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I’m old enough to remember when Jacques Rivette films were the domain of dark-web networks and substandard DVD rips, a conspiratorial network worthy of his cinema. It’s still a little strange seeing that April will feature a 10-film, one-short Criterion Channel program that combines of his canonized masterpieces with decidedly lesser-seens––plus Va Savoir, which I really hope is the recently unearthed four-hour cut for which there’s no substitute. Penélope Cruz is also subject of a retrospective in April, which––more than making me pine for a Rivette collab that never was––will include both Abre Los Ojos and Vanilla Sky, some Almodóvar, and another in the Channel’s ongoing let’s-add-a-Woody-Allen-movie campaign, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

For themed series, J. Hoberman has curated a series on the dangers of ’60s and ’70s New York that runs from Michael Roemer’s recently restored The Plot Against Harry and...

Chinese director Vivian Qu is in Berlin Film Festival’s competition this year with feminist, film studios-set thriller Girls on Wire, charting the fortunes of two cousins born into China’s economic miracle of the 1990s.

Qu previously enjoyed success in Berlin as the producer of 2014 Golden Bear winner Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, while her second feature as a director Angels Wear White (2017) won more than 40 awards on the festival circuit having premiered in Venice.

Girls on Wire reunites Qu with actress Wen Qi (aka Vicky Chen), who got her big break in Angels Wear White and has since become a big star in China. She co-stars opposite equally buzzy actress Liu Haocun.

Wen Qi plays Fang Di, the older cousin who takes on physically gruelling work as a stuntwoman double in China’s largest film studios to clear family debts,...

Chinese auteur Vivian Qu’s latest drama “Girls on Wire” received an emotional response at its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, with audiences both laughing and weeping during the screening.

An intimate portrait of two cousins navigating personal ambition and family obligations against the backdrop of China’s rapid social transformation, the drama, which is in the festival’s main competition, weaves together themes of independence, generational change, and the cost of pursuing one’s dreams.

The film stars Liu Haocun, who broke out in Zhang Yimou’s “One Second” and earned the best newcomer Award at the Asian Film Awards, alongside Wen Qi, who previously collaborated with Qu on “Angels Wear White.” Their casting brings together two of China’s most promising young talents, with Wen winning the Golden Horse Award winner for best supporting actress at age 14 for “The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful.”

Set...

With just two films to her name, Vivian Qu has become one of China’s most prominent female filmmakers. Her long-awaited follow-up to the excellent Angels Wear White (which premiered in 2017’s Venice competition) once again shines a light on the plight of young women in contemporary Chinese society and reunites her with many of the same cast and crew. With a noticeably larger budget at her disposal, Girl on Wire is the most polished but least hard-hitting film she’s made thus far; while it’s likely to draw a wider audience, true fans will be disappointed.

Told in interlocking timelines, the decades-spanning story centers on twenty-something Tian Tian (Liu Haocun) and her cousin Fang Si (Wen Qi). The two girls grew up like sisters, though their relationship is fraught with familial tension that eventually drove them apart. Tian Tian, stuck in their rural hometown and the vicious cycle...

Mad Bills to Pay: Qu Stages Miserabilist Soap Opera

If Girls on Wire settles on anything clear to say it’s quite simply that crime doesn’t pay, at least judging from the seemingly endless intergenerational ripple effects inspired by criminal activity allowed to fester through an aimless sense of gratitude. It’s quite a significant disappointment coming from Vivian Qu, whose exceptional sophomore film Angels Wear White and simmering 2013 debut Trap Street cemented her as one of the most exciting contemporary Chinese directors of the past decade.…...

A stunt double who plays roof-bouncing ninjas before the lead steps in for the closeup is stuck in a family/mob triangle in Vivian Qu’s occasionally silly thriller

Vivian Qu is the Chinese film-maker who has directed three features and also produced the noir drama Black Coal, Thin Ice which in 2014 won Berlin’s Golden Bear. Now she brings this crime melodrama to Berlin, an engaging if tonally uncertain high-wire adventure that satirises China’s hopeless addiction to gangster capitalism. It is also acidly unsentimental about the bread-and-circuses escapism of the country’s booming film and TV industry with all its period-costume wuxia nostalgia. It’s an appealing film, though it contains some strangely broad comedy and is also, in a couple of violent moments, a bit naive about exactly how easy it is for a young woman physically to fight off a big strong guy.

Above all, Qu...

Producer Mike Downey, who is chair of the European Film Academy and whose co-production “Girls on Wire” is in Berlin competition, has unveiled a diverse slate of films from his production company Downey Ink at the European Film Market.

“My taste for a diverse range of world cinema projects remains,” Downey said. “It is the company’s goal to connect with the best in writing from European and international masters, as well as engage with projects that demonstrate a social conscience and also have an engaged political agenda. I’m with Mayakovsky when he said, ‘Art is not a mirror to hold up to reality, it is a hammer to beat it into shape.’”

