It
is hard to imagine Jia Zhangke releasing a wuxia martial arts epic. Despite the
hat-tips to King Hu (who directed A Touch
of Zen), it would be more accurate to describe his latest film as a
meditation on violence, offering a challenging glimpse into the heart of a
lawless contemporary China. American
partisans on either side of the gun control debate could find themselves squirming
at its morally ambiguous portrayal of a lone shooter as well. Of course, Jia has never displayed a
compulsive need to make things easy. Nonetheless,
A Touch of Sin (trailer here) may yet prove to
be one of his most accessible films when it screens as a main slate selection
of the 51st New York Film Festival.
Right
from the opening sequence, viewers will know they are in a different sort of
Jia Zhangke film—one with a body count. The
mystery motorcyclist will reappear later.
Instead we will follow Dahai, a disillusioned labor leader, who returns
home to stir up trouble for the corrupt village party boss and the new fat cat
factory owner greasing his wheels.
Instead, it is Dahai who is beaten and humiliated. Eventually, the mockery he endures pushes
Dahai to the edge.
Without
question, Sin’s first arc is its most
unnerving. Much like Rafi Pitts’
criminally under-appreciated The Hunter,
Sin openly invites viewers to condone
or at least mitigate a shocking act of violence. Yet, the consistently contrarian Jia further
complicates our emotional response by implying some of Dahai’s rage might be
tragically misplaced. It is keenly
disturbing filmmaking, perfectly served Wu Jiang’s tightly wound performance.
Jia
then shifts his attention to Zhou San, the sociopathic wanderer who started the
film with a bang. He has returned
Chongqing, but his family is not too sure how they feel about seeing him
again. Zhou’s story holds considerable
potential, given the sense of danger that follows the drifter wherever he goes,
but it is not nearly as well developed as those that immediately precede and
follow it.
The
presence of Zhao Tao, Jia’s longtime muse and now wife, promises and duly delivers
a return to form. Zhao’s Zheng Xiaoyu is
the receptionist at a half-sleazy sauna in Hubei, carrying on a long distance
affair with Zhang Youliang, a factory manager in Guangzhou. Unfortunately, the family of the betrayed
wife discovers their furtive relationship, sending goons to rough up
Zheng. It will not be the only incident
of injustice she witnesses first hand.
When an abusive sauna client tries to force himself on her, she finally
responds in much the same manner as Dahai.
For
the concluding segment, Jia shifts to Guangdong, where a rootless migrant
worker takes a series of jobs, including assembly line work in Zhang’s
factory. However, it is Xiaohui’s experiences
in the local luxury hotel-brothel that will be his emotional undoing. Luo Lanshan and Li Meng are quite engaging,
developing some touching chemistry together as Xiaohui and the young working girl
he courts. However, their storyline
feels rather rushed (something you would never expect in Jia’s films), hustled
to its untimely conclusion before all the necessary psychological bases have
been touched.
Granted,
A Touch of Sin is uneven, but it is
major cinematic statement, spanning class and geography. Without question, it is Jiang Wu and Zhao Tao
who administer the arsenic with their fearless, visceral performances. In fact, with her work in Sin, one can make the case Zhao is the
definitive and defining actress of our day and age. Don’t even counter with Streep. Unlike her Rich Little impersonations that
consistently pull you out of the movie, Zhao always draws viewers into her
films and characters. She is beautiful, but
chameleon like, playing parts that are emblematic of globalism (as in The World) and Chinese social alienation
(a la 24 City). Yet, she is also achingly moving in a
straight forward chamber drama like Jia’s short Cry Me a River.
It
is hard to miss the implications of Sin. Jia unequivocally takes the Chinese state bureaucracy
and their corporate cronies to task for their pervasive corruption. He also casts a disapproving eye on the
burgeoning sex industry. For all its trenchant
criticism, Sin is arguably somewhat
encouraging—simply because Jia was able to complete it as he intended. Given his perpetually half pregnant state as a
former independent filmmaker partially and uneasily incorporated into the state
system, one always wonders if he will still be allowed to make his films
according to his aesthetic and ethical principles. A Touch
of Sin might be something of a stylistic departure, but it is very
definitely a Jia Zhangke film, which is happy news indeed.