Xian yi ren X de xian shen

'The Devotion of Suspect X'' is a film based on the novel of the same name, written by the Japanese Keigo Higashino. The book was a commercial success and it was warmly received from the European and American readers, as it is about an ingenious cat and mouse game between two old classmates where the first one is Tang Chuan, a university professor and police consultant in serious cases, while the second, Shi Hong, is a recluse young man, reserved and timid who prefers to live alone. The plot begins to unfold with the brutal homicide of a man, husband and father of a teenage girl without obvious suspects to begin with. The detectives put on the case suspect the victim's ex wife who nevertheless seems to have a strong alibi for the night of the murder, an alibi confirmed by her neighbor, Shi Hong. Tang Chuan will seize the opportunity to visit his old friend and antagonist, and soon he will grasp the difficulties of the case because of Shi Hong's help and advices to his female neighbor. The plot moves forward in a steady pace and has many twists and turns while the viewer is allowed to absorb the beautiful cinematography of this Chinese film which, has nothing to envy of the big American and European thriller productions. Furthermore, the acting is impeccable and along with the mystery and suspense concerning the murder, the viewer can devour the wonderful dialogue which is embellished with lots of mathematical references. I haven't read the book but the movie motivated me to search for more novels and movie adaptations of Keigo Higashino's work. Fans of quality crime fiction films will certainly not be disappointed with this little gem from China.

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.

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.

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.

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.