The 100 Best Asian-American Movies of All Time
Between Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell, and Always Be My Maybe in recent years, there’s been a surge in Asian-American representation on screens of all sizes. These films are milestones in what has been a long, continuous journey to be seen and heard in theaters and at home, and we celebrate those contemporary hits and everything else that has come before them with the 100 Best Asian-American Movies.
To be Asian-American means a personal identity spread across a coalition of different countries. Under this umbrella is a wide range of Pacific Ocean cultures and histories, countries whose people have also found a new life in the United States. The movies in our guide reflect their experiences, from Korean (Columbus, Minari), Chinese (Saving Face), Singaporean (Shirkers), Japanese (To Be Takei), Filipino (The Debut), Vietnamese (Green Dragon), and more. South Asian-American films included are The Big Sick, The Namesake, and Meet the Patels.
We selected movies where the Asian-American experience drives character and story, or had a significant impact on Asian-American audiences due to its casting, the filmmakers behind it, and for breaking representational ground (Searching, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before). The Asian-American experience is sometimes about traveling to a foreign “home” country, explored in movies like Always Tomorrow in Hong Kong, Go Back to China, and Cavite. And sometimes the experience is about coming to America and becoming citizens, as in Journey From the Fall or Tigertail. These stories start overseas, but are also set and shot in America, so we included those.
The historical landmark films are here, including Chan Is Missing, The Joy Luck Club, and Better Luck Tomorrow.
A zenith was reached across 2022 and 2023, when Everything Everywhere All At Once became a box office sensation, presaging a run deep into awards seasons with an ultimate Best Picture Oscar win. Among our 2024 & 2025 updates, we’ve added several Certified Fresh films (Shortcomings, the Best Picture-nominated Past Lives, Didi, The Wedding Banquet). And we-approached our history by adding more critics reviews to get classic films over the Certified Fresh barrier, including the original ’90s Wedding Banquet, and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
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