by Jia Zhang-Ke
GermanChina in the present day. The miner Dahai confronts the super-rich company boss who did not distribute the profits he made from selling the mine amongst the people. Migrant worker San travels home on his motorbike for the New Year and discovers just how handy a gun can be. Yu, a sauna club receptionist in the city of Hubei, is provoked by a customer – and strikes back. And finally, there’s Hui, who is forced to pay compensation from his own wage to a colleague who is unable to work following an accident. Based on four nationally discussed murder cases, China’s most sought-after auteur filmmaker tells in this elegantly woven anthology film the story of victims of the economic upturn, and highlights a society in which an act of violence is the only way some desperate people are able to express their angst.
