Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Leofwine_draca A TOUCH OF SIN is a hard-hitting anthology from mainland China, looking at how social issues can lead to sudden bursts of unexpected and extreme violence. It's completely unlike the majority of Chinese mainstream movies, mostly concerned with propaganda and promoting Chinese values; this is much grittier, more downbeat, to the degree that it becomes completely nihilistic.It's also a fine piece of cinema and thoroughly compelling. There are four stories here in which various injustices lead to violence, and of these the opening story, a DEATH WISH-style effort in which Jiang Wu's sympathetic lead is driven over the edge by the corruption he sees around him, is by far the best and most compelling. The second story has KUNG FU KILLER's Wang Baoqiang playing another baddie with a ruthless streak; the third has a dispossessed young woman who has been generally unlucky in life, while the last is a story of young and idealistic love. Although all of the stories are rather depressing, they're very well acted and directed, and the violence is superbly portrayed to the kind of shocking extreme that Hollywood just can't handle these days.

Raven-1969 "It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates," wrote Hawthorne, yet darkness wins many battles in four murderous portraits from contemporary China that actually happened. A bold and elusive thief traveling along the margins of society, a gentle and lonely heart worn down by itinerant and mechanical work, a fervent revolutionary upset with corruption and greed, and a solitary soul who longs for a family and yet is surrounded by lust, all find themselves separated from society and the love and fulfillment they strive for. Each lashes out violently at their constraints. Filled with intriguing allusions, impressive depth, compelling themes and fantastic stories, I loved how this film seamlessly wound its way through modern China as well as the human heart. Winner of the best screenplay at Cannes.

JvH48 I saw this film at the Ghent (Belgium) film festival 2013, where it was selected as part of the official Competition. Technically there was nothing wrong with it: shot beautifully, and acted splendidly. However, I could derive no underlying theme other than the under-achievers who were the respective main characters in the four loosely connected stories. Was there otherwise something in common, apart from the fact that all four stories ended in unmitigated violence?? The only shooting that was justified, occurred in the beginning of the story where one motor cyclist was threatened by three men armed with axes, but it was just an isolated incident without a preceding story to explain. All other shooters whose history we followed later on, may have considered themselves above the law, justified in killing around for a just cause. But I did not get their ulterior motives, at least not as being strong enough to arrive at what they did.The festival website mentioned "underclass rage" as binding theme, but that is not sufficient for me. The stories in itself are well told and technically flawless, but one keeps wondering all the time what's the point in this bloodshed. It may be considered social commentary, but it lacks constructive ideas or novel insights. On the positive side, we from outside China get a fresh view on life in China as it is nowadays, giving us the chance to see that it does not look much different when looking from the outside. The landscapes and the cities could have been European or American, if we disregard the obvious fact that all the people there look Chinese. But I don't think a guided tour was the ultimate purpose of the film makers.Speaking of Chinese looks: It was a nice touch that we were allowed to recognize the respective main characters throughout "their" story, this usually being rather difficult for us Europeans, having great problems telling Chinese (and Japanese, for that matter) apart; "they all look alike" is a common statement. In this movie we always had a particular distinguishing mark to assist us in following the main character. I'm not sure it was a deliberate setup by the film makers, to facilitate international distribution, but anyway it helped very much.All in all, this film falls short in delivering the obviously intended message that some people cannot stand being ignored or neglected for too long a time, and thus are bound to eventually "explode" in some way. Another thing that also did not work out, was involving me in the main characters, who seemed to me coming from a different planet and acting illogically. On the other hand, we got a nice view on contemporary China, far away from the touristic sightseeing routes, a seldom chance that we otherwise don't get easily. Very well acted and shot as well. All things considered, I scored a 3 (average) for the audience award when leaving the theater. This film ranked 39th for the audience award, score 3.73 out of 5. And the international jury awarded it for "its musical choice and the combination of traditional and contemporary music".ADDENDUM as of December 2013: I saw this movie twice by accident, while it was programmed as part of the Tiger Friends Preview Event prior to the 2014 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Which movie would be screened during this event, was kept secret until the last minute. When it became clear what was about to happen, I did not run away however. It happened to me before that a repeated viewing worked very well to grasp things missed the first time. But alas, in this case it merely amplified my former conclusions. The only change in appreciation was that I liked the first story better than previously. On the other hand, knowing beforehand what was going to happen, the other three stories exposed more inconsistencies than I was aware of the first time. Anyway, the whole experience was not boring, and it still offers a nice view on contemporary China, but that is all there is.

Ilpo Hirvonen After some moments of silence, the master of the sixth generation of Chinese filmmakers, Jia Zhangke returns with his newest feature "A Touch of Sin" (2013) which might just be his darkest work to date. It's an intriguing film of sheer brilliance told through the complexity of several, loosely connected stories about people in agony. While some fans of the director may be disappointed by the lack of clairvoyant lyric beauty, characteristic for example for "Still Life" (2006), others may find the narrative ambiguity and incoherence rather enriching. The film begins with an enigmatic scene at a deserted rural highway where a truck carrying tomatoes has fallen over. A cold sense of brutality breathes in the air. Soon the first characters are introduced and we learn that, in the same way as in "Still Life", "A Touch of Sin" is structured from different stories with different human fates. In brief, it tells the story of four random acts of violence in today's society.Although the stories lack obvious connection, they all share a few essential elements. First of all, they all escalate to an outburst of violence. Second, all of them are tales of social rootlessness and existential alienation. The latter remark is congruous with the fact that in all of Zhangke's films the general aspect meets the particular in a poignant fashion of chill and solitude. Individuals live in their personal prisons while the modernization of the society brings nothing but empty freedom. In other words, they live in spaces that are both private and public where they feel utterly detached. No one belongs anywhere in the Zhangke universe. Due to the complexity of several stories, the film also includes more than one central milieu. However, this seemingly arbitrary set of different settings of hotels and a coal miners' town do tell us about veritably similar subjects. All the spaces are haunted by the same problems. Such conflict of ambiguity and coherence should not frighten the spectator. Since instead of a straight-forward narrative with clear character delineation, Zhangke offers us a fascinatingly cynical cross-section of the contemporary Chinese society which is, on the one hand, characterized by economic boom to whose technological wonderland an individual may vanish, and, on the other, the tormenting but also comforting legacy of Mao. Modern Chinese way of life appears to Zhangke as something diverse -- as something that is in a constant state of change. Like in his previous features, Zhangke once again focuses on the transforming reality, the current flow, and its consequences on the individuals. Although this was already done to an extent in "Still Life" through the complexity of two overlapping stories, it also cast hope in humanity, whereas "A Touch of Sin" is far more pessimistic. Once again Zhangke's aesthetics of cinema is characterized by the elements of silence and emptiness in the images of loneliness and alienation. It is as though everything had died. Only violence is portrayed passionately, all the rest is understated. The violence in "A Touch of Sin" is raw and brutal, but essentially stripped. Above all, violence appears as a melancholic undertone of some kind which reveals the realities of the society. Even if the opaque and complex narrative of "A Touch of Sin" left the viewer speechless and unable to describe what he or she had just seen, there is always something profound to admire in Zhangke's cinema. In his films there is always that certain mood which is quite difficult to be put in words. In brief, it is a mood of emptiness, but also of utter richness.