Downey is developing two feature projects with Prague-based producer Sarka Cimbalova at Marlene Films: an adaptation of Kateřina Tučková’s hit novel “The White Water,” made in partnership with Jan Macola’s Mimesis Film; and “Razor Man,...

Chinese sales agent Rediance is expanding into distribution, attending EFM as a buyer for China for the first time, on the lookout for commercial auteur films, both new releases and library titles.

It has established a new Beijing-­based joint venture, in collaboration with Zhijiang Pictures Media (Zhejiang) and China Magic Film, for theatrical distribution and marketing in mainland China, aiming to handle six to eight films per year. Rediance will act as the international interface, responsible for acquisitions.

“Many international films such as Anatomy Of A Fall and How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies have done incredibly well in Chinese theatres,...

Berlin-based Films Boutique has acquired world sales rights to Vivian Qu’s Berlin Film Festival competition selection Girls On Wire, about two young women in China running from the mafia.

Qu wrote and directed the film, which stars Liu Haocun and Wen Qi as estranged cousins from a family struggling with debt and addiction who come together when one falls foul of local gangsters. Set against the backdrop of modern-day China in multiple time frames, the film blends elements of family drama, thriller and martial-arts action to track the evolution of the role of women in China over the last 30 years.

San Sebastian – “Bound in Heaven,” the directorial debut of experienced screenwriter Xin Huo, best known for “Kung Fu Hustle,” is the sole Chinese production in the Official Selection at San Sebastián, following its world premiere in Toronto’s Centrepiece section. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Li Xiuwen, a Huading Award winner as part of the writing team for “Medal of the Republic.”

The story turns on Xia You (NiNi), a successful but emotionally drained woman trapped in a violently abusive relationship with her fiancé, played by Liao Fan, who won a Berlin Silver Bear for “Black Coal, Thin Ice.” In a harrowing early scene, Xia You defies her abuser, uttering the chilling and foreboding line, “Don’t smudge my makeup, the guests are still here,” a reflection of the fragile facade she is forced to uphold.

“The theme of domestic violence against women,...

With his astounding debut Kaili Blues (2015) and the equally impressive 3D odyssey Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018), Chinese director Bi Gan emerged as one of the most promising new voices in cinema this last decade. Now he’s in the middle of production on his third feature, the sci-fi detective tale Resurrection, wrapping the second part of shooting and set to resume the final portion at the end of the year.

Led by Jackson Yee and Shu Qi, here’s the synopsis from Variety: “Resurrection tells the story of a woman whose consciousness falls into the “eternal time zone” during a surgical procedure. Trapped in many dreams, she finds an android corpse and tries to wake it up by telling it stories. The android then wanders through her stories and its senses gradually awaken.”

With cinematography from Dong Jingsong and costume designer Huang Wen-Ying (The Assassin) on board, this is...

Paris-based sales and distribution company Les Films du Losange has boarded “Resurrection,” a sci-fi detective movie directed by Chinese director Bi Gan, whose 2018 film “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” played at Cannes.

Headlined by Chinese-language stars Jackson Yee (“Better Days”) and Shu Qi (“The Assassin”), the movie recently wrapped the second part of its shooting schedule. It is expected to resume filming in the fourth quarter of this year.

“Resurrection” tells the story of a woman whose consciousness falls into the “eternal time zone” during a surgical procedure. Trapped in many dreams, she finds an android corpse and tries to wake it up by telling it stories. The android then wanders through her stories and its senses gradually awaken.

Co-produced by Charles Gillibert’s CG Cinema, the project marks Bi’s first film since “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” which contained a bravura final 59-minute sequence consisting of a single shot in 3D.

Specialty sales and finance firm Rediance has picked up international sales rights to “Bound in Heaven,” the directorial debut feature of experienced Chinese screenwriter Huo Xin.

The tragic love story will have its world premiere this week in the Centerpiece section of the Toronto International Film Festival. It will subsequently travel to San Sebastian for its European debut.

Adapted from the novel of the same title by Li Xiuwen, the drama centers around a successful young woman who lives in the city with her abusive fiance and a lonely terminally ill man running a noodle shop in Wuhan. A chance encounter sparks an immediate attraction and their connection provides light and lightness in their emotional and dark journeys.

The film stars Ni Ni, who appeared in Zhang Yimou’s “The Flowers of War” and 2022 smash hit “Lost in the Stars.” Zhou You, who also appeared in Jia Zhangke’s Cannes...

China-based sales agent Rediance has picked up international rights to Chinese director Huo Xin’s feature debut Bound In Heaven, which is set to premiere at Toronto before heading to San Sebastian.

