Touch of Sin, A (15)

Drama

Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.

The critical consensus

There's more than a nod to King Hu's Touch Of Zen as Zhangke unleashes a four-fisted chunk of ultraviolent fury. Tarantino would approve.

(*) Simon Crook, Empire Online, 12/05/2014

What keeps gratuitousness at bay is Zhangke’s controlled style and empathy for the have-nots.

(*) Kevin Harley, Total Film, 12/05/2014

Four stories of murder, desperation and revenge in modern China are brought together as a fierce humanist polemic by Jia Zhangke.

(*) Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 11/05/2014

It provides a brutal, compelling insight into a troubled nation and is told with a fierce sense of urgency.

(*) Allan Hunter, Daily Express, 16/05/2014

(*) (*) (*) Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 15/05/2014

The end result is a tough to watch, but its pitiless outlook feels justified.

(*) Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 17/05/2014

Jia Zhangke's brilliantly observed A Touch of Sin paints a bleak and violent picture of a contemporary China in which corruption is endemic.

(*) Geoffrey MacNab, The Independent, 15/05/2014

This angry, bleak and brutal swipe at Chinese money worship, with echoes of Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino, is a radical departure for Jia Zhang-ke.

(*) Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 15/05/2014

Shocking. Stylish. Historic.

D'Arcy Doran, Little White Lies, 15/05/2014

This is a world of corruption, violence and despair depicted in a manner that not only flirts with, but positively embraces, the cathartic pleasures of exploitation cinema.

(*) Mark Kermode, The Observer, 18/05/2014