O Lago do Ganso Selvagem

When I saw Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love"(2000) with Maggie Cheung - I knew we were watching a completely new cinema that would one day self-realise into epic cinema ~ epic Chinese cinema. And I have now seen that realisation in The Wild Goose Lake. This film is like a cross between Godard's Breathless and de Sica's Bicycle Thieves - and is so satisfying you could watch it upside down. It is possibly the grittiest film I have ever seen, with the urgency and cinematic style of French cinema of the 1960s - where the possibilities are endless and every new film in this genre will be waited for in anticipation.

Rain falls hard over a remote area where a mobster-on-the-run awaits instructions from a mysterious woman; the camera captures the dazzling, stylish and inventive visions of director Diao Yinan as he opens this action-packed thriller demonstrating how poetically he conceives a scene. Bleeding, hurt and wanted, Zenong has wrongly shot a cop, while on a competition with other gangster families, in order to claim control over the drug/theft most profitable streets. Aiai is a hustler and "bath lover"- a Chinese modern version of prostitution- who is working on both sides, struggling to survive as a mediatior on the bloodshed war between the gangsters' families and the police seeking to avenge their colleague. As they wait for their next move, they both narrate in flashbacks the circumnstances prior, when the street war sparkled a revolution on the local criminal business. An electrifying, fast-paced, ultra violent and seductive neo-noir thriller, Yinan obviously understands of visual techniques, conceiving each frame as a piece of art in movement, with lyrical, glamorous observations on the details, on the silent moments embracing the unexpected, the subtle eroticism, the rain, the neon lights on the roads, but most impressively how he extracts poetry from the bloody confrontations and its uncontrollable shootings. Addressing male rivalry and dominance, pride and greed, it's a riveting, visually-arresting and superbly crafted mobster-on-bikes tale.

"Since the film is entirely spoken in Wuhan dialect (kudos to the main cast and their dialect coaches), for the majority of Chinese audience, which means subtitles is a requisite to understand the plot, Diao perceptibly carves out a tenuous mutual attraction between Zenong and Aiai, and the two fine actors exhibit tenacious resilience in restraint and nuances. For Hu Ge, it is also a physical transmogrification that persuasively shucks off his heartthrob mass appeal and signifies a wide road ahead in the mode of a serious thespian; as for Taiwanese actress Gwei Lunmei, who also triumphantly conceals her modern-look and urban delicacy, eloquently morphs into a conflicted character living in the margin with no hope in sight, during a nocturnal boat trip on the placid lake, the vestigial human-to-human compassion and connection brings a chink of warmth into this largely grim tale."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

I have to say I was really disappointed with this . It was recommended as sleazy Noir movie but I just found it dull. There is only so much I can take of people chain smoking and looking moody .

Fleeing from the law, gangster Zenong Zhou crosses paths with an innocent-looking woman named Aiai Liu . Unbeknownst to Zhou, she holds a significant secret. Zhou must then confront the limits of what he is willing to sacrifice both for this stranger and for the family he left behind.

As well as being as dull as dishwater , the characters we're uninspiring and I couldn't care less what happened to them . There were too many people getting involved with finding Zhou and it diluted any interest I might have.

The one good thing is that it looked great . Set at night , the scenery is fantastic . There is something about the back streets of China that look great on the big screen but sadly that's the only positive and I'm sure by tomorrow I will have forgotten about most of this film .

Filmed in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Chinese gangster thriller The Wild Goose Lake is an accessible and stylistic crime film that brings the visual sensibilities of filmmakers like Michael Mann and Nicolas Winding Refn to a whole new landscape.

Directed by Yi'nan Diao, Lake is the type of film that favors visual and composition over dialogue and character building, as we follow Ge Hu's wounded gangster Zenong Zhou, who finds himself wanted and hunted by cops and fellow criminals alike as he attempts to survive by hiding out in the lawless and violence ridden area of Wild Goose Lake.

It's a great set-up and Diao makes good use of his unique surrounds as the films unique time and place helps mask the fact that the story at the heart of Lake is one we've seen done countless times before from various corners of the globe.

It's a good thing the films are so visually pleasing, from night time scooter rides to bloodthirsty fight scenes, as Hu gets lumped with a rather charisma free centerpiece that never feels as alive as the places he finds himself in, while all of the films supports feel rather forgettable and cookie-cutter also in a landscape filled with generic goons, cops and paperback style token love interests and female hangers-on.

Despite the weak plot line and even weaker caricatures, Lake manages to hold your interest throughout as we remain unsure where things will go and Diao makes sure that every scene is filled with wonderfully framed and captured imagery, often basked in a neon glow and scored moodily, Lake is feast for the senses that doesn't engage the heart but certainly engages aesthetically in a way that is exciting for Chinese cinema moving forward.

Final Say -

The Wild Goose Lake is a crime film that's going to be a big hit for those that have enjoyed other recent visually focused offerings like Only God Forgives and Drive and while the film fails to break any new ground, its intriguing setting and design makes this a sensory feast with a fresh Chinese twist.

3 umbrella's out of 5