A Touch of Sin
Jan 03 - Jan 09, 2014
(Jia Zhangke, 2013, China, 125 min)
Internationally acclaimed Chinese master Jia Zhangke (Platform, The World) won the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes for this startling — and violent — modern wuxia tale of four outcasts on the margins of a rapidly changing China who channel their underclass rage into a bloody and murderous rampage.
In A Touch of Sin, Jia confronts utilizes a fascinating mix of social realism and contemporary kung fu to portray China's extreme social changes. Jia has a daring aesthetic, drawing inspiration from real-life events to compose a visually arresting, emotionally disturbing fresco of the underprivileged.
His portrait of China unfolds in four chapters, following an episodic structure that seems to adopt the brevity and concision of weibo (China's Twitter-like microblogs). The film unveils the tragic destiny of four sinners from four different provinces: a miner (Jiang Wu) who takes revenge on a corrupt village chief; a gun-loving migrant worker (Wang Baoqiang) who shoots his way to easy money; a modest sauna receptionist (Zhao Tao) who, humiliated by a client, turns into a fierce, dagger-wielding goddess; and an abused youth (Luo Lanshan) who endures long working hours and all manner of psychological violence.
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty isn’t the only picture peddling fantasy right now, but Jia Zhangke’s vision is considerably darker than that of Ben Stiller. . .in Jia’s vision of modern China, there aren’t enough bullets to go around." —Seattle Weekly
"Jia works in the classical tradition of master and medium shots, composing a picture of China that is at once rugged and lawless, but also defined by the material march of progress." —Rustin Thompson, The Restless Critic