Jiangdong Province, 1995. Police captain Ma Zhe is sent to investigate the murder of an old woman in a remote hamlet. The prime suspect is a grown man with an intellectual disability who lived with the old lady, but Ma isn’t convinced.
Wei Shujun cements his reputation as one of the most exciting new Chinese filmmakers with this moody, muddy neo-noir, very much in the vein of Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder. It should be open and shut, but the more Ma digs into the case, the worse things get. As the death toll mounts, he begins to doubt his own sanity. Based on a story by the acclaimed writer Yu Hua (To Live), this artfully composed movie has a subversive, absurdist streak which keeps us asking questions of our own.
An enigmatic, progressively more engrossing noir directed by Wei Shujun, structurally inventive, if not downright format-twisting. The cinematography is genuinely star-making.
Screen International
Humanizing quirks and flourishes abound, providing whatever profundity this rather touchingly melancholic portrait of small-town desperation can muster.
Jessica Kiang, Variety
A film noir that’s so vintage it comes wrapped in crackling celluloid and old cassette tapes. A puzzle-like homage to the noir genre itself, with echoes of Jean-Pierre Melville, Chinatown, and Memories of Murder.
The Hollywood Reporter
Wei Shujun
Zhu Yilong, Chloe Maayan, Hou Tianlai, Tong Linkai
China
2023
In Mandarin with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Tang Xiaohui, Dorothy Zeng, Li Chan
Producer
Tang Xiaohui, Huang Xufeng, Li Chan, Shen Yang
Screenwriter
Kang Chunlei, Wei Shujun
Cinematography
Chengma
Editor
Mattieu Laclau
Production Design
Zhang Menglun
Also Playing
The Encampments
When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.
Bob Trevino Likes It
When her toxic, narcissistic dad cuts her out of his life, Lily Trevino looks him up on Facebook and happens across his namesake, Bob (John Leguizamo), a gentle, genial contractor who lives nearby, and who proves an altogether better dad...
Faces
Ten years after his landmark debut, Shadows, John Cassavetes returned to the indie model, self-financing this wrenching portrait of the sexual mores and miseries of American middle class. Gena Rowlands is luminous as Jeannie, the film's emotional barometer.