People Mountain People Ocean ((Ren shan ren hai))

A Sunrise Media Corp. presentation by Edmond Lo, Anita Wang, Niu Nan, Henry Heung, Han Delin, Alan Cheung. Created by Li Xudong. Directed by Cai Shangjun. Script, Gu Xiaobai, Cai, Gu Zheng.With: Chen Jianbin, Tao Hong, Wu Xiubo. (Mandarin dialogue)A pitch-black tale of murder, corruption and every other imaginable type of human injustice is come to its bleakest possible conclusions in "People Mountain People Ocean." Put in place with a man's search for his brother's killer, helmer Cai Shangjun's slow-burning second feature utilizes a particular narrative vagueness since it's protagonist betrays not really a word of his progressively dark motives. However the story's threads, even when only partially understood, get together in effective fashion within this harsh, formally impressive drama, that ought to put Cai into the spotlight because it heads for fest outposts and choose arthouses offshore. The feeling of a good filmmaker in the helm is made quickly within the strongly assured widescreen lensing (by d.p. Dong Jinsong) and also the calm, unblinking method of moments of matter-of-fact horror. What initially appears to become a ride shared by two buddies on the motorcycle, winding their way lower a mountain road somewhere in southwest China, turns into a chilling tableau that leaves one guy dead as the other, Xiao Qiang (Wu Xiubo), rides off. Undertaking the quest for Xiao may be the dead man's older brother, Lao Tie (Chen Jianbin), because the police read the killer's identity but hit an investigational stalemate. For that taciturn, emotionless Lao, it's basically the most recent setback in the knowledge about China's police force and legislation. He's lately came back the place to find his family's mountain village after losing his city job, because of any sort of accident triggered by their own negligence among his many burdens is really a large debt he owes the household of the disabled co-worker. Partially from obligation, and partially due to the reward money offered, Lao heads to Chongqing and searches for Xiao, simply to run afoul of some local thugs and lose his money to some corrupt cop. Further fleshing out its protagonist's backstory, the film abruptly introduces Lao's ex-g.f. (Tao Hong), who's raising his youthful boy by herself Lao rekindles the connection by delicately raping her, most likely not the very first time. All of this is observed using the kind of measured, lengthy-take detachment that'll be familiar to regular audiences of worldwide art cinema. Yet Cai guarantees we are always searching at something important each frame adds another bit of narrative or mental detail for this portrait of the guy frequently pummeled by an alternately indifferent and predatory society. But Lao is willing to conquer back, as well as in doing this he proves themself precariously intelligent and observant among the film's harsh satisfactions is based on watching him carefully tuck away a bit of information to become used, frequently strongly, further in the future. While every scene grips by itself, the very fact-based script (by Cai, Gu Xiaobai and Gu Zheng) appears to possess deliberately sliced away huge portions of ligament, getting rid of the exposition and buildup between moments. Lao's actions frequently appear inexplicable within the moment but seem sensible looking back, and it is never obvious in which the story is headed, although the resulting disorientation has got the effect of just heightening the viewer's attention. The ultimate passages, by which Lao requires a job in a coal mine where Xiao is rumored to possess headed, signal a literal and moral descent that could help remind audiences of Li Yang's thriller "Blind Shaft," though Cai's film finishes on an even more brutal, nihilistic note. Never cracking a grin or saying much whatsoever, Chen ("The Founding of the Republic," "24 City") is well cast like a guy who invites neither identification nor sympathy, though an mindful viewer can nearly follow his ever-more-devious thoughts. Pic frequently frames him against squalid Chongqing locations where convey a pervasive feeling of despair and rot, offset somewhat by stunning landscape shots of mist-wreathed mountain tops and also the Yangtze River. "People Mountain People Ocean" was revealed like a surprise competition entry in the Venice Film Festival, filling a berth which has formerly attended such hard-striking dispatches from China's interior as Wang Bing's "The Ditch" and Jia Zhangke's "Still Existence." The film's stilted yet poetic British-language title, roughly converted from the proverb, creates an excellent swath of humanity that clearly doesn't have shortage of compelling and infuriating tales to inform.Digital camera (color, widescreen), Dong Jinsong editor, Yang Hongyu music, Zhou Jiaojiao costume designer, Laurance Xu line producer, Cao Wei. Examined at Venice Film Festival (surprise film, competing), Sept. 6, 2011. Running time: 92 MIN. Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com

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