A Touch of Sin (2013)

Powerful

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

A TOUCH OF SIN is a hard-hitting anthology from mainland China, looking at how social issues can lead to sudden bursts of unexpected and extreme violence. It's completely unlike the majority of Chinese mainstream movies, mostly concerned with propaganda and promoting Chinese values; this is much grittier, more downbeat, to the degree that it becomes completely nihilistic.It's also a fine piece of cinema and thoroughly compelling. There are four stories here in which various injustices lead to violence, and of these the opening story, a DEATH WISH-style effort in which Jiang Wu's sympathetic lead is driven over the edge by the corruption he sees around him, is by far the best and most compelling. The second story has KUNG FU KILLER's Wang Baoqiang playing another baddie with a ruthless streak; the third has a dispossessed young woman who has been generally unlucky in life, while the last is a story of young and idealistic love. Although all of the stories are rather depressing, they're very well acted and directed, and the violence is superbly portrayed to the kind of shocking extreme that Hollywood just can't handle these days.

I found this Chinese film, like many other foreign language pictures in recent years, in the pages of the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I hoped it would be another worthy entry. Basically set in present day modern China, apparently based on real events from the recent past, the film revolves around four characters from vastly different geographical locations of the country, and of different social backgrounds and surroundings. The stories, ranging from the busy southern metropolis of Guangzho and Donggaun to the more rural areas of towns such as Shanxi, see each character committing a random act of violence, and the individual stories focus on their often bizarre reasoning behind them, and whether they can get away with it, or face the consequences. Dahai (Wu Jiang) is an angry miner, enraged by widespread corruption in his village, he decides to take justice into his own hands. Zhou San (Baoqiang Wang) is a rootless migrant who discovers the infinite possibilities of owning a firearm, and it seems that anybody could be his next target. Xiao Yu (Tao Zhao) is a young receptionist who dates a married man man and works at a local sauna, but she is pushed beyond her limits by an abusive client, so goes out of her way to make them pay. Xiao Hui (Lanshan Luo) is a young factory worker who goes from one disheartening job to another, and he only faces increasingly degrading circumstances, it is unclear what truly leads him to off the edge. The four overlapping stories of characters going to extremes for different, mostly minor or bizarre reasons, are all interesting, their violent turns are the most memorable moments, and to see how they get on following their kills or whatever, there's a good amount of bloody stuff, it also works as a satirical look at how economic transformation changes people, a great drama. Very good!

after finally watching A Touch Of Sin this evening at ACMI with some friends, it's left me stuck in 2 worlds - missing Jia Zhang-Ke's meditative & lyrical work of the past & liking the new approach to these social wrongs in a more brutal / violent / cynical manner... first thoughts were quite similar to when i watched another master film maker Kim Ki-Duk's "Pieta" which after further digestion, thought & reading became my fave film of 2013 - both films show violence in a heavy way but still portray it in a meditative & profound manner, using symbolic moments to remind the audience about these issues... in hindsight i really like this film and where Jia is going with his approach... considering this is a narrative driven film over his powerful and thought provoking documentaries, all the killings were based on real events the director read in blogs... the film is a vessel to show these separate events as one about alienation, the varying classes in china & corruption / political flaws... here's a good article from Slant which covers a lot of how i feel towards the films - 8/10 http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/a-touch-of-sin

A Touch of Sin by Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke tells 4 independent stories that culminate in some act of violence in modern China. It feels that the movie's intention is to portrait the reality of a generation that feels confused and out of place on a new reality that clashes modern capitalism with former communism. We understand that, however its hard to accept this is successfully achieved on the movie. Those elements are introduced yes, but... they feel like an excuse for what will predictably come next. The movie is greatly directed: that is its main strength and its worth watching for that, but the structure of 4 independent stories doesn't allow an emotional connection with the viewer, and the violence ends up being predictable and sometimes silly. This would have worked well as 4 separated short movies independently. That would have been powerful. Unfortunately, the theme that connects them is not sufficient to justify the movie as a whole, which is odd since this was the winner for best screenplay on Cannes. This asked for more depth and a more cohesive plot. At the end, the social meaning isn't but a cloud hanging over 4 good short stories that are technically wonderful but fail to go beyond its intentions of being a relevant portrait of China's modern society. Visit thefadingcam blog on blogspot for this and other reviews! Also like us on facebook to follow all our reviews!