Released: 2019 Viewed: February 2020
Two strangers meet in the driving rain outside a train station (shot in Wuhan), He, Zhou Zenong [Hu Ge], is a criminal on the run from the law, while she, Liu Ai’ai [Gui Lunmei], is a ‘bathing beauty’ (aka prostitute) who normally works at Wild Goose Lake (the Chinese title is the more prosaic but more accurate Meeting at South Station). In classic noir style, the film then flashes back to explain how they come to be there.
After a shootout between rival criminal gangs, Zenong mistakenly shot a policeman and is now on the run. He wants to contact his estranged, wife Yang Shijun [Wan Qian], and gets in touch with a criminal associate to locate her. He, in turn, puts one of his girls (Ai’ai) on to the task.
The first 20 minutes is very unlike director Diao Yinan’s previous films with gang fights and motorcycle chases set against a backdrop of garish colours. But then the pace slows down and the tone becomes more engaged. Zenong is being hunted not just by the police but also by his former criminal allies and enemies. But do his allies want to help him or hand him over for the 300,000 RMB reward? Thus a tale of cross and double cross ensues.
The film looks great and there are a number of striking sequences. It does not look like a typical Chinese film and scenes in a run-down tenement look much more reminiscent of a Hong Kong or Taiwan movie. But ultimately Wild Goose Lake is much less successful dramatically than Diao’s last film – Black Coal, Thin Ice.
The story of a man on the run is, of course, not original at all and the director does little to bring new life to it. Zenong is very much a stock ‘fugitive’ character and Hu Ge does not help by being entirely wooden. While the role of the prostitute, who may (or may not) be prepared to help, is also quite standard, in contrast Gui Lunmei (also in Black Coal) brings life to the role of Ai’ai even if her character could have been much more developed. Wan Qian is also good as the wife but her character gets even less development and much less screen time.
One might have thought that the decision to have all the characters speak in an incomprehensible Wuhan dialect would not have helped the film commercially. However, it has made over twice what Black Coal brought in and is a very respectable 61st in the 2019 Box Office. The film also scores a surprisingly positive 7.4 on Douban.
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