Asian men white female relationships can be remarkable; that’s what AMWF is. It represents a small minority of the interracial couple community in North America right now, and we’d love to see more famous AMWF couples.. Interracial relationships often face hurdles more than other couples because of the obvious cultural barrier and other differences.

Good news is, the media has taken notice and have come up with great movies (although only a handful) on AMWF that attempts to break these barriers. Here are the 6 best AMWF (Asian Male White Female) films you don’t want to miss:

Love in Translation aka 爱情国境线 (2009)

Not only does this movie precisely depicts the common problems of white women falling for Asian guys and the insecurities faced by Asian men while dating white women, but also manages to reveal the obvious cultural barriers that typically exist in AMWF relationships.

Known to be one of its kind, Love in Translation is a romantic Chinese movie about a French girl named Sophie who lives in China and does volunteer work. When Sophie meets Huang for the first time she develops a crush on him; it is definitely loved at first sight.

Eventually, Sophie becomes very infatuated with Huang, a countryman who works in constructions. Though no one believed in their relationship and often remind them that they had no future together, Sophie’s undying love and determination eventually conquered all.

Love in Translation will take you on an emotional rollercoaster as you watch their relationship go through endless obstacles- the disapproval from Huang’s parents, Xiao’s skepticism about their future together and many more. The scene where Sophie meets Huang’s parents and realizes she couldn’t meet his parent’s expectations and eventually ends their relationship captures the strong influence parents of AMWF couples have in breaking or mending their relationship.

This movie will make your heart flutter and break at the same time.

Watch it on Youku here

Lost Girls and Love Hotels (coming soon)

IMDB Link

Cast: Alexandra Daddario, Takehiro Hira, Carice Van Houdin.

Director: William Olsson.

Yet to hit the theatres, Lost Girls and Love Hotels is a Swedish-Japanese-American thriller starring Alexandra Daddario as Margaret and is a novel-inspired movie written by Catherine Hanrahan and directed by William Olsson.

The plot revolves around Margaret, a Caucasian lady living in Tokyo, who teaches English at a Stewardess training institute during the day. She tries to suppress the scarring flashbacks of her past and her elder sibling falling under the arms of madness-who tries to kill her.

In her attempt to run away from the memories, she loses herself in the bacchanalian lifestyle of Tokyo. Margaret gets a second chance at turning her life around when she meets Kazu, an attractive Japanese bandit. Their relationship crashes with some complications when she finds out that Kazu is a married man.

This movie showcases the challenges faced when one moves to a new country to start a new life; the cultural shock that one experiences and of course, finding love. With a pinch of romance and thrill on the side, Lost Girls and Hotels is quite the entertainment.

How I Became Russian (2019)

IMDB Link

Cast: Elizaveta Kononova, Dun Chan, Sergey Chirkov.

Director: Akaki Sakhelasvili, Xia Hao.

An alteration of the popular Russian sitcom, How I Became Russian is a Chinese-Russian comedy movie directed by acclaimed director Hao along with Akaki Sakhelasvili.

The movie chronicles a series of hilarious events that falls upon Peng Peng, a Shanghainese guy (played by Dun Chan) who falls in love with a Russian girl Ira and goes to Moscow to meet his future in-laws and ask for Ira’s (Elizaveta Kononova) hand in marriage.

Like all fathers, Ira’s dad had other plans when it came to her marriage and that did not include an Asian foreigner. In order to test Peng’s love for his daughter, Anatoliy throws a couple of hurdles at Peng; from drinking duels to skinny-diving in the frigid cold pond. Eventually, they both realize that they’ll have to respect each other if they wish to keep the love of their life, Ira.

This movie is an illustration of every guy who goes through the burden of winning their father-in-law’s heart and how it is even harder when you are a foreigner. Using comedy as a medium, it manages to show the challenges faced by interracial couples in pursuing their parents’ approval.

Bel Canto (2018)

IMDB Link

Cast: Juliane Moore, Ken Watanabe, Sebastian Koch, Christopher Lambert.

Director: Paul Witz

This is arguably one of the most prominent AMWF movies ever made. Bel Canto, based on Ann Pattchet’s award-winning novel (which itself was inspired by a real-life event that took place in Peru during the mid-90s) is a vigorously heart-rending, some-what aggressive hostage drama starring Academy Winner Juliane Moore, Japanese superstar and Academy Award nominee Ken Watanabe and famous German actor Sebastian Koch, Christopher Lambert.

