Best 2024 Chinese Language Films | Video Essay

[@AccentedCinema]

What other films from 2024 would you recommend? There are actually quite a few films currently in theaters that I want to talk about, including Her Story, I Am What I Am 2, and The Last Dance. But I'll have to wait for them to come to streaming before making a video. In other words, next year is already shaping up to be a good year.

[@nxsm2011]

YOLO by Jia Ling is my fav Chinese movie this year. I recommend it to you.

[@Boonwongree]

Just saw Black dog a pretty surreal story and really heartwarming

[@funkystyle7249]

@@nxsm2011 I think its a pretty average film, very cliched.

[@peterafro]

We 12 is a must watch (piece of garbage but a fun as hell one) The Storm was a cool animated film

[@leylamikkelsen1248]

I’m based in London, UK, and we mostly get HK and Mainland Chinese movies here, but the Taiwanese and Malaysian movies on your list are thankfully on Netflix over here, so they’ve been added to my watchlist. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is my favorite movie of the year, but Her Story and The Last Dance are also favorites, and Successor was also a lot of fun; Black Dog was another memorable watch, and Only the River Flows got a fair bit of buzz over here along with very nice reviews, but I think I need to watch that one again.

[@tryomama]

To non Malaysians out there, just for your knowledge, the Malaysian government praised Abang Adik right after they put in the a law that now strip every rights of stateless children of basic healthcare under the disguise of making "equal citizenship rights" for women and their children that are born overseas. Initially there's a rift between women rights activists and stateless rights activists because of this law. One is celebrating it because "finally" they get equal citizenship rights. The interior minister however makes a huge u-turn and said that not all children with a Malaysian mother can get Malaysian citizenship and its a maybe, not automatic. The same minister kept saying they will solve stateless issues in 6 months which they never did. Stateless rights activists have been calling out the hypocrisy of the Malaysian government for praising abang Adik while forcefully evicting Bajau people in Sabah from their homes. Recently they just did it again and worse of all, they did what every zionists does, they cut down all the mango trees planted by the locals which have been their main source of income for decades. Now, they are worse than not having a home, their land and islands are being bought by developers to build resorts all in the name of security against stateless people.

[@JoshuaC923]

You mean even after the opposition won the government they still doing this?

[@tryomama]

@JoshuaC923 the current ruling party is a merger with another previously long ruling right wing party. Honestly, other than the very small socialist and one liberal party, everyone is just fascist and fascist lite in Malaysia.

[@JoshuaC923]

@@tryomama sorry to hear of that situation neighbour

[@igodreamer7096]

This really sucks, man. I hope Malaysians find the strength to fight against these injustices.

[@bafflinbook9345]

But we are helping Palestine😂

[@jngo172]

HE POSTED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Jennifer21133]

🎉🎉🎉

[@iamnoone21]

12:10 "Do you have a preferred English name?" "Vegeta" lmao Also "Magic" is in no position to make that face about the name xD

[@a563876676]

As a Chinese, I'll recommend some lesser-known theatrical movies. 1.里斯本丸沉没(The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru) 2.乘船而去(Gone with the Boat) 3.朱同在三年级丢失了超能力(Day Dreaming) 4.老枪(A Long Shot) 5.从21世纪安全撤离(Evacuate from the 21st Century)

[@loganmiller6879]

出走的决心

[@darkworld3887]

I'm impressed by how knowledgeable you are in movie-making and all the work related to this industry I'm really grateful I came across this beautiful channel that introduces us to Chinese cinema and Asian cinema, there are indeed many magnificent movies outside of Hollywood ❤ Thank you so much for your efforts in making those videos 期待您新的视频！ 加油！

[@snowhole87]

Was wondering how you could miss the Last Dance since it was my favourite film in 2024. Then saw your pinned comment.

[@beepboopbipbop]

Cannot stress enough how sincerely I adore this channel. Throughout 2024 I would legit drop everything every time you uploaded, and spent the time between videos rewatching your older ones. It’s shaped my taste in cinema, my techniques in analyzing it, and my appreciation for the craft of making movies. Thank you for a stellar year, here’s to many more!

