CHINA – 2013 – 129 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY JIA ZHANGKE

Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay, 2013.

An angry miner revolts against the corruption of his village leaders. A migrant worker at home for the New Year discovers the infinite possibilities a firearm can offer. A pretty receptionist at a sauna is pushed to the limit when a rich client assaults her. A young factory worker goes from job to job trying to improve his lot in life.

Four people, four different provinces. A reflection on contemporary China: that of an economic giant slowly being eroded by violence.

 

"Epic and intimate, A TOUCH OF SIN finally feels as big and complex, as contradictory and sad as, well, China."
- THE GLOBE AND MAIL

An interview with Jia Zhangke
- THE GLOBE AND MAIL

"A TOUCH OF SIN views modern China not through eyes of exploitation, but ones of anger and sorrow. The cumulative effect could blow you away."
- THE TORONTO STAR

An interview with Jia Zhangke
- THE TORONTO STAR

"Death — brutal, horrible death, captured starkly and succinctly — comes at the end of each vignette in A TOUCH OF SIN..."
- THE NATIONAL POST

"Buckle in for a four-part, blood soaked rampage in Jia Zhangke’s A TOUCH OF SIN..."
- ADDICTED

"A kind of Chinese Pulp Fiction with a political pulse..."
- MACLEAN'S

An interview with Jia Zhangke
- MACLEAN'S

"... [T]here's more on Jia's mind than crime drama. He's making the Chinese version of Gomorrah, using the actions of individuals to lay bare a culture awash in venality and greed."
- NOW MAGAZINE

An interview with Jia Zhangke and Zhao Tao
- NOW MAGAZINE

"Though his challenging portraits of modern China have already earned Jia Zhangke superstar status among egghead cineastes, nothing he’s made matches the audacity or ferocity of his latest."
- THE GRID

"...reaffirm(s) the power of cinema — and storytelling — to help us connect, and make sense, of the unforgiving deluge of fuzzy facts and fiction showered upon us daily."
- THE NATIONAL POST

"an unusually active and brutal movie"
- THE TORONTO STAR

"I’ve never seen a film that feels simultaneously like a gift and a sobering slap in the face."
- NOW MAGAZINE

"...unexpectedly thrilling"
- NOW MAGAZINE

"...knocked me on my ass."
- BLOGTO

"...an accomplished film with moments of violent beauty so dazzling they will be tattooed to the inside of your mind's eyelid."
- EXCLAIM!

"...a long and violent glimpse into the everyday life of underprivileged men and women in the world’s next superpower "
- DORK SHELF

"an unsettling tale of the violent potential that resides in any person and needs only the right environment to metastasize and explode into fatal carnage."
- CINEMABLOGRAPHER

"Roaring rampages of revenge that will enthral and delight your inner Quentin Tarantino."
- THE TELEGRAPH (UK)

"Jia excels at finding the poetry in dislocation and decay."
Variety (US)

"One of the most perceptive chroniclers of his country’s transition into 21st century nationhood."
- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"[A] violent denunciation of the world’s economic engine."
- SCREEN DAILY (US)

“Bristling film [...] with anger, colours, affluence and landscape that jut into the frame.”
- SCREEN DAILY (US)

"Jia’s outrage is the diving force that he musters to deliver a significant change in direction."
- SCREEN DAILY (US)

"Stunning [...]. Brash, daring and often ultraviolent."
- THE GUARDIAN (UK)

"An angry, painful, satirical lunge into what the director clearly sees as the dark heart of modern China."
- THE GUARDIAN (UK)

"Spectacular [...]. Something unique, majestic and tragic."
- RFI (FRA)

"Jia Zhang-Ke's strength resides in this change in his cinematographic style that shows his totally mad sense of mise en scène (superb photography), using shocking pictures with high accuracy, and always surprising his audience with his four main characters (brilliantly played - a collective Award maybe?). The moral of the story would be: it is about violence, attraction and repulsion in today's tortured and polymorphous China. Fascinating."
- PREMIÈRE (FRA)

“A powerful portrait of contemporary China.”
- CINE VUE (UK)

“One of Jia's most radical experiments yet”
- SLANT (US)

“The greatest Chinese director of his generation.”
- BFI (UK)

“The most intriguing and flamboyant film to come out of China.”
- THE MOVIEMAIL (UK)

“Jia is one of China’s most provocative filmmakers.”
- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (US)

“Phenomenal.”
- LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR (FR)

"A corrosive depiction of the New China."
- LA TIMES (US)

"A compendium of souls driven to violence [...]. Influence of Office Kitano is clear and sympatico."
- SIGN AND SOUND (UK)'s Nick James on Twitter