Summer of Changsha

The story in this crime drama is interesting and what makes the movie more captivating is that it does not only deal with the crime to be solved. It is like many layers of stories interlacing with each other unfolding and revealing the character, mistakes, feelings of the cast. The acting is real with no frills or dolled up characters - just the way people look like and act like naturally. However, I must admit it is slow. The director takes his time to slowly take us through the movie. If it is paced in a manner general viewers are accustomed to, this movie would likely be an hour in length. All in all, interest, good acting, good story but quite slow.

Watched the film in Cannes with friends. Very much impressed, consider it is the debut film of Mr. Zu as a director. Intriguing but heartbreaking story of love and sins. After watching it, one can't help wondering whether the souls still exist somewhere after all the flesh and blood perished.

I always believe that good films have three layers of expressions. The first one is to tell a good story. The second one is to go deeper into the story to show the sophistication of human nature. The third one to explore the connection between religions and souls of human behind human nature.When I watched the film, I was drawn by its subtle exploration into the relationship between the characters' hearts and their souls.

This movie is supposed to be a crime investigation, it was supposed to be full of energy and speed. But it just turned out to be so slow and spiritless. The tempo was so slow that you didn't even have the patience to sit through it. The acting of all the participants were also in a very sleepy way, even the soundtrack was so slow. I really don't know why the director decided to shoot a homicide case with such a slow process. The guy who played the one of the two leading Chinese detectives was like a bum, a homeless guy who's so hungry that he got no energy at all to investigate the case, but at the same time, as the screenplay set up a romance scenario, he had to act like he gradually fell for the woman involved the case.

Yeah, the summer temperature in Changsha might be very hot, but the cops shouldn't lose their energy like sleep-walking Zombies.

Recommended by a friend, have to say that it is a good story with excellent performance. Quite impressed by Feng Zu previous works, and believe that this film gave him the first big break at becoming a super director. Hope more to come in the near future!