Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Yashua Kimbrough (jimniexperience) Beautiful movie about living at the bottom of the economic class may lead to random violent acts of aggression - as your only way of releasing the anger inside - , it was close but didn't quite make it ..Story could have been told more visually , with less but useful dialogue , as the cinematography and beauty within the scenes are amazing . But like most art-houses the story doesn't fully add up . -----------------------------------------------------Part 1: A man living in a village getting drained by the coal mine industry reaches his ultimate limit - and takes out everyone involved in the corporate scandal 8/10Part 2: A motorcyclist with an excitement to gun violence ; sibling in an aging family, he "robs" people as his way of making a living 5/10Part 3: A woman is having an affair with a married man but calls it quits for fear it'll ruin her image . Being false accused for being a slut , she makes a drastic decision. 6.5/10Part 4: A kid gets blamed for injuring a coworker and has to pay his debt through checks for the next 100 days . He calls quits instead and decides to fall in love with a sex worker during his free time . When his life reaches a dead end he decides to end it there . 7.5/10Overall 7/10 6/10 Script 9/10 Level of Violence 11/10 Violence Shock Value (Realism of Violence) 100/10 Beauty of the Cinematography

James Campbell (jp-campbell) The IMDb description irritates me immensely. This is not about random acts of violence, though perhaps they might be the sort of acts characterised as such by any deliberately superficial media outlet. Each of four acts of violence demonstrates one character's breaking point. One shows a personal response to social injustice and corruption; another, a reaction to the stultifying culture and impossibility of a socially acceptable alternative; the third, an outburst against gender hierarchy, oppression and humiliation; finally, an escape from the intransigent work culture. This paints quite a well-rounded picture of much of what appears to be broken in China. It is shot with elegance and edited gracefully. The dialogue rings true and the mis-en- scene is extremely evocative. My only qualm is that the violence presents itself as realistic but in fact is not. When someone is cut deeply or shot in the belly, they scream; they do not fall silently and become inanimate. That's probably a concession to censors but, I feel, is a cop-out.

astonkey While cinema should have elements of universal appeal, to appreciate "A Touch of Sin" it's useful to have some sense of Chinese society and history. Many of the elements in A Touch of Sin would resonate well with a Chinese audience, but I'm afraid most Westerners wouldn't catch them. The very fact that dialogue in each scenario is conducted in a very distinctive (mutually unintelligible) local dialect is totally missed by the English subtitles (indeed, in China, the film would need standard Mandarin subtitles!)-- but the issue of dialect and local origins in a 'wanderer's society" like China would have a huge impact on the Chinese viewing audience.Other reviewers mention that when violence occurs, bystanders don't seem to have any reaction -- this can be seen as a direct homage to the great Lu Xun (China's foremost modernist writer of the 1920s) who claimed that his very entry into the world of literature was inspired by a photograph of a public execution in China --where gawking bystanders in the background of the photo had no reaction to the violence happening before them. Similarly, the "assassination at the temple" (first story) can be seen as a direct reference to the famous 1935 assassination of the notorious Shanghai warlord Sun Chuanfang as he was praying in a Buddhist temple (an assassination that was seen as totally righteous and virtuous by the Chinese public at the time). And finally -- the very existence of the Chinese Communist Party, and the entire People's Republic of China -- is due to an ideology that the social injustices caused by capitalism must be solved by violence. (Think Dahai's killing spree, but on a mass scale). If you want to know why the film is not shown in China, think no further than this!!We always analyze Western films within their cultural and historical contexts....to not do so with non-Western films does an injustice to the film and the film-maker.

thefadingcam A Touch of Sin by Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke tells 4 independent stories that culminate in some act of violence in modern China. It feels that the movie's intention is to portrait the reality of a generation that feels confused and out of place on a new reality that clashes modern capitalism with former communism. We understand that, however its hard to accept this is successfully achieved on the movie. Those elements are introduced yes, but... they feel like an excuse for what will predictably come next. The movie is greatly directed: that is its main strength and its worth watching for that, but the structure of 4 independent stories doesn't allow an emotional connection with the viewer, and the violence ends up being predictable and sometimes silly. This would have worked well as 4 separated short movies independently. That would have been powerful. Unfortunately, the theme that connects them is not sufficient to justify the movie as a whole, which is odd since this was the winner for best screenplay on Cannes. This asked for more depth and a more cohesive plot. At the end, the social meaning isn't but a cloud hanging over 4 good short stories that are technically wonderful but fail to go beyond its intentions of being a relevant portrait of China's modern society. Visit thefadingcam blog on blogspot for this and other reviews! Also like us on facebook to follow all our reviews!