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Cities of Last Things(幸福城市)

✭ ✭ ✭   Read critic reviews

Taiwan, China, France · 2018
1h 47m
Director Wi Ding Ho
Starring Lee Hong Chi, Jack Kao, Louise Grinberg, Ding Ning
Genre Crime, Drama, Science Fiction

A dystopian drama that begins at the end: with Taiwanese cop Dong Ling’s suicide. From there, it makes its way to the beginning, following Dong Ling through the three nights that led to his decision. This genre-diverse noir takes a long, philosophical look at fate to ask how much of our lives are really in our control.

Stream Cities of Last Things

What are people saying?

Kelsey Thomas Profile picture for Kelsey Thomas

This film makes me think that maybe nonlinear narratives aren’t for me. It took me a while to get invested, since I didn’t know what was going on in the beginning — by the director’s own design — but the final third really taps into the emotions. Be patient, and maybe you’ll find the payoff rewarding like I did.

What are critics saying?

50

The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg

As the full picture comes into focus, the narrative can tend toward the trite. The chief pleasure of the movie is the 35-millimeter cinematography of Jean Louis Vialard.

60

CineVue by Christopher Machell

In drawing on a melange of influences, Ho’s film succeeds in using fractured time as way of puzzling together the essential drives that move a city and its inhabitants.

70

Variety by Jessica Kiang

Cities of Last Things has a puzzle-box structure that makes it seem complex and that tasks us with teasing out allusions and associations that a straighter telling would miss, but emotionally it is also simple: Nestled in the middle of this loop-the-loop enigma, skewering the slippery narrative to its timeline like a pin through the heart, it’s a love story.

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