(Global Times) After his deep and dark crime film The Dead End last year, director Cao Baoping has been regarded as one of the "best domestic crime film directors." On the one hand, this is because Cao has been continuously delving deeper into this genre over the years, while on the other hand, this is because there are not many directors in China who have the ability to navigate such a sensitive topic as crime. It's also for these reasons that Cao's new film Cock and Bull (Chinese name: Zhui Xiong Zhe Ye) was so highly anticipated.
The film is Cao's most commercial film so far. Except for the part of the film in which Boss Ma and Brother Gui's greed for real estate drives them to hire some criminals to get rid of the competition, the story barely touches on social realities. This is in sharp contrast to Cao's previous works, such as The Glorious Fury and Einstein and Einstein's criticism on human nature, or The Dead End's questions concerning morale values.
Although still a crime film, Cock and Bull is nearly the opposite of The Dead End. The latter is deep and heavy while the former is happy and light-hearted. There is none of Cao's typical criticism or questioning, instead the film features a dark humor and style similar to Quentin Tarantino's use of multiple clues and dividing a movie up into different chapters. When this dark humor takes aim at a simple rural area instead of the urban concrete jungle, the local dialect and frank nature of the characters make this humor even funnier.
In this pure dark comedy, the dialect of Yunnan Province (every chapter makes heavy use of local slang) and exaggerated body language (especially Zhang Yi's performance in the third chapter) provides lots of punch lines. But what really provides the best framework for comedy is the film's skillful multi-linear narrative.
The story unfolds from the perspective of the three main characters over three chapters. It shows the funny side of a man who has been wronged, the man who wronged another good person and a person searching for a murderer while a murderer is looking for him. These three storylines run parallel to each other, but certain coincidences reveal connections between the characters.
Those who expect a typical Cao film might be disappointed by Cock and Bull, as the "sublime words full of deep meaning" style that Cao is known for is gone from this film. Meanwhile, those who are already familiar with the style of directors Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, the film's multi-linear narration is nothing new.
Because of the tough censorship directed towards topics about crime, Cao's original story, which had a certain amount of social criticism, had to be adapted into a comedy. Yet despite this change to a more humorous approach, Cao continues to make use of highly realistic cinematography and his smart narration skills to present a rich story.
For the domestic film industry, such a sharp mind and skillful ability are very precious.
Source: Global Times by Yuan Dengyu