A Touch of Sin (2013)

Directed by: Jia Zhangke
Country: China

Movie Review: Being an admirer of Jia Zhangke’s past works, I must say that “A Touch of Sin” was beyond my expectations. It was less contemplative comparing to the rest of his movies, bringing action scenes to the screen with determination and vigor, to denounce political and social injustices in modern-day China, always with industrial landscapes in the background and a phantasmagoric desolation that remains in our memory. The film is divided in four acts, along different Chinese regions, each of them being a story of despair, loneliness, and revenge (made explicitly violent). The first story follows Dahai who was the only one to defy the atmosphere of fear lived in the mine where he was working in, when he decided to accuse his former schoolmate, and now rich mine owner, of fraud. The second act follows a motorcyclist who briefly appears in the first story, returning home to his wife and son but unable to comply with the rules of society, becoming another renegade, condemned to be an eternal traveler and fugitive. The third act tells the story of a woman struggling to have a stable life with the married man she loves, refusing to act as a prostitute in the spa where she works. The last story showcases family exploitation and the end of a love dream for a young worker of a textile factory. Zhangke’s cinematic rigor, narrative sense, and firmness, allied to the amazing performances and plot’s significance, make “A touch of sin” an unmissable eye-opening drama that deserves a good reflection.