Director Huo is a veteran scriptwriter whose credits include acclaimed and hit films such as Shower, Kung Fu Hustle, Sunflower and The Monkey King.

She has assembled a strong cast for her feature debut including Ni Ni of box office hit Lost In The Stars and Zhang Yimou’s The Flowers of War; Zhou You of Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught By The Tides, which also plays at Toronto...

Popular police procedural dramas, like Fincher’s Zodiac (2007) or Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave (2022), often feature cunningly plotted mysteries that blend realistic police work with the forlorn heroism of classic hardboiled fiction. The narratives typically hit the ground running, filled with shocking twists, climactic build-ups, and often violent confrontations. Ultimately, they allow characters to carve meaning out of the darkness. However, the Chinese whodunit Only the River Flows is a slow burn that defies conventional approaches. Its artistic style presents the protagonist with a complex array of choices as he navigates an investigation that challenges his psychological well-being. The treatment and progression of the story are reminiscent of Diao Yinan‘s Golden Bear winner Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014). However, it is endowed with a distinctive meditative pace and a deeper exploration of the protagonist’s internal struggles. This approach makes the film even more bleaker and more sinister. It also...

Scenes of gun shootouts have been an essential fixture in cinema since “The Great Train Robbery” (1903). Serving as a staple of cinematic spectacles, filmmakers have continuously competed to present their unique interpretations, whether through virtuosic camera work or unconventional set-up. Just think back to the final assault in Branded to Kill, John Woo ‘s personal rendition of the Mexican standoff in the iconic restaurant scene from A Better Tomorrow (1986) or more recently the climax shootout of Drug War. The list could go on forever.

Diao Yinan introduced a very peculiar variation of it in his noir film “Black Coal” set in far northern China. Fragments of a recently identified body have been discovered scattered across various coal mining sites, leaving Inspector Zhang with just one lead: a coal truck driver who has just resigned, and whose brother happens to be the proprietor of a hair salon. The scene unfolds as Zhang,...

Having already directed plenty of action-thrillers, a few sci-fis and — last year — a whole load of mutts (the Venice-bowing “Dogman”), Luc Besson is now set to venture into epic fantasy territories with one of the most famous big screen characters of all.

The French director is to direct an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s’ “Dracula,” telling the story of 15th century Prince Vladimir who cursed God following the death of his beloved wife and is turned into a vampire. Later, in 19th century London, he discovers his wife’s doppelgänger and dooms himself by pursuing her.

Variety understands that Christoph Waltz is in talks to star, as is Caleb Landry-Jones, which would reunite Besson with his lead in “Dogman,” which bowed in Venice last year. Like “Dogman,” Besson’s EuropaCorp is producing.

Kinology is talking to buyers about the project at the European Film Market.

Billed as Besson’s big...

EuropaCorp, the production company founded by Luc Besson and taken over by New York fund Vine Alternative Investments in 2020, has appointed Jean-Marc Lacarrère as its new CEO.

Lacarrère will begin his new role on March 3, succeeding Axel Duroux, the French-Swiss executive who helmed the company for nearly four years and stepped down in December.

A French media expert, Lacarrère previously worked at the Canal+ Group, and managed the music publishing and production company La Bande Son, which was later acquired by Studiocanal. He also headed the digital news channel now known as CNews, went on to join Bolloré Média Group to spearhead Direct Cinéma and headed Canal+’s free-to-air division. He has also worked with “The Bureau” producer Alex Berger and Benjamin de Rothschild, and was appointed president of CanalPlay and head of international SVOD for the Canal+ Group. He joined Vivendi Content in 2017, before setting up Harvest Mood Films,...

As we have mentioned in the past, Chinese cinema has a knack of producing crime films that unfold in a distinct art house style, with titles like “Black Coal, Thin Ice”, “Mr Six”, and “Long Day's Journey into the Night” being among the first that come to mind. Cannes-favorite (all four of his movies have screened there) Wei Shujun returned in 2023 in the festival with, “Only the River Flows”, a movie that follows a similar approach.

“Only the River Flows” screened at Cannes Official poster – 76th edition © Photo © Jack Garofalo/Paris Match/Scoop – Création graphique © Hartland Villa

Adapted from the novella “Mistakes by the River” by the famous Chinese novelist Yu Hua, the almost entirely shot on 16mm film takes place in the small city of Banpo in China during the 90s. It is there that police detective Ma Zhe is tasked with finding the culprit of the murder of Granny Four,...

Imagine the gleaming surfaces of Park Chan-wook’s terrific “Decision to Leave” stripped of romance, all scuzzed-up and grimy. Imagine drilling down through Diao Yinan’s Berlin-winning “Black Coal, Thin Ice” and finding unexpected seams of absurdist dark comedy. You are now somewhere in the seamy offbeat world of “Only the River Flows,” director Wei Shujun’s inventive riff on Asian-noir that gives the expanding subgenre something its Chinese contributions often lack: a pitch-black sense of humor.

