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.
✭ ✭ ✭ 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
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
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.
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.
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
Though it takes a little while for the film to find its footing, this is an ambitious and, finally, also touching new work from Pinoy Sunday director Ho Wi Ding.
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.
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.
The film is at its most arresting in its slick neo noir middle section.
Los Angeles Times by Robert Abele
A surprisingly effective slice of dystopian noir.
A wounded Civil War solider tries to find his way back to his home and the woman he left behind.
In 2092, humanity has achieved immortality. 118-year-old Nemo is the last mortal man on Earth.
A young widow fleeing Nazi-occupied Paris with her children meets a cocky yet savvy teenage boy.
Don't get too close
A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age.
A failed stand-up comedian is driven insane, turning to a life of crime in chaos in Gotham City.
After her brother falls for her gynecologist, Sophia struggles to navigate their rapidly changing relationship.
After a soldier’s wife is killed, he begins to suspect foul play and embarks on a quest for revenge.
When a young woman, Bella, is reanimated by an eccentric physician, she begins her life anew, exploring the pleasures of the world.
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.