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...a really, really powerful ending.... ....it's got Deng Chao in the lead as supposed baddie.... ....strong movie about redemption and the cost of.... this movie was forcefully edited dued to pressure by government(communist mainland china) and yet it's still an engrossing crime, suspense genre movie. haha...just goes to prove that it's hard to sabotage something that is really really good. i would rate this as top 7 of my favorite movies of 2015. came across it by luck really and decided to take a chance on it because Deng Chao is one of my favorite Chinese actors. i was not the least bit disappointed, the 2hrs. and 20 mins. seem to fly by. short gist of story...3 young men supposedly commit a gruesome crime...murdering a family of 5. then it fast forwards to 7 years down the line and what they are doing with their lives. there is a reveal on top of a reveal at the end. might take a couple of viewings to understand why the men did what they did at the end.
... View MoreBefore I stepped into the cinema, I was worried that this film may be a waste of money and time. But after I watched it, to my relief, I found out it is actually pretty good. It may sound strange to you, but as a Chinese, I don't often go to theaters to watch Chinese domestic films, because after years of disappointment from the domestic film industry, it is hard for me to have any confidence in buying another of their tickets. Most of the time it is American popcorn movies I am looking for in the cinema. So when I come to the realization that "The Dead End" is a good film, there is a little excitement in my heart.My favorite character is Guchun Yi, the policeman played by Yihong Duan. Duan gave his best performance to portray us an experienced Chinese policeman .Yi is a complicated character. On one hand, he is the typical kind of policeman who serves justice with on reservation. Even when Xin becomes his best friend, he still arrested him once he is informed of his criminal identity. On the other hand, before he comes to his final decision to arrest Xin, he went through difficult emotional struggle. Even when he is aware of Xin's identity, he still tries to help him within limit of law.Though "The Dead End" enjoys considerable merits, frankly speaking, it is still a long way from being a classic crime/mystery film. Due to China's strict censoring policy, it is hard for Chinese Film industry to produce a lot of movies of high quality every year. I wish Chinese censoring administration to loosen restrictions on film industry to make room for more quality movies.
... View MoreIt never occurs to me a film made in China can include so many factors in a film after censorship: rape, murder, direct gay culture reference, blood, brief nudity (female) and even lethal injection - the first time ever I saw such a scene in a film.Apart from all of that the film's success largely lies in the best selling book it has adapted from: Macula. Not like majority of the films which for me the director (Baoping CAO) has moved significantly from the original story, upgraded to a higher level by challenging the existing death penalty system in China.The watershed differentiate the book and the film mainly draw from the ending part - =============== Spoiler alert ===================== when the book concluded with 3 Young people being found guilty for what they did back to 7 years ago and conducted lethal injection, the film has lifted the story by making such death sentence as a miscarriage - it's a brave move in my view as the film is substantially challenging the existing death penalty system in China, which is yet to be a taboo but a sensitive topic for sure. Considered the backdrop that quite a few miscarriage death sentenced cases were revealed in recent years, the film has further boosted the discussion on being extremely discreet on death sentence, and even whether such penalty should be necessary.I am deeply impressed by the bold move of Director Cao, who is famous of pushing the limits of the censorship bureaus in China. And he did it again.I won't give it a 8 just because its braveness but also unexpected outstanding performance from the main actors (who has shared Shanghai film festival's best actor awards), and half credits have to give to the author Xu Yigua, a Xiamen resident, where the story was set.To the director, I will say Bravo CAO (you will know what it means if you know Chinese) ! !
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