Wei has been laying claim to the title of laid-back joker in China’s new-gen pack since debuting with affable slacker comedy “Striding into the Wind” in 2020 (a selection in 2020’s canceled Cannes festival) and following it up with autoreflexive filmmaking satire “Ripples of Life.” Now he brings his wry sensibilities to bear on this murdery mindbender, which he adapts, with a healthy disdain for boring stuff like “linear plotting” and “resolution,” alongside Kang Chunlei,...

Tseng Ying-ting’s thriller opens with pyrotechnics lightning up the New Year Eve’s sky to Yazoo’s 1982 smash hit “Only You”, an uncharacteristically romantic environment for a suicide attempt. This sequence is the introduction into the movie’s key character, police officer Wu Jie (Janine Chun-Ning Chang) whose plans of ending it all are derailed when a teenager appears out of nowhere and starts banging on her window pleading for help. Her car is actually parked close to the popular gathering spot at the river bank, and Wu decides to get out and see what made the teenagers leave the place in panic. It is there she discovers a bloated corpse washed up on shore. Hit by the paradox of a dead person saving her life, Wu chooses to solve the case despite the anguish she is experiencing at work.

The Abandoned is screening at...

The (sub)genre that has been carrying Japanese cinema to the international stage for years, was one of the main components of the explosion of Korean cinema during the last decades, and has given some of the most iconic Hong Kong titles, is not other than the serial killer movie. In this list, we tried to include some of the most memorable titles that include the particular type of murderers in their scripts, in a list, that as you can see, is filled with masterpieces, not only from the aforementioned countries, but also from India, China, Iran, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Without further ado, here are 35 Great Asian Serial Killer Moviers, in alphabetical order.

1. Baishe Srabon

For those who associate Bengali cinema just with Satyajit Ray, it should be a must-watch. A captivating neo-noir crime thriller that combines formulaic genre elements with subtleties for nerdy bookworms. We have two cops,...

The crime film is not exactly one known for its art-house aesthetics, as the frantic pace, the intense use of music, and the occasionally extreme violence are almost always, the traits that characterize the category. However, occasionally, and even more frequently during the latest years, we have seen a number of films that despite focusing on criminals and the whole concept of crime, implement mostly artistic aesthetics, with the focus being on them as much as on the story and characters, while the pace is most certainly slow. The quality, however, is by no means lower, as the titles we have winnowed here eloquently highlight.

Without further ado, here are 10 (and one more) great samples, in chronological order:

10. Breathless

The circle of violence started by domestic violence is the prominent focus of the film with nearly all of the characters going through such experiences. Sang-hoon’s abuse during his childhood...

Festival’s 26 th edition runs October 6-15.

South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (Biff) is launching its On Screen section which will carry premieres of high-profile drama series that will later be streamed on Ott video platforms.

Biff, whose 26th edition will be held October 6-15, said the section “aims to precisely reflect the current state of the market, which is expanding multi-directionally, while embracing the extended flow and value of cinema” and should be “able to present more diverse and higher-quality works to the audience, whose range of fandom is expanding”.

The inaugural On Screen Section will launch...

Winner of the Golden Bear for direction and Silver Bear for Best Actor in Berlin, “Black Coal, Thin Ice” skyrocketed Diao Yinan‘s fame in the festival circuit, despite the fact that it would take five years until his next work, “The Wild Goose Lake“

The part labyrinthal, part noir story begins in 1999, in Heilongjiang Province, when the dismembered parts of a human body appear in shipments of coal in different cities. Detective Zhang Zili is assigned to investigate, and with the help of a worker who discovers the clothes and the ID of the deceased, identify the body as coal worker Liang Zhijun. Further investigations lead Zhang, his partner Wang, and two more policemen to a parlor run by two brothers. The potential interview goes horribly wrong, with one of the suspects killing the two policemen and injuring Zhang, before he kills them both. After getting out of the hospital,...

Korean series “Kingdom,” and “The World of the Married” and China’s “The Bad Kids” were the most rewarded shows on Sunday at Busan’s Asian Contents Awards.

The event in its second year was live-streamed from the Busan International Film Festival where hosts and performers were the only ones physically present. Presenters and prize-winners joined remotely via video conference.

Singapore’s “Last Madame” was named as best Asian drama, jointly with Taiwan’s “When The Camelia Blooms.”

A Netflix original series, made with AStory, “Kingdom” earned three awards. Actor Ju Ji-hoon won the Korean actor award, while Kim Eunhee won the best writer award, one of the prize categories that was not divided by nationality. The show also won the technical achievement award for its special effects provided by Madman Post.

Romantic espionage drama, “The World of the Married,” produced and broadcast by Korea’s Jtbc, and also shown outside Korea by Netflix,...