[@igodreamer7096]

Johnnny Keep Walking looks like fun. Thanks for the recommendations, Yang man! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@Lou-d2p]

I can’t seem to find it anywhere….does anybody know ?

[@nikolausphang]

@@Lou-d2p yeah. i can't find it too

[@thatspoonybard8013]

From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate the work you put in to your videos. I enjoy every one.

[@terracedflame4702]

Thank you so much for reviewing these movies. I just watched Johnny Keep Walking with my grandma and I loved it! Film is a way for me to connect with my family

[@musfiqurrahman9266]

Where did you watch it. I can't seem to find it anywhere.

[@Motley14]

I'm so glad The Pig, The Snake and the Pidgeon got a Netflix release so I was able to see it in the US. I loved it. I felt fortunate as I was able to see Twilight of the Warriors in the theater when I was on vacation in Taiwan this year, but unfortunately I didn't love it. The supernatural/fantastical elements of it really didn't land for me but I'm still happy I watched it. My favorite Asian film of 2024 was probably 18x2 Beyond Youthful Days (not sure if it would count for you because it's sort of a Taiwan/Japan co-production) but, man, that movie crushed me in the best way.

[@xlyoutube]

Hold on, Escape From the 21st Century deserves a mention. It can be ridiculous at times but good nonetheless.

[@NGGAwithATTITUDE]

Where can I watch Johnny Keep Walking (2023) with English Subtitles like the footage in your video?

[@golu_badbola]

Been with you day one, glad that you increase the quality with each one. This list was really good.

[@recoil53]

IIRC the action in Twilight of the Warriors was between the brutality of Indonesian martial arts movies and Hong Kong wire-fu.

[@renatocosta5878]

There is one chinese film of this year that i loved so much, Escape from the 21st Century, is a really different movie, i recommend as well!

[@distract8145]

Great recs! please do more recs on topics similar!

[@KMO325]

Those last two films you talked about definitely got my attention.

[@ParmMannREBORN]

I love this channel so much man. Seeing all these amazing films thrive that I haven't heard of before is surreal. There is no end to the beauty of art

[@1115991]

A few that I enjoyed this year are: Time Still Turns the Pages, The Last Dance, The Lyricist Wannabe, All Shall Be Well. And I saw My Dear Ex for the first time this year too. But I wholeheartedly agree with your criticism about the Kowloon Walled City, lacking a lot but the nostalgia and the background was attractive.

[@Tulipanzo]

I loved The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon off this video's recommendation. I'm trying to find Johnny Keep Walking but it's nowhere online? Especially if you want english subs

[@electricmiragemedia]

Thank you for sharing your picks of movies for 2024 from the perspective of general audience! I would be interested to go more in-depth and understand the deeper meaning of the first film in particular at a later date.

[@pandawu1224]

Where do you go to see johnny keep walking, cannot find with english sub

[@euansmith3699]

Thanks for another fun and informative year of videos.

[@KaterinaDeAnnika]

Commenting my appreciation even before the video starts lmao. I always love your videos!

[@FabSakker]

The best film I’ve seen this year hands down is Dead Talents Society from Taiwan. Clever, quirky and surprisingly touching 👻

[@bobbytran3878]

where can I buy or watch Johnny keep walking?

[@doozledumbler5393]

I really liked Upstream, Article 20, Love You To The Moon and Back, Black Dog and Land of Broken Hearts. Haven't seen all the ones mentioned in the video but will eventually. Walled City was great but the main bad guy was really over the top, like he had super powers.

[@ShazickShan]

On which streaming site can I watch Johnny Keep Walking?

