Fine, slow-burn, modern film noir from China, deliberately paced, atmospheric and a tad inscrutable. Not to worry, it all comes together by the end in a couple of devastating plot twists. Naturally, there’s a murder to solve with a gruesome afterlife that has body parts showing up in far-flung coal processing plants. A pair of suspects are found, but the arrest goes terribly wrong; four dead and a wounded surviving officer. (Cunningly staged in a static one-shot by director Yi’nan Diao with the camera positioned at some distance from the action.) Jump ahead five years, with the officer physically, if not psychologically, recovered; now working private security, and with a serious drinking problem. But a stolen motorcycle and an encounter with a detective from his days on the force will soon give him a second chance at the old case. With the widow of the murdered man and an unclaimed jacket left at the dry-cleaning shop where she works providing cryptic clues for the ex-cop to puzzle out, even as the probe takes a personal turn. (Or is he just doing whatever it takes?) An international award-winner that didn’t get a Stateside commercial release, it’s not for Hong Kong action fans. (Though you’d never know that by the previews included on the ‘WELL GO USA’ DVD.) Instead, imagine Jim Jarmusch getting a shot at the new FARGO series of slightly off-center crime stories. Great tag ending, too. A solo dance of resurrection. A real find this.
No comments:
Post a Comment