Iqiyi’s drama series “The Bad Kids” has landed a slot on Japanese pay-tv platform Wowow, a first for a contemporary, mainland Chinese show. It is expected to play out from early 2021.

Where many Chinese dramas run for between 40 and 80 episodes, “The Bad Kids” comprises 12 50-minute episodes, structred as a suspense series that tells the story of three youngsters in a small coastal town. They accidentally witness a murder and then become involved in blackmail plot. Its starry cast includes Qin Hao and Wang Jingchun.

The series is presented by iQIYI and co-produced by Eternity Pictures, with Han Sanping, former head of China Film Group, as the lead producer. It was directed by Xin Shuang.

“The Bad Kids” played on iQIYI from June under its Mist Theater label and has earned a strong critical reception. On Chinese entertainment review site Douban, it attracted some 800,000 reviews, with an average score of 9.2 out of ten.

The fourth annual Pingyao International Film Festival will run as an in-person event from Oct. 10 to 19 in the central Chinese province of Shanxi.

Chinese director Diao Yinan, who won the 2014 Golden Bear for his gritty thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice” and premiered his latest neo-noir “Wild Goose Lake” at Cannes last year, will act as “festival mentor,” hosting special screenings of his own works and a masterclass.

In a video message, Diao complimented Pingyao on being “unique and professional,” a place that “gathers people like a bonfire, with everyone chatting around.” He praised the festival for its support of young talent, saying that it has “provided a platform for [young people] to join each other, to discuss openly and explore freely.”

Founded by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke (“A Touch of Sin”) and Marco Muller, the former director of the Venice Film Festival who serves as Pingyao’s artistic director, the festival unfolds...

“Moses on the Plain,” a film executive produced by art house director Diao Yinan, is among the first notable Chinese titles to have completed shooting since the country’s coronavirus outbreak.

It stars A-listers Zhou Dongyu, who has enjoyed a further rise on the back of last year’s breakout teen drama “Better Days,” and Liu Haoran, the young star of the “Detective Chinatown” franchise. The third installment of “Chinatown” was postponed from its Chinese New Year debut in January because of coronavirus and is one of the most hotly anticipated blockbusters awaiting a future release.

Diao’s crime thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice” won the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin Intl. Film Festival in 2014. His “Wild Goose Lake” debuted in competition at Cannes last year.

On the social media platform Weibo, producer Dun He (“Send Me To The Clouds”) explained that filming was stopped early on...

As coronavirus restrictions begin to ease up in China, film and TV production is reportedly starting up again, albeit under strict health guidelines. According to China Global Television Network, some crews have started to resume work following weeks on hiatus due to the outbreak.

Back in February, Xiangshan Film and Television Town in Ningbo, in the Zhejiang Province of eastern China, was among the first to reopen, with four crews going back to work and at least 50 readying to go back. The administrator of Xiangshan, however, mandated epidemic emergency precautions to be taken on set, limiting the number of gatherings of crew members to 50. Crew members were also asked to take an exam on epidemic prevention consisting of 25 questions, and all with a perfect score.

The news comes as China starts to recover its economy and ease up quarantine protocols, though movie theaters — which briefly reopened this month before shuttering again — remain closed due to concerns over a possible second wave of infection.

On March 28, Hengdian World Studios, which is one of China’s biggest production hub, reopened five shooting bases and brought more than 20 crews back to work. Films have also resumed shooting, including “Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers,” and “Red Sorghum” director Zhang Yimou’s upcoming film “Impasse,” starring Zhang Yi and Zhu Yawen. Production was taking place in Datong, northern China’s Shanxi Province, after shutting down operations for more than 50 days.

Also resuming filming, in the Hada Bay Old Industrial Zone in northeastern China’s Jilin Province, is director Zhang Ji’s “Moses in the Plain,” produced by “Black Coal, Thin Ice” Berlinale Golden Bear winner Diao Yinan, whose most recently film was sleek Chinese noir and 2019 Cannes selection “The Wild Goose Lake.”

Local governments in China have offered subsidies to the struggling film industry. The government of Dongyang City, in Zhejiang Province, offered 10 million yuan (equivalent to about $1.4 million) to cover overhead costs at Hengdian World Studios and provide for the crews. Hengdian also exempted its rental fees, discounted its hotel accommodation, and gave those quarantine in Hengdian 500 yuan per person. Xiangshan also took similar measures to provide for crew members by cutting accommodation and rental fees, and for equipment.

These developments come as production remains halted indefinitely in the United States, with studios anticipating going back to work in the summer, while continuing to shift release dates for their finished tentpoles.

Filming of movie and TV series is underway in China following a months-long shutdown forced by the coronavirus outbreak. But not the whole country is back at work, or working at the same speed.

