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China, Japan, France · 2013
2h 11m
Director Jia Zhangke
Starring Jiang Wu, Baoqiang Wang, Zhao Tao, Zhang Jiayi
Genre Drama
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Loosely based on stories ripped right from Chinese headlines, four outsiders on the fringes of a rapidly changing China, from the bustling southern metropolis of Guangzhou and Danaguan to the rural townships of Shanxi, channel their rage in four independent and totally random acts of violence.
The bloodshed is fast and brutal — the flash of a knife, a splash of crimson in a backseat, an opening robbery gone horrifically awry. There’s even a little Tarantino in the staging, as when a blood-splattered wallflower unleashes her Kill Bill-style vengeance straight into the camera lens.
Part of what’s so invigorating about A Touch of Sin is its refusal to betray the depth of its intellectual ambition, deferring when needed to generic convention and relishing the entertainment which follows.
As depicted by Jia Zhang-ke, the balance between the spoils and moral rot of murder are far preferable to the debasing rigors of tradition and hollow nationalism.
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
Tonal inconsistency, lethargic pacing and a shortage of fresh insight dilute the storytelling efficacy of this quartet of loosely interconnected episodes involving ordinary people pushed over the edge.
If the final effect is somewhat less nuanced than his previous work, it's a good deal more vigorous.
The people of Jia’s film are mysterious, their reactions and motivations, outside of that first segment in which we get the best-drawn and therefore most anomalous character, are all but unknowable.
There’s a certain pleasure to be had in seeing a revered auteur go off the disreputable deep end, and there’s no denying A Touch of Sin packs a visceral wallop.
There’s a sense that all the thematic messiness is intentional, a way for Jia to diagnose the ills of a country whose economic and social fabric is wilting under the effects of rapid modernization.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
[A] stately and ambitious ensemble drama.
Village Voice by Stephanie Zacharek
In A Touch of Sin, Jia is attuned to, and saddened by, the violence he sees creeping through his country, caused at least partly by the ever-widening disparity between rich and poor. He ends on a note that's more haunting than hopeful.
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