This week’s lineup is proof that Asia is serving some of the most emotionally charged, beautifully crafted stories anywhere — from quiet heartbreaks to twisted thrillers.
All movies are available on Netflix
ASURA (Japan)
From acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Asura is a breathtaking family drama set in 1979 Japan, where four sisters uncover their father’s hidden affair. What follows isn’t scandal — it’s revelation. A tender, aching exploration of love, betrayal, and the small fractures that hold families together. Critics are already calling it “Netflix’s quiet masterpiece of the year.”
FLAT GIRLS (Thailand)
Two teenage girls share laughter, secrets, and long afternoons in the same apartment complex — until friendship slowly turns into something more. Flat Girls is a delicate coming-of-age story that glows with honesty and longing, examining class divides, first love, and the courage to be seen.
Check other movie reviews here.
OUR GENERATION (China)
Set in the early 2000s, Our Generation is a nostalgic coming-of-age epic that captures the innocence, chaos, and bittersweet beauty of youth. It’s friendship, heartbreak, and mixtapes on loop — and audiences across China can’t get enough.
QUEEN MANTIS (Korea)
Now for something dark. In Queen Mantis, a disgraced detective must join forces with his estranged mother — who just happens to be a serial killer — to hunt down a brutal copycat. It’s bloody, psychological, and brilliantly twisted. Think Mindhunter meets Mother, but sharper.
MAD UNICORN (Thailand)
Startups, scandals, and betrayal — Mad Unicorn dives into the cutthroat world of Thailand’s first unicorn startup. Ambition spirals into obsession as founders turn on each other in a sleek, Succession-style power drama that hits uncomfortably close to reality.
REPLACING CHEF CHICO (Philippines)
And finally, something delicious. Replacing Chef Chico — Netflix’s first Filipino original series — serves up romance, redemption, and food that looks too good to be fake. When a sous-chef must take over a collapsing fine-dining kitchen, she finds more than just her footing — she finds love simmering beneath the chaos.
EVERYBODY LOVES ME WHEN I’M DEAD (Thailand)
Directed by Nithiwat Tharatorn (Analog Squad), the film dives deep into middle-class desperation, family dysfunction, and moral collapse in the high-stakes world of banking. When two bank employees decide to steal ฿30 million from a deceased client’s dormant account, they unleash a chain of events that pulls them into the criminal underworld — and tests how far people will go for family, money, and survival.
Featuring veteran actor Theeradej Wongpuapan in a powerful comeback and rising star Vachirawich Wattanapakdeepaisan, the film mixes sharp social commentary with edge-of-your-seat suspense.