“We’ve been shooting our TV series ‘Game Changer’ since the beginning of March. We’ve completed all the interiors and now have only one week outside to do,” Wang Haiyi, of film and TV company Hishow Entertainment, told Variety.

“We spent six weeks of lockdown in three hotels, with all the cast and crew, including star Huang Xiaoming. Nobody moved. But we were lucky to be near Chengdu which was not the worst part of the country affected by the virus, so we have been able to restart.”

Chinese state media reports that five stages at Hengdian, the mega studios near Hangzhou, have been back in action since March 28. Lensing of TV series “Legend of Fei,...

After touching on financial precarity with “Sorry We Missed You,” social unrest with “Les Miserables” and refugee plight with “Atlantics,” the Cannes Film Festival put current issues on hold and rolled into a weekend full of girls, gangsters and guns.

As soon as the brute force punch of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Too Old to Die Young” had time to bruise over, the bloody festivities picked right back up for Saturday’s premiere of “The Wild Goose Lake” — a stylish Chinese crime thriller that feels an awful lot like a Refn movie funneled through Middle Kingdom sensibilities.

Or maybe that’s the other way around, because the rap on director Diao Yinan back home is that he’s the most American-minded contemporary Chinese filmmaker… but that could just mean that he likes to play around in genre.

Diao struck gold with “Black Coal, Thin Ice,” his offbeat neo-noir about a...

The followup to Black Coal, Thin Ice, Diao Yinan's blistering noir that put him on the international cinema map, The Wild Goose Lake is another stylish noir/policier. If Black Coal Thin Ice was a cold noir with its wintry setting, The Wild Goose Lake is the opposite- its subtropical setting and constant rain provide the film soaked with atmosphere and vivid colors under flickering fluorescent lights. And it's a beauty, thanks to Diao's regular cinematographer Dong Jingsong. Along with recent Long Day's Journey into Night, The Wild Goose Lake continues the tradition of 'Tropical Noir' of Wong Kar-Wai's work. It starts out with a large gathering of motorbike stealing street gangs in the basement of a hotel. While divvying up the territories, a scuffle breaks...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Writer and director Diao Yinan’s follow-up to the award-winning Black Coal, Thin Ice is The Wild Goose Lake, a film noir set in a southern China of humid tenements and steamy resorts. Yinan based his script on memories, such as the train station that opens the movie, and photographs, like a black-and-white “swim companion” lounging on a boat — imaged he uses to explore genre characters and situations. Double-crossed on a job, crook Zhou Zenong (Hu […]...

Writer and director Diao Yinan’s follow-up to the award-winning Black Coal, Thin Ice is The Wild Goose Lake, a film noir set in a southern China of humid tenements and steamy resorts. Yinan based his script on memories, such as the train station that opens the movie, and photographs, like a black-and-white “swim companion” lounging on a boat — imaged he uses to explore genre characters and situations. Double-crossed on a job, crook Zhou Zenong (Hu […]...

Diao Yi'nan's The Wild Goose Lake is being shown exclusively on Mubi from February 28 - March 28, 2020 in the United Kingdom in the series The New Auteurs.Illustration by Alix Pentecost FarrenEarly into Diao Yi’nan’s The Wild Goose Lake, Fan Liao’s Captain Liu stands before a group of plainclothes cops and a half-charted map. Liu and fellow officers are hunting down a gangster by the name of Zhou (Ge Hu), and the map shows his last known whereabouts: a town in southern China nestled along the Wild Goose Lake. Many of the cops aren’t locals, so the briefing doubles as a warning against the thug and one against the place itself. “Be well aware of the complexity of the lake area,” Liu says of the alien turf: “it’s a lawless place that no-one really controls.” In the sinisterly seductive world of Diao’s fourth feature, the...

If one is in the mood for some highly-stylized neo-noir, the best option this spring is Diao Yinan’s impressive follow-up to his awarding-winning Black Coal, Thin Ice, titled The Wild Goose Lake. An official selection at Cannes, Tiff, and Nyff, Film Movement will release the film on March 6 beginning at Film Forum in NYC and we’re pleased to share an exclusive clip. As previewed in this scene, which places us in the middle of a chase, the director expertly plays with color and unexpected turns of violence to rethink the crime drama.

The film follows the trajectory of a Chinese small-time mob leader Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) who accidentally kills a cop, forcing him to avoid the bounty placed on his head from cops and other gangsters hoping to procure the award for themselves. Along the way he entwines himself with an enigmatic call girl Liu Aiai (Kawi...

A follow-up to his awarding-winning Black Coal, Thin Ice, acclaimed Chinese genre filmmaker Diao Yinan is back with The Wild Goose Lake, a sumptuously stylized crime noir scheduled for a U.S. theatrical release this March. An official selection at Cannes, Tiff, and Nyff, Film Movement has now unveiled the new trailer.

