Big Bad Wolves (dir. Aharon Keshales/Navot Papushado, Israel)
After their startling debut, Rabies, Israeli duo Keshales and Papushado return with this fantastic dissection of machismo, as a suspended cop and grieving father both turn vigilante in the hunt for a child murderer. With a strong social conscience and wicked sense of humour, Big Bad Wolves was both incredibly poignant and brilliantly entertaining.
Ilo Ilo (dir. Anthony Chen, Singapore)
I don't normally go in for kitchen sink dramas of this sort, but Anthony Chen has delivered one of the most important Asian films of the year with this heart-breaking tale of a Filipino maid going to work for a financially-strapped Singaporean family. While the performances are uniformly excellent, special mention must be given to young Koh Jia Ler, who plays the family's spoilt, occasionally vindictive son.
Like Father, Like Son (dir. Kore'eda Hirokazu, Japan)
Pehaps not Kore'eda's best, he nevertheless manages to turn a gut-punch story of two families thrown into seemingly irrevocable upheaval, into a tender, sweet-natured story of nature, nurture and parental expectations. Yet again, Kore'eda proves he is perhaps the best director of children currently working in cinema today.
No Man's Land (dir. Ning Hao, China)
After nearly four years languishing in censorship-imposed limbo, Ning Hao's darkly comic story of a young lawyer trapped in a remote desert outpost finally saw the light of day and proved hugely entertaining. It's no wonder that SARFT took issue with Ning's fiercely nihilistic representation of modern day China, as a dog-eat-dog warzone populated solely by reprobates and criminals, but thanks to great performances and a typically labyrinthine script, No Man's Land is well worth the wait.
On The Job (dir. Erik Matti, The Philippines)
From a region best known (if at all) for its "poverty porn" dramas of desperate individuals in destitution emerged Erik Matti's moody and fantastically gripping crime thriller. Pitting petty criminals against corrupt politicians in an intricate web of greed and murder, On The Job threw a spotlight on numerous socio-political issues ravaging the country, while also being one of the year's most stylish noirs.
R100 (dir. Matsumoto Hitoshi, Japan)
The latest work of absurdist humour from Japanese comedian Matsumoto is extreme, even by his own bafflingly delightful standards. On the face of it, R100 is set-up as an outrageous sex comedy, in which a reserved mattress salesman joins an S&M club, only to enter into a never-ending cycle of torment from PVC-clad dominatrixes. Against expectations, however, the film is incredibly restrained, delivering a slow burn of layered surrealism and meta-humour that only begins to seap through the cracks of respectability in its second half. Rest assured, things do eventually go bonkers, and Matsumoto delivers a singular comedic experience the likes of which no other filmmaker could ever conceive.
Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho, South Korea)
While much of the Western world still waits impatiently for Bong Joon-ho's English language debut, many Asian markets have finally had the chance to revel in this brilliantly staged sci-fi thriller. Snowpiercer is a genre film with vision and intelligence, vividly realised art direction and a superb ensemble of internationally recognised acting talent. Having seen the film three times to-date, Snowpiercer is not just my favourite Asian film of the year, but my favourite film of 2013 from anywhere. Let's hope Harvey lets the rest of you see it the way we have.
Something In The Way (dir. Teddy Soeriaatmadja, Indonesia)
This little-seen Indonesian drama was, for me, one of the year's great discoveries. Reza Rahadian plays Ahmad, a porn-addicted taxi driver, who divides his time between attending koran classes at the local mosque and furiously jerking off, even when in his cab. When Ahmad develops an unhealthy infatuation with the hooker next door (the sultry Ratu Felisha), things quickly spiral out of control, and Soeriaatmadja gleefully nods to True Romance, Drive and, of course, Scorsese's Taxi Driver on the way down.
A Touch Of Sin (dir. Jia Zhangke, China)
Festival darling Jia Zhangke turns his documentarian's eye not only to the corruption, greed and violence plaguing modern day China, but does so as a full-blooded genre film. Divided into four parts, the film follows a quartet of characters driven to violence by the state of the nation in which they struggle to survive. We follow a miner fighting corruption, a small-time crook on his violent scams, a sauna receptionist exacting revenge on a rapey customer, and a young man struggling under the pressures of a FoxConn-like factory job. At the time of writing, the film's domestic release had been pushed back a number of times, and even Hong Kong has yet to lock down an official release date. Some critics have taken against the film's bleak, nihilistic tone, but for me, A Touch of Sin is the year's best Chinese language film.
Ugly (dir. Anurag Kashyap, India)
Kashyap's previous film, the epic two-part Gangs of Wasseypur made it into my list of favourite films from the first part of 2013, and while I still prefer that epic crime drama, his brutal follow-up is not far behind. A real gut-punch of a thriller, the film charts the efforts to track down a kidnapped child, and the bitter feud between the girl's father and the police captain leading the investigation, who is also the girl's stepfather. As the men butt heads and squabble over the woman caught between them, the fate of a young girl hangs in the balance, and Kashyap ratchets up the tension with his trademark flair and vibrancy.
Why Don't You Play In Hell? (dir. Sono Sion, Japan)
Just when you thought Sono Sion couldn't deliver a more frenzied, off-the-wall slice of gonzo entertainment, he unveils this madcap tale of two feuding yakuza gangs who agree to have their final showdown immortalised by a student film crew dubbed the Fuck Bombers. Caught in between the two gangs is Nikaido Fumi's tearaway teenage beauty - daughter of one gang leader, and object of the other's unhealthy infatuation. The result is a deliriously entertaining melee of yakuza battles and guerrilla filmmaking accompanied by the infectious pop refrain of a toothpaste jingle. It really doesn't get much better than this.