[@roygato3797]

Abang Adik was good, beautifully shot and directed, but felt like one of those movies that tried a little too hard to manipulate its audience's emotions, like one of those cheesy Thai insurance commercials. I was completely on board until the main 'incident' which felt way too contrived as a plot point designed to get the characters from point A to point B, as opposed to a natural progression of their plotlines. A shame, because the movie takes the time to set up the younger 'brother''s criminal involvement in the beginning, but never really follows up on what could have been, in my opinion, a more logical path to the movie's conclusion. Still very much worth a watch.

[@umjackd]

Love the not quite sublte references to a certain incident regarding the politics of inequality in systems, and where morality and law take different paths.

[@KeiPalace]

thanks so much! I will check these out!

[@StoneCBears]

Definitely checking these films out

[@TheBeird]

Twilight of the Warriors was amazing. It's the live action Like a Dragon I always wanted, while a lovely tribute to 80's Hong Kong action movies!

[@shiqin00]

I absolutely enjoyed The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon and Abang Adik too! Haven't watched the other 2 films but I'm stoked to see them now after watching this video. One of my favourite Chinese films from 2024 that I really adore and would recommend is Viva La Vida 我们一起摇太阳.

[@darkworld3887]

我们一起摇太阳 is such a beautiful movie, so sad though 😢

[@mose-p2c]

For me my favourite Chinese movie of the year is YOLO, it is such an amazing and heart warming film. Also although it may not be everyone's cup of tea I really liked Trending Topic

[@KTo288]

Happy New Year everyone

[@Early666]

12:11 Vegeta!? Prince of All Saiyans? When did he get an office job?

[@Notchnik]

You can also check out the "Shanghai Story" (2024), it's an independent movie available on couple streaming platforms

[@viovivi809]

Would be nice to hear your thoughts on "Time Still Turns The Pages 年少日記". Thanks for the nice compilation of 2024's movies!

[@niket527]

Would also be nice to have time stamps in the video

[@darkworld3887]

Where can you watch Chinese movies online?

[@redmusichouse]

Looking forward to your discussion of The Last Dance

[@isaakring2573]

been a hot minute. thanks for the upload.

[@donovandirk6063]

Whats the best place to find Chinese films?

[@nikhwin2289]

her story is the best movie not only in chinese but the best among all in 2024, please have a movie talk about this next❤

[@JeredtheShy]

I will say, to the Americans, it seems that using public library assets like Hoopla to watch movies means you will not see any of the blockbuster American movies that way. However, things seem to be different for non-American movies. I watched Train to Busan (Korean, excellent, fun) for free through my library. The US movie industry is jealous of its movies and won't let them stream for "free" from the library, but cinema from outside the country is different, and you may find that the best movies that this channel suggests may be viewable. You should check.

[@ishansharma1920]

Gonna watch the 4th one it sounds worth my time

[@goranisacson2502]

Unfortunately none of these movies went up on Swedish netflix or cinemas around here, so I'll have to use alternative methods to see it. Can't lie that I'm mostly interested i Twilight of the Warriors and Johnny Keep Walking because those are easier for me than something like Abang Adik... but I'm definitely interested in all movies talked about here, and hope that one day I'll get to see them all.

[@CaroleMcDonnell]

Thank you

[@TimChuma]

Twilight of the Warriors is hardly viral! It was an actual hit! There was a display of the set at the airport in Hong Kong. I saw it two times in the cinema, still holds up.

[@Axiommmm]

I'm really looking forward to watching some of these movies, especially "Abang Adik," you completely sold me on it! I was able to catch it at TIFF in September, but I am really looking forward to the proper release of "Escape from the 21st Century" to re-watch it. I wouldn't say its among the best movies of the past year, but it was one of the coolest and most enjoyable for me. It kind of tickled the same itch as Stephen Chow for me where it can be funny or slapstick at times, but also genuinely heartfelt and earnest. TIFF this year was genuinely a blast for Asian cinema, another standout being "Dead Talents Society," but also "Cloud" & "My Sunshine" from Japan and "All We Imagine as Light" from India. There are a bunch more that I didn't have the chance to watch at the Festival like "The Gesuidouz," the watchlist never ends haha.

