Acclaimed Chinese director Ye Lou (Summer Palace) returns to present us a confusing, tragic and violent tale of a wealthy family in Guangzhou. When the chief of a Construction Committee, is found dead. Having apparently fallen from a roof of a building. A young rookie cop is assigned to investigate, was it an accident, suicide or murder? What follows is a nice mixture family tragedy, crime and corruption. We see the evolution of the family that became so wealthy and how the family patriarch got his reputation. This means there are plenty of flashbacks. The audience is purposely misled and kept on the edge of their seat, attempting to guess the mystery. I personally decided to analyse the plot upon leaving the theatre and must come to the conclusion that the story makes little sense. It is constructed for the main purpose of fooling the audience. It works when watching the film, but when you leave the theatre and think about the film for more than 5 minutes. But that's not to say that there isn't anything to enjoy in this thriller. The central performances are very good. Especially the actors that portray the family members did a superb job. The cinematography is also fantastic giving the audience a great sense of geography. This points out the juxtapositions very well. Some of the environments are run down, old and filled with crime whilst others are glamorous and sophisticated. Furthermore symbolising the power imbalance that is happening in the films world. The film also makes attempts at crafting action scenes and this is by far the films biggest flaw. The editing is fast, too fast. Exactly what I hate about action scenes. This is especially a saw thumb because the rest of the film looks fantastic. Overall I can recommend this film for a one time viewing.
Review of The Shadow Play
