News

Heading for release in Asia on January 20, a new trailer for Are You Lonesome Tonight? (original title: Re dai wang shi) paints a properly bleak and moody atmosphere for a Chinese film described as a crime thriller. Directed by Shipei Wen, making his feature debut, the film stars Eddie Peng, Shipei Wen and Sylvia Chang. The official synopsis lays out the story: "On a dark night, Xueming hits a pedestrian with his car and flees the scene. Desperate to escape his feelings of guilt, he decides to approach the dead man's wife, Mrs Liang. "Meanwhile, the body is discovered - riddled with bullets. Chen, the detective in charge of the investigation, becomes obsessed with the case. Years later, all three remain caught in a...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Xue Ming (Eddie Peng) is in jail when we meet him. He’s talking about the boredom of living the same day repeatedly while thinking about how he got there. Deciding it’s better to show than tell, first-time director Shipei Wen sends us back to 1997 to find Xue on the telephone with an angry girlfriend just about fed up with waiting. It’s difficult to tell whether he’s on his way to the cinema late or simply going home when he finally leaves, but the path to his destination is fatefully blocked by a cow. He subsequently turns his air-conditioning repair van down a side street before his beeper takes his attention away from the road and a loud thud smashes his nose against the steering wheel.

It’s a moment we’ll see many more times as Are You Lonesome Tonight? reveals Xue’s choice to leave behind the man he hit.