[@JeromeFelipe]

"Any semblance to actual events is entirely cautionary." Now I need to watch that 😂

[@ccaiti1057]

Do a video on interior Chinatown

[@nihilisticgacha]

it's not released globally yet (and i doubt it will), but if you have the opportunity, I would like to hear your review on another malaysian film "Snow in Midsummer" 五月雪. I didn't catch the movie in time during its limited release :(

[@huaqinteng6350]

Never would I thought I’d see Walled In here and I’m all for it

[@TheIronTank]

Twilight of the Warriors was a fun movie! Don't take it seriously, just enjoy it for what it is. Blunt classic hk action! It captures the feeling of kowloon city well I think. It sent me down a rabbit hole all night.

[@singularstigma3229]

Would love to see a video dedicated to Taiwanese cinema!

[@yevanasvetya5486]

That first movie might be able to plug a hole in my heart that I Saw The Devil's made

[@Bogdaman2]

Quite an interesting list, thank you. From that I've only watched Twilight Warriors (or as it known in Russia "Siege of Kowloon"), and while it was enjoyable, the movie felt like a wasted opportunity - such a grounded, gritty start, then introducing older "masters" characters, with mystic abilities, which is still OK, it pushes and sets some boundaries for the setting, and then everything goes nuts with this fantasy "final boss", and the final part is basically an anime episode at this point. I felt like the movie could've been so much more, if followed more restrained approach (although I'm not introduced to the source material, and maybe the movie simply follows it)

[@4Everlast]

1:00 ok, my guy never ran before? What's with that air-kick into nothing? Seems interesting tho.

[@mrde0mrsai]

You missed a truly great one, The Last Dance, from Hong Kong.

[@jorbokuentertainment3794]

Omg i was waiting for this list could you do the top worst chinesse film too.

[@jinngeechia9715]

Johnny Keep Walking reminds me of Peter Sellers comedy movie Being There.

[@ImNotMentaL]

you didn't show the jail scene where abang use sign language talking with the lady monk, we shed tears there

[@roygato3797]

Walled In was a great love letter to 80s and 90s HK kung-fu movies, cheese and all, with a grittier exterior, but The Last Dance was the far superior movie to come out of Hong Kong this year, imo, even with the slightly corny, on the nose ending.

[@CamsEyeView]

There was this Andy Lau film that came out I THINK early this year that was some satirical look at I think the film industry and award season stuff.

[@doozledumbler5393]

The Movie Emperor.?

[@DWELDan]

Nice! Can you do a similar video for Japanese films?

[@lamaquinadeleer]

3:15 wait, are we still talking about the movie or did we move to the subject of the year, Luigi's charisma?

[@widimira597]

Is the pig,snake, and pigeon basically yakuza movie set in taiwan?

[@AyubuKK]

An amazing year

[@chernhwei]

有冇搞錯呀？點解冇《破·地獄》㗎？？

[@AccentedCinema]

因為部戲仲播緊，冇材料做視頻

[@chernhwei]

@ 希望你會做個特輯講呢套戲 🙏🏽

[@noriking1467]

my fave movie for this year is perfect days :) !

[@DEV8795]

I shall watch them

[@serpentax]

the pig, the snake and the pigeon was so refreshing for a gangster film. that was a movie!

[@Sus_Bak]

Was this the year of Chinese ?

[@AT-rr2xw]

Twilight of the Gods was fun, but I feel like it twisted itself in knots to divide the communities into good guys and bad guys instead of the cynical grey that it seemed to hint at in the beginning. I got kind of impatient with Pig Snake Pigeon, but that climactic scene was certainly...something that I don't remember seeing before, so that is at least something.

