Xian yi ren X de xian shen

Adapted from Keigo Higashino's "The Devotion of Suspect X," the Chinese adaptation of the novel retains most of the text's spirit, whilst streamlining and making minor modifications to certain character story lines. Most dominantly, this film makes a slight shift in emphasis to create a dynamic interplay between Tang Chuan (named Yukawa in the novel, played by actor Wang Kai) and Shi Hong (named Ishigami in the novel, played by Luyi Zhang), the one who solves vs. the one who sets the puzzle.

Two moments in the film that are particularly noteworthy, which also happen to be slight deviations from the novel:

(1) The exchange between Tang Chuan and Shi Hong when they go trekking together, Tang Chuan's empathetic response to Shi Hong's excruciating loneliness is one of the film's best moments, as the subtle undercurrents of all that is left unsaid gnaws at the viewers (and the characters).

(2) Tang Chuan's run on the bridge as he wrestles with the truth is played with perfect subtlety and pathos. Without a single word of dialogue, the pain he experiences as he struggles with the truth and with his next step perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the film, best captured by lines from the novel: "The world needs its cogs, all of them; and even a cog may say how it gets used. In fact, only a cog may determine its eventual meaning in the system."

Another dynamic pair in the film are Tang Chuan and Luo Miao (named Kusanagi in the novel, played by actor Ye Zuxin), whose rapport and amusing exchanges lend a delightful lightness to the weighty subject-matter.

The sprint towards the end is too rushed, which cramps the actors' performances. Certain emotions need to unfold in time on screen, especially when the characters realise particular truths, but there's a clockwork precision in which scenes are distilled that creates certain moments that feel out of sync with characters' emotional expressions. The film presents several problems in terms of pacing and especially in its use of extradiegetic sound--which borders on overbearing at times. A lighter touch in its use of sound, especially when disclosures are revealed, allows the story and the characters to unfold the story more gracefully. The direction and post-production could do with more subtlety, particularly given the film's genre.

A cute little movie with some neat plot twists. Interesting insight into China. Wouldn't be surprised to see a Hollywood knockoff in a few years.

Worth a watch.

There is this saying in Chinese entitled, Ren Suan Bu Ru Tian Suan (Man proposes but God disposes) that came to my mind as soon as I finished watching this movie. Throughout the movie, we see how a man could calculate all he wants and yet there are things or aspects in life that one could not be able to calculate to the dot and in this case especially a person's heart as well as what a person views as valuable/meaningful. I think the story plot was well laid out from beginning, slowly but surely building up to the few possibilities the audience might be able to grasp and catch if they pay enough attention. To me, it would be one of the reason why this movie would worth a rewatching - i.e., to retrace the steps and clues while putting yourself in their shoes. I really like the conversations and interactions between the two main characters, both as genius trying to calculate each other moves. The metaphorical conversations between them were insightful and beautiful for me. In terms of acting, both WangKai and Edward Zhang shine in their respective roles especially Edward in expressing Shi Hong's nonverbals - for someone who appeared emotionless but yet trapped in seas of emotions when fall in too deep in the maze of mind and end goal. I must say though that it did appear somewhat the truth was told in a rush manner - a sudden pick up contrast from the slow laid out from the beginning, which if would have been made more engaging (to match with the tempo set so far between the two MCs) then would be a more digestible solution out of the many solutions up the mountain.

while many people -- especially young females -- consider romance the greatest feeling in the world and devotion the greatest symbol of love, is sacrifice the thing to show that your love is the purest and irreplaceable?

a murder committed by a genius and solved by another genius. The movie has shown us not only a story of "how to get away with murder" and "you can never get away with murder", but also demonstrated that the sacrifice of oneself may be great, the sacrifice of others is definitely unacceptable.

Keigo Higashino is the author of several Japanese Detective novels. This possibly the most famous one. It is a 'Galileo' novel. This is a China adaptation of the book. It is a credible adaptation. I have watched the original Japanese version, and this compares well.