Blind Shaft Movie Review:


Writer-director Li basically shot himself in the foot with this remarkable film debut. It's a gripping and deeply sardonic thriller unlike anything we've seen from China before. And of course, since it criticises the society, it was banned in the country ... and Li was told he'll never make a film there again. The story follows conmen Song (Yi) and Tang (Wang Shuangbao), who have a particularly brutal system for making money from owners of illegal coalmines in rural China.

After sending most of the money from their last sting back home to their families, they live it up with hookers in the city before selecting their next mark, a 16-year-old boy (Wang Baoqiang). But as they find a new mine and start their game again, Song starts having second thoughts. For increasingly compelling reasons.

Gritty and funny, this film beautifully captures the desperation in a world where capitalism has gone mad and people are forced to do whatever they can to survive. This is certainly not just a Chinese story!

And its edgy vitality really comes to life through Li's documentary filming style. Song and Tang's scam is brilliant and hideous at the same time, preying fatally on those even more helpless than themselves to get something from those who have more power.

Li and his superb cast convey this as much through the silences as through the lively dialog. There's a deranged sort of morality at work here ("We'll get him laid today, then tomorrow we kill him"), but in a world gone this nuts it's hardly surprising. Scenes in the coalmines are claustrophobic and extremely tense, and as the story starts to build to the climax, we sense an ironic twist might be on its way.

And so it is, but with a revelatory payoff. This is strong, brave filmmaking ... and it makes us look forward to whatever Li does next, either in China or outside it.

Rich Cline

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