Directed by Jia Zhangke • 2018 • China
Starring Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Diao Yinan
Visionary director Jia Zhangke’s mesmerizing, decade-plus spanning journey through China’s criminal underworld features a tour-de-force performance from his frequent star Zhao Tao as Zhao Qiao, the swaggering girlfriend of low-level gangster Guo Bin (Liao Fan). Upon her release from a five-year prison sentence for protecting him in a fight, she finds herself navigating life in a rapidly changing, turn-of-the-millennium China—visualized by Jia as a landscape of surreal, almost science-fiction strangeness—as she embarks on an odyssey to reconnect with Bin. But what will she find? And who can she trust?
Up Next in Chinese Crime Thrillers
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Dying to Survive
Directed by Wen Muye • 2018 • China
Starring Xu Zheng, Zhou Yiwei, Wang ChuanjunBased on the true story of a Robin Hood–esque people’s hero who took on big pharma, this rousing blend of comedy and social drama was a box-office smash in China that actually effected change in government policy re...
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The Wild Goose Lake
Directed by Diao Yinan • 2019 • China
Starring Hu Ge, Gwei Lun-mei, Liao FanWhen small-time mob leader Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) accidentally kills a cop, a dead-or-alive bounty is placed on his head, forcing him on the lam from both the police as well as dangerous gangsters out for the reward. Hidin...
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Only the River Flows
Directed by Wei Shujun • 2023 • China
Starring Zhu Yilong, Chloe Maayan, Hou TianlaiWhen a woman’s body washes up on the shore in small-town China in the 1990s, the local chief of police, Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong), is tasked with leading the investigation. An obvious suspect leads to a hasty arrest, ...
