Sea captain Lin Quanhai [Wang Xueqi] returns to Chongqing after 14 years, six months after the death of his 25 year-old son Bo. He learns that Bo [Wang Ziyi] was shot by the police after a taking a hostage in a shopping mall. Struggling to come to terms with the loss (though he has not shown his fatherly feelings for the last 14 years), he tries to understand what happened.
He is not welcomed back by his ex-wife Yuying [Ding Jiali] who is struggling to run a small clothing factory. His old friend Lao Jin [Wang Kuirong] tries to help him discover more.
Stubbornly Lin talks to people involved in the incident which led to Bo’s death including his friend Hao [Qin Hao], two people he stabbed, the doctor [Fan Bingbing] he took hostage when she went to the assistance of the wounded, the policeman who killed him and Bo’s girlfriend Xiaowen [Li Feier]. It turns out that this was all the pathetic young man’s response to the fact that Xiaowen wanted to break up with him.
Lin slowly realises the impact which his absence had on his son (though this hardly explains Bo’s immature, obsessive and ultimately violent behaviour) but this does not seem to affect Lin’s lack of family commitment. He has remarried with a seven year old child but he pines for his lost family while neglecting his actual one.
The film, apparently based on an actual event, reflects director Wang Xiaoshuai’s interest in father-son relationships, also seen in So Long, My Son. However, both Lin and director Wang seem largely oblivious to the fact that Lin has been a terrible father and is now intruding on the lives of a number of people who have been traumitsied by the events purely to make himself feel better.
The film is well made with the story being revealed just at the right pace, acting is excellent (especially Wang Xueqi) and it provides a gritty picture of the urban sprawl that is Chongqing (often shrouded in smog). But it’s a man’s man’s world and there’s only so much male self-obsession you can take in one movie.
The Chines title is Rixhao Chongqing, Rizhao being a seaside city in Shandong where Bo, Hao and Xiaowen go for a significant trip.
Not popular with a Chinese audience with only 6.4 on Douban
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