Crappy film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The IMDb description irritates me immensely. This is not about random acts of violence, though perhaps they might be the sort of acts characterised as such by any deliberately superficial media outlet. Each of four acts of violence demonstrates one character's breaking point. One shows a personal response to social injustice and corruption; another, a reaction to the stultifying culture and impossibility of a socially acceptable alternative; the third, an outburst against gender hierarchy, oppression and humiliation; finally, an escape from the intransigent work culture. This paints quite a well-rounded picture of much of what appears to be broken in China. It is shot with elegance and edited gracefully. The dialogue rings true and the mis-en- scene is extremely evocative. My only qualm is that the violence presents itself as realistic but in fact is not. When someone is cut deeply or shot in the belly, they scream; they do not fall silently and become inanimate. That's probably a concession to censors but, I feel, is a cop-out.

While cinema should have elements of universal appeal, to appreciate "A Touch of Sin" it's useful to have some sense of Chinese society and history. Many of the elements in A Touch of Sin would resonate well with a Chinese audience, but I'm afraid most Westerners wouldn't catch them. The very fact that dialogue in each scenario is conducted in a very distinctive (mutually unintelligible) local dialect is totally missed by the English subtitles (indeed, in China, the film would need standard Mandarin subtitles!)-- but the issue of dialect and local origins in a 'wanderer's society" like China would have a huge impact on the Chinese viewing audience.Other reviewers mention that when violence occurs, bystanders don't seem to have any reaction -- this can be seen as a direct homage to the great Lu Xun (China's foremost modernist writer of the 1920s) who claimed that his very entry into the world of literature was inspired by a photograph of a public execution in China --where gawking bystanders in the background of the photo had no reaction to the violence happening before them. Similarly, the "assassination at the temple" (first story) can be seen as a direct reference to the famous 1935 assassination of the notorious Shanghai warlord Sun Chuanfang as he was praying in a Buddhist temple (an assassination that was seen as totally righteous and virtuous by the Chinese public at the time). And finally -- the very existence of the Chinese Communist Party, and the entire People's Republic of China -- is due to an ideology that the social injustices caused by capitalism must be solved by violence. (Think Dahai's killing spree, but on a mass scale). If you want to know why the film is not shown in China, think no further than this!!We always analyze Western films within their cultural and historical contexts....to not do so with non-Western films does an injustice to the film and the film-maker.

I found this to be Jia's strongest film to date. The four short films that make up this movie are very much related in that they are based on real events, which makes the unfolding scenes seem surreal, but at the same time evoking great pathos for the protagonists.Going in there are some things to keep in mind. The title and events pay a bit of homage to A Touch of Zen, an older wuxia films, which also featured Buddhism as a key theme. In a Touch of Sin, any kind of faith in anyone just falls apart. There is no love, no happiness, and no success. Dreams are not achieved and even when the protagonists achieve their goals of revenge or justice, they are left bitter and empty. By using real events Jia is sending out a not so subtle message about how many people in China have lost themselves to greed, have suffered and worked hard to no avail. Living standards do not increase due to corruption, one character has lost his connection with his own family, a mistress begs a man to leave his wife, to be beaten up herself while it is implied that the husband is unscathed, and yet another will do anything to feed her child, including selling her body.Anyone who has been to China for long periods of time will have seen these events, or something similar, over and over again and it is the ending of the film that drives this message home. You have only yourself to blame repeated while the camera focuses on a group of blank faces, watching and enjoying a show. Jia is talking to all Chinese who just observe, and he seems passionate here to drive the message home, that they are to blame for how their lives have become. And they need to act if they want things to change.

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.