Goddamned Asura
Promotional poster
Traditional Chinese	該死的阿修羅
Simplified Chinese	该死的阿修罗
Literal meaning	damned Asura
Hanyu Pinyin	Gāisǐ de Āxiūluó
Directed by	Lou Yi-an
Written by	Lou Yi-an Singing Chen
Produced by	Gao Junting Xu Guolun Wang Xinhong
Starring	Joseph Huang Morning Mo Peijia Huang Devin Pan Wang Yu-xuan Hao-zhe Lai
Music by	Hu Xusong
Production companies	Content Digital Film Co., Ltd SEASHORE IMAGE PRODUCTIONS CO., LTD.
Distributed by	Hope Marketing Entertainment Content Digital Film Co., Ltd.
Release dates	November 2021 (2021-11) (Golden Horse Film Festival) 3 November 2022 (2022-11-03) (Taiwan)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	Taiwan
Language	Mandarin Chinese

Goddamned Asura (Chinese: 該死的阿修羅) is a 2021 Taiwanese crime drama film directed by Lou Yi-an and written by Lou Yi-an and Singing Chen. The film features an ensemble cast of six actors Joseph Huang [zh], Morning Mo [zh], Peijia Huang, Devin Pan [zh], Wong Yu-xuan [zh] and Hoa-zhe Lai. It was inspired by real life events from newspaper reports on random killings. The film is selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.^[1] In November 2021, the film premiered at Taipei's Golden Horse film Festival where it was nominated for Best New Performer (Pan), Best Original Screenplay and won the Best Supporting Actress Award (Wang).

In July 2022, Goddammed Asura participated in Taipei Film Festival, among the nine nominations it won Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Wang) and Best Soundtrack (for Qin Xuzhang, Xu Jiawei, Chan Liu and Cai Jiaying). The film also participated the Judicial Film Festival^[2] in November 2021, Singapore Chinese Film Festival in December 2021, Taiwan Film Festival in Australia in July 2022, Vancouver Taiwanese Film Festival^[3] and the Hong Kong Film Festival in August 2022. It will also participate the Paris Filmosa Festival in September 2022.

Awards and nominations

Reception

On 17 March 2022, the reporter Han Chen wrote in the Taipei Times magazine: "The acting is solid across the board, and production value high..."^[5]

On 26 July 2022, the magazine Fletcher & Third wrote in a multi page review: "A rich, complex and emotive study of Taipei’s disillusioned youth, Goddamned Asura can occasionally touch on the bleak, offering a dispassionate outlook on contemporary youth culture. But it’s also oddly enchanting; an intriguing work of cinema thats both captivating and ambitious in its execution, and ultimately deserving of attention."^[6]