In the movie, Roxane Cross portrayed by J. Moore, a prominent Soprano attends a fancy birthday party of Katsumi Hosokawa( Ken Watanabe, a rich Japanese Industrialist that takes place at the Vice President’s place. The place is taken over by guerillas and takes hostage of its guests, including- French Ambassador, Thibault, and his spouse, Hosokawa’s translator Gen, and Russian trade deputy, Fyorodov.

Unlike most hostage movies, this movie isn’t about endurance, torture or breaking free but a touching story about humanity that exposes itself with time. The evolution of Roxanne’s character throughout the movie perhaps depicts the true purpose of the movie. In the beginning, she considered the captors as inhuman but over the months she started to develop a sense of empathy towards them.” Amid the chaos, her voice inspired harmony.”

Though this AMWF movie isn’t a love story, it makes an important statement; that love transcends all barriers. There are no doubt viewers will be embedded with a strong sense of love and empathy for most of the characters. Bel Canto is indeed a great movie, and you should definitely watch it.

Watch it on Amazon here.

Mao’s Last Dancer (2009)

IMDB Link

Cast: Joan Chen, Kyle MacLachlan, Bruce Greenwood, Amand Schull, and Chi Cao

Director: Bruce Bares

An Adaptation of a famous professional ballet dancer, Li Cunxin’s autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer offers us a chance to experience the life of Li, who belonged to a remote province in China. The movie showcases the struggles 11-year-old Li had endured when he was scouted by the Chinese Communist Party to train for ballet at the Mao’s Dance Academy and the time he questioned everything he knew when he was chosen to train at a ballet school summer program in Houston.

Although this movie doesn’t explore the prejudices, racial differences or interracial issues that relationships suffer, it acknowledges its existence casually while the story follows Li’s personal and professional life.

A perfect date movie that introduces some aspects of AMWF dating, Mao’s Last Dancer is a great choice that highlights the Asian male in a creative, positive and masculine light. The emotional narrative, great performances and the grandeur of ballet all merge together to make Mao’s Last Dancer an unforgettable experience. This is a rare kind of movie that you would want to view more than once.

Watch it on Amazon here.

Never Forever (2007)

IMDB Link

Cast: David Lee McInnis, Joseph Y. Kim, Vera Farmiga

Director: Gina Kim

Make sure you have your tissues ready for this one.

Directed by Gina Kim and admired by critics and Jury Prize winner of Deauville American Film Festival, Never Forever is a romantic Korean-American movie.

The movie centers around Sophie played by Vera Farmiga, a white woman married to an Asian-American lawyer, Andrew. On learning that he couldn’t have a child of his own, he tries to commit suicide. Following her husband’s attempt to kill himself on account that he couldn’t impregnate her, Sophie couldn’t help but notice that this burden is affecting her marriage despite their indisputable affection towards each other.

Distraught with fear of losing her marriage, Sophie visits the fertility clinic with the hope that she might be inseminated. Later she elopes with a Korean immigrant Jihah whom she followed from the clinic. What initially started out as an attempt to fix her marriage mostly driven by desperation, ended in infidelity.

Never Forever is a captivating cross-cultural love affair that sneakily combines essential components of family drama and ambiguous art-house cinema. This movie commemorates the universal beauty of love and the way in which love surpasses every notion of mankind and oneness. It shows exactly the vulnerability of human’s emotions and the things we would do to make our loved ones happy, although it doesn’t always produce positive results. Is it the best AMWF movie of all time? Absolutely.

Watch it on Amazon here.

AMWF Movies: Redefining Asian-White Interracial Relationships

Movies allow us to inspect our lives from a different perspective, to see the world for what it truly is. Although complete acceptance of interracial relationships let alone AMWF couplings, has a long way to go as more interracial movies come along and present a different picture of what AMWF Instagram couples are like, there may come a day when life will get easier for people like Peng and Ira. Of course, Asian racism is still alive – which we would love to overcome. In the meantime, sit back, relax and make sure you watch some of these best AMWF movies ever made.