[@messikimpakala308]

I Love Twilight Of Warriors I Hope This can Speed Ball A Resurgence or Renaissance For Hong-Kong cinema For Hong-Kong Actors And Actresses to Have Chance Build their Star Power Like Ones From The past And become Movie Stars in Hong-Kong

[@anirbannandi8263]

Yey, time to Torr...... I mean, watch some movies 😁

[@IchimonoMan825]

Most of the people who were true flip licensed holders either dropped trunks or dropped the game tbh

[@chuyeeyang9881]

You should do a worst of 2024 too.

[@shichengliang3573]

You're the best dude

[@TimChuma]

Also criminals are not allowed to benefit from their crimes in mainland cinema. In this case the criminals get punished.

[@saintricardo8746]

was very pissed when the twilight of the warriors was supposed to be showing in the nearby cinema but was pulled out because it was replaced by Fall Guy. Like, what the hell.

[@CLUMSY101]

I highly recommend the 1st movie

[@neptunite5973]

thank you asian santa

[@GalactivaPhantom]

破‧地獄呢？？？

[@Weejee456]

Where do I even watch Johnny Keep Walking

[@archangelnew]

It is strange that one of the best Chinese films I've watched is from Singapore, the Mark Lee lead Wonderland (2023) but released in 2024.Techically it is in most Hokkien but it is Chinese dialect.

[@junkaito397]

As a Malaysian, thanks for recommending Abang Adik to the world. There's a lot of great films coming out from Malaysia in this recent years and I'm so happy to see it. While the government's censorship is still a big issues, but hopefully more and more people will stand out against it. I would like to also recommend Cheong Keat Aun's films such as the story of sounthen islet and snow in Midsummer. And of course, all of the great late Yasmin Ahmad's films.

[@1.4142]

You should also roast the worst movies like 刘老师说电影 does

[@MatthewGhirardi]

There’s one movie that I feel like should be mentioned: Sight

[@shenghe9861]

is there everybody chinese descent? seems everybody knows about a lot of chinese movies. i have a few chinese american friends and they cant even name one chinese movie, but know some shitty rocom dramas

[@marcelraymond7388]

👍👍👍

[@The_Reviewist]

Cool recommendations but… I kind of wish you hadn’t literally given away the entire plot of The Pig,Snake Pigeon movie including the ending in the opening sentence. As a result I didn’t watch the rest of the video, just clicked through to see the names because I don’t want to have these movies spoiled. Just a thought, as usually the channel is more cautious when it comes to such things, and it’s just as simple to talk around spoilers. “A hitman sets out to kill the top two criminals in the city” preserves ambiguity.

[@doozledumbler5393]

Cool advice. Have you thought of making your own KZbin videos?

[@niket527]

Plus the guy didn't even put timestamps. I just want to know what the movies in the list are. Kind of scummy

[@The_Reviewist]

@@doozledumbler5393yeah.

[@sususegar]

I don't think it's specifically a "Hollywood fatigue". I think most of us have bullshit fatigue, particularly of the "inclusivity" types of agenda they constantly shoehorn. I, I'm sure like many others, have watched so many films since young, I've never minded if a lead/casts is male, female, gay, unsure, black, brown, or yellow, until the overload they've created recently. I'm tired of that crap. Anyway, as a proud Malaysian, I'd vouch for Abang Adik above all the movies mentioned. The issues about being stateless, the mix of 5-6 languages that switches depending on which 2 person is having a conversation on screen, the lack of BGM, even the locations used - all these are very real in Malaysia, not something tourists know of. Also, our movies have ALWAYS fallen short in one way or another, the most common being poor acting and/or truncated, contrived final 1/3 of the story. Abang Adik overcame and surpassed all these weaknesses that plagued Malaysian movies, you have to be a cold-blooded animal if it doesn't put you in tears. My 2024 choice, hands down.

[@Arthishow]

tl;dr The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon Twilight of the Warriors Abang Adik Johnny Keep Walking!

[@Jennifer21133]

❤

[@toonlim5574]

Time stamps pleaseee

[@niket527]

They intentionally didn't put them in so that people would be forced to watch the video. Kind of slimy

[@k_itht]

is it just me or your voice sounds a bit off in this video.