Lust, Caution (2007) - 158 min

Countries: Taiwan, China
Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Tang Wei, Anupam Kher, Joan Chen, Wang Leehom, Shyam Pathak.
കഥ നടക്കുന്നത് 1938-ൽ ഹോങ്കോങ്ങിലാണ്, ആരെയും ആകർഷിക്കുന്ന സൗന്ദര്യമാണ് ഹോങ്കോംഗ് സർവകലാശാലയിലെ വിദ്യാർത്ഥിയായ വോങ് ചിയാ ചിനുള്ളത്. അവളെ ഉപയോഗിച്ച് ഉന്നത സ്ഥാനത്തിരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു വ്യക്തിയെ കൊലപ്പെടുത്താൻ ഗൂഢാലോചന നടത്തുകയാണ് ഒരു കൂട്ടം വിദ്യാർത്ഥികൾ.
ചരിത്ര സംഭവത്തെ ആസ്പദമാക്കിയുള്ളതാണ് ഈ Ang Lee ചിത്രം, ജാപ്പനീസ് സഹകാരിയായ ഡിംഗ് മോകൂണിനെ വധിക്കാനുള്ള ചൈനീസ് ചാരന്റെ ശ്രമങ്ങളാണ് ചിത്രം കാണിച്ചുതരുന്നത്. സിനിമയുടെ പേര് സൂചിപ്പിക്കുന്നത് പോലെ കാമമാണ് ഇതിലെ പ്രധാന വിഷയം. സിനിമ പലപ്പോഴും ത്രില്ലർ ഗണത്തിലേക്ക് പോകുന്നുണ്ടെങ്കിലും ലൈംഗിക ചാരവൃത്തി കാലഘട്ട ചിത്രമായതുകൊണ്ട് തിരിച്ച് അങ്ങോട്ടേക്ക് തന്നെ വരുമെന്ന് ഒന്നോർത്താൽ നന്ന്.
Verdict: Good

Kaili Blues (2015) - 113 min

Country: China
Director: Bi Gan
Cast: Yongzhong Chen, Yue Guo, Linyan Liu & Lixun Xie.
Chen Sheng is a physician who works in a small country clinic with the aid of an elderly assistant. He is forced to go on a journey to find his nephew who is now staying with a Monk, somewhere in Zhenyuan.
“Kaili Blues” is a very confusing movie to follow and felt like I was stuck in a dream realm. The heart of the movie lies in the 40 minutes traveling shot. The camera covers several miles with tiny details of the objects and it follows every person Chen encounters in Zhenyuan province which gives the film a meandering quality. The director, Bi Gan shot the film in his village and he can proudly say that he actually created a genuine art-house movie. Chen Yongzhong gives a great performance as Cheng Sheng, a man who is lost in between reality and dream. Not for everyone, still, it's a pure example of world cinema. Overall, It's a road movie that has a rare 40 minute-long handheld take and I enjoyed the time I spent with it.
Verdict: Good

Animal World (2018) - 132 min

Animal World is a Chinese adventure action film directed by Han Yan.
Starring Li Yifeng, Michael Douglas & Zhou Dongyu.
Zheng Kaisi is worried about his comatose mother and is struggling to pay even small medical bills. His childhood friend Li Jun offers him a way to make easy money which ends up in a huge debt to  Anderson and statistically saying Zheng need 30 years to pay off the debts.
Animal World is filled with eye-popping action sequences and it's an adaptation of a manga story that deals with a high stakes game. Sometimes, it's hard to distinguish reality and dream, that's the time where clown figure shines the most. The presence of super clown is the only reason why I saw this movie in the first place. The card game was a surprise factor for me and the director explained every single detail of the game precisely which helps the viewer to understand it completely. Overall, This manga movie looks damn cool than I expected and don't miss the end credits.
Verdict: Good

A Touch of Sin (2013) - 135 min

Country: China
Director: Jia Zhangke
Cast: Jiang Wu, Zhao Tao, Wang Baoqiang & Lanshan Luo.
Based on real life incidents, it unfolds four stories with different motivations for violence. First one is about a loner who fights against corruption. The second, third and the fourth respectively follows the motivation that leads to do violence.
It won the best screenplay award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Apart from the theme, the characters from one story reappears in another and watch closely to see it coming. Like the story, the location also shifts from one place to another and the tradition too. Zhangke Jia draws out his characters to make contact with the surroundings and his intentions were crystal clear from the first shot. It also shows some clue that the stories are somehow related to the Chinese Zodiac. Overall, it shows four different situations of violence, whether it's necessary or not that's up to you.
Verdict: Good

Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014) - 110 min

Black Coal, Thin Ice (Chinese: Bai Ri Yan Huo) is a Chinese thriller film written and directed by Diao Yinan.
Starring Liao Fan, Gwei Lun-Mei, Wang Xuebing, Wang Jingchun & Yu Ailei.
The discovery of the body parts of a man scattered across northeast China calls in Detective Zhang to investigate about the incident. The investigation goes wrong and they suspended Zhang. Five years later similar type of murders starts to happen again and Zhang teams up with his old partner once again to hunt down the killer.
Diao's intention is to make a realistic movie and somehow he succeeded it. Cinematographer Dong Jinsong captures the whole story in a unique way which creates a nice ambience all the time. The climax was visually interesting, especially the end credits were shot in a way nobody could anticipate. Overall, it's a watchable investigative thriller and it could have been a better one if it has a good pace.
Verdict: Average