Women in Asia: In Books and Films: Films

Based on a true incident and featuring the family involved, the film tells a bizarre but engaging story. In a poor area of Tehran, some people inform the local welfare authorities that one of their neighbours is keeping his twin 11-year-old girls, Zahra and Masume locked up in his house and they have been living virtually as prisoners of their poor father and blind mother.

"Misaki returns to the hometown of his father, after he is reported to be dead. There she sets a coffee shop in the middle of the coast and a relationship with her neighbour Eriko and their children evolves"--IMDb.

In 1920s China, a young woman is forced into marriage and is then abused by her elderly husband. Her suffering attracts the sympathy of her husband's younger, kinder nephew, and the two begin a secret affair that could lead to tragic consequences.

Hitting 30 and no husband in sight? Forget online dating. In this hugely popular documentary, Wu Wuna seeks out Taipei’s thoroughly modern matchmaker, Chen Hailun. She looks on in amazement as Chen fixes up the most unlikely couples. More therapist for individuals than broker between families, Chen nudges the men – “why not marry her?” – and reassures the women. The stories the couples tell might inspire you to believe in love and romance all over again. However, Wu Wuna doesn’t seem quite convinced enough to engage Chen’s services for herself...
Mandarin; with optional English or traditional Chinese subtitles.

Past and present collide as a film director discovers a mysterious key that unlocks the secrets of a legendary actress who vanished at the height of her career.
Japanese dialogue, English or French subtitles.

A chance meeting with a drunk girl on the train puts Gyun-woo in a masochistic relationship he never wanted. But despite her bullying ways he finds himself falling in love.

In 1920s China, women had few options. Following the death of her father, Songlian, a beautiful nineteen-year-old college student agrees to marry a wealthy nobleman. She is to be wife number four at his estate where daily life revolves around an ancient family custom: the master raises a red lantern outside the house of the wife with whom he desires to spend the night. On the surface there is harmony between the wives, but trapped inside their gilded cages with nothing to do but compete for their husband's favor, the four 'sisters' are drawn into a web of petty rivalries that escalate.

A young woman in 1930s Shanghai turns to prostitution to support & educate her son.

Tokyo Story follows an aging couple, Tomi and Sukichi, on their journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling, post-war Tokyo. Their reception is disappointing: too busy to entertain them, their children send them off to a health spa. After Tomi falls ill she and Sukichi return home, while the children, grief-stricken, hasten to be with her.

An amateur biologist escapes the bustle of the city by studying beetles in remote sand dunes. After missing the last bus, he accepts a villager's offer to spend the night in a widow's shack at the bottom of a deep sand pit. In the morning he finds he is trapped. At first enraged, the man's hatred for the woman soon turns to searing, erotic lust.
Japanese dialogue, English subtitles.

Between 1967 and 1976, nearly 8 million Chinese youths were "sent down" for specialized training to the remotest corners of the country. The young and beautiful Xiu Xiu dreamt of becoming a horse trainer in Tibet, far away from her busy city home. Her training begins in the isolated plains of Tibet, but slowly Xiu Xiu discovers that she is unlikely to ever see her home again without a wealthy sponsor. Her world becomes a horrifying cage, where "patrons" promise her escape in exchange for her sexual compromise.

"Tampopo" follows a young widow who runs a small noodle restaurant in Tokyo and Goro, a cowboy hat wearing truck driver, as they attempt to devise the perfect bowl of top ramen.
Japanese dialogue with optional English or Japanese subtitles.