MINI REVIEW: Under The Light (2023)
Zhang Yimou's long delayed thriller about corrupt Government officials finally sees the light of day... but what happened to it?
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If there is a director in modern China cinema whose name instantly means “must watch film”, it would have to be Zhang Yimou.
However, he also has a long history of making movies that end up on the cutting room of the Chinese film censors, such as this one.
A movie about government corruption was always doing to attract the attention of the Central Government censor. This movie was first announced back in 2020 and was set to release in the same year as part of Yimou’s big trilogy of films that included Cliffwalkers and One Second.
And surprise, surprise - both of those movies also suffered at the hands of Chinese film regulators.
But this movie, Under The Light, suffered the worst. And with the obvious reshoots and inserts, redubbing and visual modifications done to the film, what we’ve ended up with is not Yimou’s original production.
PLOT
An explosion on a hijacked bus that attempted to take the life of the vice mayor, leads his son, an expert technology officer with the local police force, to investigate the truth behind the attempted murder.
It leads him to a businessman called Zhitian, who has an intricate relationship with the vice mayor, and he uncovers the truth about why his father was targeted.
ABOUT THE FILM
In typical Yimou style, the movie’s visual appearance is stunning, as it set behind the neon backdrops of the city’s night lights.
But that could be where the impressive part of the movie ends.
The thriller element of the movie appears exciting on the surface, and certainly at its conclusion I felt that I had watched a good film. Then I thought about it some more and realised there was so many story lines that were half finished, too complex to make sense or just generally didn’t add anything to the overall story.
For example, the movie attempts to pin a connection between the man accused of detonating the bomb and businessman Zhitian, but it doesn’t explain why that man was initially in Zhitian’s bad books.
We then discover a dead body in a wall who’s supposed to hold a vital piece of evidence that will implicate both Zhitian and the Vice Mayor, but then when we hear the evidence, there is no detail as to why it was worth killing for. It was essentially an accusation with no proof. And that was supposed to be these men’s downfall? Something doesn’t compute.
And I think we know who we can really blame here. I’d love to see Yimou’s original cut of the film - and I hope it still exists somewhere - because I am sure it makes far more sense than this mess that was released.
What are my overall thoughts?
If the Chinese government ever wants their thriller and action films to be taken seriously by the rest of the world, they need to get their sticky fingers out of the final prints of the films.
A wasted potential of a movie that dared to deal with a very controversial subject.
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Genre Crime Thriller
Director Zhang Yimou
Starring Lei Jiayin, Hewei Yu, Dongyu Zhou
Original Title 坚如磐石
Alternative Title Sturdy As A Rock
Country of Origin China
Release Date September 28 2023
under the light movie review 2023 chinese thriller zhang yimou