The film follows the trajectory of a Chinese small-time mob leader Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) who accidentally kills a cop, forcing him to avoid the bounty placed on his head from cops and other gangsters hoping to procure the award for themselves. Along the way he entwines himself with an enigmatic call girl Liu Aiai (Kawi Lun-Mei) who may have hidden ulterior motives of her own.

Our contributor Nick Newman placed it as one of his top ten films of 2019, and our review by Josh Lewis lauded the film, praising it as “ a strange combination of filmic tools...

Mubi is delighted to announce that Diao Yinan’s The Wild Goose Lake will be available to stream exclusively from 28 February 2020.

The fourth feature from writer-director Diao, whose 2014’s investigative drama Black Coal, Thin Ice won the Golden Bear at the 2014 Berlinale, The Wild Goose Lake is a hyper-stylish, sumptuously shot crime-drama starring Hu Ge (as Zhou Zenong), Gwei Lun Mei (as Liu Aiai), Wan Qian (as Yang Shujun), Qi Dao (as Hua Hua) and Liao Fan (as Captain Liu).

In the sprawling central Chinese city of Wuhan, a network of lakes offers dead space amidst the urban chaos. The lakes are ideal places to hide, and when crime gang leader Zhou (Hu Ge) needs to lay low, he looks for anonymity amidst this hinterland’s neon-lit hangouts. There he meets a mysterious girl (Gwei Lun Mei) who works for Zhou’s boss and who may or may not be there to save him.

Diao Yinan-directed film grosses $23m, while Giuseppe Tornatore classic The Legend Of 1900 is now on $20m.

Chinese filmmaker Diao Yinan’s Cannes competition title The Wild Goose Lake has had an impressive opening in mainland China, grossing $19.4m (RMB136.2m) on its opening weekend (Dec 6-9).

As of December 11 morning, the crime drama – about a gangster who crosses paths with a prostitute while on the run – had grossed $23.4m (RMB165m), coming in second only to Sony’s Jumanji 2: The Next Level, which scored $24.6m (RMB172.9m) on its opening weekend.

The Wild Goose Lake, which stars Hu...

Diao Yinan-directed film grosses $23m, while Giuseppe Tornatore classic The Legend Of 1900 is now on $20m.

Chinese filmmaker Diao Yinan’s Cannes competition title The Wild Goose Lake has had an impressive opening in mainland China, grossing $19.4m (RMB136.2m) on its opening weekend (Dec 6-9).

As of December 11 morning, the crime drama – about a gangster who crosses paths with a prostitute while on the run – had grossed $23.4m (RMB165m), coming in second only to Sony’s Jumanji 2: The Next Level, which scored $24.6m (RMB172.9m) on its opening weekend.

The Wild Goose Lake, which stars Hu...

Having won the Golden Bear of the 64th Berlinale with “Black Coal, Thin Ice” in 2014, Chinese film has gained the attention of an international audience once more. “The Wild Goose Lake” continues the social realism that Diao Yinan laid out in his big festival hit. His first features “Uniform” (2003) and “Night Train” (2007) already showed the daily life of China’s citizens, focusing on relevant topics of power and identity in the context of the working class. “Black Coal, Thin Ice” dealt with the conflict between communism and capitalism. A symbolic crime story that touches the conflict between China’s past and present. “The Wild Goose Lake” can be seen clearly in the tradition of its predecessors, as Diao picks up all of the previous topics, but also brings his noted visual presentation to perfection.

“The Wild Goose Lake” is screening in Viennale

A group of undercover cops dancing with Led...

Ever since “Black Coal, Thin Ice” won the Golden Bear at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival back in 2014, one of the most anticipated Chinese films for fans has been director Diao Yinan’s follow-up to it. Five years later, we have “The Wild Goose Lake”, which premiered In Competiton at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Synopsis

The story of a gangster on the run who eventually sacrifices himself to save his family and the woman he encounters along the way.

The film stars Hu Ge (“1911”) and both Liao Fan and Gwei Lun-mei from “Black Coal, Thin Ice”. While a a wide release date is not presently known, it has been doing the festival circuit rounds since its French premiere and is expected to release widely some point before the end of this year.

Diao Yinan is the only Chinese director with a film in the main competition this year at Cannes. He’s already a known entity on the arthouse circuit, having won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2014 for his hardscrabble, coal-blackened detective thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice.” Now he’s made the leap to the Croisette with a bigger-budget, more choreographed gangster film.

Diao had the idea for the film even before “Black Coal,” but it wasn’t until afterwards that he saw a news item so similar to his original concept that he knew he had to go ahead with the project. “My first idea — about a character wanted by the police who hopes to give the prize money for his capture to the woman he loves — was overly romantic. It was a bit too sweet and I don’t like sweet,” he told Variety, with a laugh, in Cannes.

