The Shadow Play

If ambition and style were the only markers of a film's attractions then Lou Ye would be laughing all the way to the box office bank, but his crime thriller is so overloaded and underpowered that no amount of gloss can get him out of trouble. Initially, the director seems like he's on to something, as he sweeps us into a low-rent Chinese neighbourhood, chasing on the heels of rioters unhappy with the fact that property firm Violet Gold are about to raze the place to the ground in the name of regeneration while offering little in return. Thoughts that this might lead to some sociopolitical intrigue are quickly dashed, however, with the death of Tang (Zhang Songwen), who had arrived to calm the crowd but ends up pitched off the top of a building.

From here on in things get complicated - although convoluted would be a better term for the action which twists itself into a knot early on and can't get loose. Despite the general mayhem, it is decreed that Tang has been murdered, and rookie cop Yang (Jing Boran) is assigned to the case. Rather than turn this into a standard procedural - which might have held the interest - Lou instead opts to hop backwards and forwards in time as well as split the action between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong but struggles to give sufficient pointers to help the audience keep up. As Yang, who suspects its an inside job, starts to question Tang's wife Lin Hui (Song Jia), their daughter Nuo (Ma Sichun) and his business partner and bestie Jiang (Quin Hao) - we also learn that Jiang's wife Lian Ah Yun (Michelle Chen), disappeared some years before.

This is just the tip of the plotting iceberg with scriptwriters Mei Feng, Qiu Yujie and Ma Yingli apparently determined to incorporate every family-based soap opera twist you can conceive of, all of which makes the film oddly predictable in its general sweep while the detail of it remains virtually incomprehensible.

The actors do their best but Lou is far more interested in how rain looks blazing in the light of car headlights or how a fight scene might benefit from some nice pirouettes than he is in developing character. Yang, in particular, is little more than a pretty face being pushed from pillar to post by a plot that values something happening at all times above ensuring that what is happening makes sense. You could try to keep up, but that will only lead to more of a let down in the end.