Our Time Will Come, the internationally recognised Ann Hui returns with a new film. Eddie Peng, Ma Sichun and Faye Yu will head a cast in a film based on the short story Aloeswood Incense by Eileen Chang, in which a young woman travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong to get an education, but instead finds herself working for her aunt in seducing rich men. If that’s not enough of a reason to get excited, it will be shot by cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In The Mood For Love), costume designer Emi Wada (Hero, House of Flying Daggers).
Best Served Cold (Malaysia/Singapore, Dir: Aaron Cowen)
Variety reports that writer-director Aaron Cowen will helm his own screenplay in a Singapore/Malaysia co-production based on the short story “Don’t Eat The Rice” by Sabah-based author Jill Girardi and characters in her novel “Hantu Macabre.” One of the first films to make use of a bilateral treaty between the two nations, Malaysia MMA fighter Ann Osman (aka Athena) has been tapped to lead “a supernatural action-noir, revolving around Suzanna Sim, an ex-MMA fighter turned private detective who uses her fists and her knowledge of Southeast Asian black magic, while working with a Malaysian mythical creature, to find a rich new client’s missing husband.” Sold!
All The Things We Never Said (Japan, Dir: Yuya Ishii)
From the director of the excellent The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue, this is the first project film launched under the B2B (“Back to Basics”) program co-organized by The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society and China’s Heaven Pictures. The project has enlisted six well-known Asian filmmakers (who also include Tsai Ming-Liang, Zhang Lu, Philip Yung, Tan Chui Mui and Yang Jin) tasked with making a quality film on a strict budget. Ishii’s outing stars Nakano Taiga and Wakaba Ryuya as two musicians pursuing the same woman.
One for the Road (Thailand, Dir: Nattawut Poonpiriya)
Nattawut (Baz) Poonpiriya was behind the surprise 2017 Thai hit Bad Genius, so the fact that it’s being produced by Wong Kar-Wai makes this positively filled with buzzy buzz. It’s a buddy drama road trip cancer film (get the tissues ready) from a script by Poonpiriya, Nottapon (Kai) Boonprakob and Puangsoi Aksornsawang. Shot in Thailand and New York, the Thai cast includes Thanapob (Tor) Leeratanakachorn, Nattarat (Ice) Noprattayakorn, and Violette Wautier.
The Man Standing Next (South Korea, Dir: Woo Min-ho)
One of the most commercially successful Korean directors of the last few years, Woo Min-ho’s (Inside Men) once again returns to the 1970s following The Drug King. The new film covers the real life events around Korean Central Intelligence Agency Director Kim Kyu-Pyeong (played by Lee Byung-Hun), his assassination of South Korean President Park (Lee Sung-Min), and subsequent disappearance. Expect this in the early part of 2020.
Violet Evergarden (Japan, Dir: Taichi Ishidate)
During 2019, I became slightly addicted to this series, binging it in a week in anticipation of the side-story Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll movie. The much-awaited 2020 movie promises an original story, currently planned for a simultaneous worldwide release in 2020, which gives fans left hanging at the end of 2018’s first season some hope. The enduring nature of this series, which is primarily about rebuilding oneself after tragedy, has almost become a testament to the legendary Kyoto Animation following the tragic arson attack on the studio that killed 36 people in July 2019.
Vanguard (China, Dir: Stanley Tong)
Ok, so there hasn’t been a great Jackie Chan film for a few years and his most recent collaboration with Stanley Tong was Kung Fu Yoga was described by our colleague Harris Dang as “a massive disappointment for fans of Jackie Chan, fans of cinema…Indian people in general and is just a complete embarrassment for all involved.” Yet Tong and Chan have struck gold together in the past with such classics as Police Story (1992), Police Story 2 (1993) and the crossover smash Rumble in the Bronx (1995). Here’s to being optimistic in 2020.
Fire Love (Japan, Dir: Takashi Miike)
Yes, it debuted at Cannes 2019 and did the festival circuit. Melburnians will have already flocked to this at MIFF 2019, and it came to Sydney as part of the Sydney Underground Film Festival. Takashi Miike‘s 103rd feature film comes to Japanese cinemas in February 2020, hopefully giving the rest of the world a chance to see this as well. A rare British co-production, it follows Leo (Masataka Kubota), a young boxer and Monica (Sakurako Konishi), a call girl, who become involved with a drug smuggling scheme and are pursued by a cop, a yakuza, and some Chinese triads over the course of one night.
BONUS: Election 3 (China, Dir: Johnnie To)
This is a bonus because we can’t guarantee anything at this point. It will have been 14 years since the Election 2 by the time this comes out. Now, director Johnnie To has been reportedly working on this since at least 2016, so I’ll believe this one is coming next year when I see it. Yet with the current wave of Hong Kong nostalgia being led by the likes of Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch and Ip Man 4, it’s the perfect time for a new Election.