In competition in Cannes with “Wild Goose Lake,” director Diao Yinan explained Sunday why he’s fascinated by dark crime thrillers – and why his new film features dialogue in China’s Wuhan dialect.

“Such thrillers are not only an exercise in style; they’re also full of dramatic tension, and when you combine style with dramatic tension, you can easily make a film that’s both good-looking and is an expression of the auteur,” Diao said at the “Wild Goose Lake” news conference. “The social issues that are facing Chinese society at the moment make a fertile soil out of which this kind of film noir grows.”

He added: “In my films and in this film in particular, I try to portray the opposite of a utopia – a space that exists in our inner hearts as a space of mystery and danger but also in the restaurants, bars and gray spaces outside the big cities.

In any film noir, there is The Moment It All Goes Wrong. But it is unlikely you will soon see that moment, or any of the genre’s other staple plot points, staged and executed with quite the slick, dark dazzle of Diao Yinan’s “The Wild Goose Lake.” At an underworld gathering, held in the dingy amphitheater of a hotel basement, a few dozen grimy gangsters are learning the latest techniques in motorcycle theft. Then comes the parceling out of territories in the unnamed nearby city, and a squabble erupts over a lucrative zone. A shot rings out, a brawl ensues, lit by one swinging light bulb and imagined in a serious of punchy closeups: a grimacing face in a half-nelson; a bloodied, tattooed knuckle; a prosthetic being ripped from its limb. It’s a scene we’ve watched a hundred times before, but here it feels electrifyingly new.

An invigorating, poetic, and discretely brilliant Chinese noir that adds up to less than the sum of its parts, Diao Yinan’s “The Wild Goose Lake” can’t help but feel like a mild comedown from the director’s Berlinale-winning 2014, “Black Coal, Thin Ice.” To some degree, that disappointment may have been inevitable, as Yinan’s five-year-old masterpiece tapped into the kind of dark magic that’s difficult to conjure twice. Alas, it doesn’t necessarily help that Diao’s first feature in five years treads similar territory as his previous work, as he once again steers his bleak genius towards the bitter indignities of China’s “second-tier” cities, weaving a sibylline crime story of life and death through a world that’s moving too fast to keep tabs on such things.

Both “The Wild Goose Lake” and “Black Coal, Thin Ice” are splattered with utterly indelible moments of violence and thwarted grace,...

An above-average action thriller set in the snow-covered environs of Baekdu Mountain on the China-North Korea border, “Savage” marks a confident directing debut for Chinese screenwriter Cui Siwei (“The Island”). This no-nonsense affair about a dogged detective squaring off with a trio of vicious crooks packs plenty of excitement and visual splendor into a familiar scenario, and is well performed by a top-notch cast including Chang Chen (“The Assassin”) and Liao Fan. Another example of China’s increasing ability to produce slick commercial fare with broad international appeal, “Savage” opened strongly in local cinemas on April 30 and ought to perform credibly in North America when released by Well Go USA on May 3.

Produced by veteran hitmaker and frequent John Woo collaborator Terence Chang, “Savage” shared the New Currents Award (given to best first or second film) at Busan with the South Korean psychodrama “Clean Up” — a notable feat considering Cui...

The official selection of films for the 72nd Cannes Film Festival was announced earlier today, along with all the Asian films that will be participating at the Festival this year. While there are not many Asian films that feature this year, there are some big names and some interesting titles that have been selected.

Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite”

Going head to head are the latest films by Bong Joon-ho and Chinese director Diao Yinan. Bong Joon-ho’s latest family drama “Parasite”, starring Song Kang-ho and Lee Sun-kyun in leading roles, will screen In Competiton, where his last film “Okja” also participated. Five years after his Berlin Film Festival conquering thriller “Black Coal, Thin Ice”, director Diao Yinan will also be competing with his latest film “The Wild Goose Lake”, which sees him reteam with his Silver Bear winning actor Liao Fan. Palestinian director Elia Suleiman’s travelogue film “It Must...

Chinese films have won a shelf-full of top prizes at major festivals in the past few years. And the country is now making major movies that increasingly top global box office charts – Chinese sci-fi title “The Wandering Earth” is by far the highest- grossing movie in the world so far in 2019, grossing more than $676 million in China alone – but none of that is helping shore up the business of independent Chinese sales agents.

“It is a tough business, we may not be doing it after Cannes,” says Yang Ying, head of sales at Movie View Intl. The company, which represented the stunning 2017 experimental film “Dragonfly Eyes” and star-studded drama “Forever Young,” may instead fall back to its magazine publishing and local marketing strengths.

The problems are multifold: Chinese films have little recent record of scoring with international audiences; China’s sales companies are mostly small and fragile; and recent turmoil...