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.

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.

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.

The devotion of Suspect X is one of my favorite books, and Keigo Higashino is my favorite writer. Alec Su did a fair job to localize this Japanese style story. Also, it is his second movie as a director, compared to the first, I see great progress. Yukawa (Tangchuan)is my favorite character in "Galileo Series", I have to say I'm very satisfied with Wangkai's acting. Yukawa is elegant and proud, well, he is a genius and he knows he is a genius. He is extremely intelligent but he's not indifferent. I love Yukawa, and Tangchuan is pretty similar to my Yukawa, which made me really excited.

This is a good movie and it's worth buying a ticket, but I won't say this is an excellent movie. Wnagkai and Zhang Luyi are both TV dramas actors, and they did try their best for movie art. The point is even though the movie isn't perfect, everyone tried their best, and I think it is the most important thing.

It is a high-quality movie.

"The Devotion of Suspect X" (2017 release from China; 112 min.) brings the story of a murder case set in the Jianbei district of Shijiazhuang, in northern China. As the movie opens, we get to know a math genius who teachers at a junior high school. In a parallel story, a body is found of a 40-ish guy. The Jianbei police gets on the case and quickly narrows down the list of suspects, including the murdered guy's ex-wife. By chance, the neighbor of he ex-wife is an acquaintance of the police officer in charge of the case. At this point we are 15 min, into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience.

Couple of comments: this is a remake of the Japanese movie based on the Japanese book of the same name, this time transposed into a Chinese setting. This is the second movie directed by well-known actor Alec Su. Purposefully I wasn't too aware of the movie's plot details, and I walked in the theater expecting an action movie of some sort. Major miscalculation on my part. It turns out this is a low production movie with incredibly awkward and stilted performances, something one might see in TV movies and even soaps. In fact, on 3 or 4 instances, the music swells as the "drama" rises, only to then fade out to a black screen, as if we were going to a TV commercial. Furthermore, the movie switches from a whodunnit movie to a "will the cops catch the murderer" movie midway in the film, as what happened to the murdered guy is revealed halfway through. In all, I felt incredibly disappointed by this film on so many levels.

"The Devotion of Suspect X" opened two weekends ago on a single screen for all of Greater Cincinnati. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended quite nicely. I should add that I was the only non-Chinese/American-Chinese in the audience. Not that it matters, as the entire audience was laughing and hollering in disbelief during the most cringe-inducing moments of the movie. I love foreign films of all sorts, but in good consciousness, there is no way I can recommend this film to anyone. Viewer beware!