I'm gonna be honest with you, the synopsis didn't really interest me because I'm not usually a crime fic person but what got me to see it was that it won this year's Berlinale, which for some reason is probably my favourite international film awards (maybe because Miyazaki won it with Spirited Away)

The film was a bit bizarre and a bit confusing, could be due to the translation or maybe crime films tend to be this way, but that actually adds to the charm of this movie. The English title suits pretty well with the bleak base tone, which an immediate big plus for me. But compared to most Nordic films which tend to be very cool tone as well, this one is definitely more vivid, if that makes any sense at all.

What I have to mention is how beautiful the shots are. Not beautiful in the same way as Monet's paintings but basically if you screencap the film every 2 seconds you get a stunning photography book of a Northern Chinese city. Unpolished streets, rusty factories and out-dated cars, probably not your best-city-to-live-in type of photos but definitely artistic.

During the Q&A session the director (I was shocked how young he looked but then I realised he's Asian..) said that the female protagonist in the movie represents the passive female position in traditional Chinese culture and even modern Chinese society, an oppressed figure in a patriarch society. And so I was disappointed that he didn't really explore further in that direction. Of course I'm not saying that every good film has to promote women's rights or only political films are worth watching but since it was mentioned in the film personally I'd love to see it digging slightly deeper.

Which also led to the police force in the film. The director said again in the Q&A that the crew did their best to realistically represent police forces in Northern China and the actors went in training with the cops and stuff. Again, shocking (like basically their cops are doing the same thing to Chinese citizens what our people are doing on Manus Island to asylum seekers) but a bit of a shame that the film didn't expand that further either.

All in all, great crime film with 10/10 artistry, shame to me that the director seems to lack of political ambition.

Rate:
7.5/10

ps. the female lead reminds me of Eri Fukatsu (and coincidentally she also starred in a well received crime romance film)