Jia offers a stark presentation (no music, few edits) that discourages vicarious thrills; the violence is startling, not cool.
– John DeFore,
Washington Post,
22 Nov 2013
fresh:
Drawing on four news stories, writer-director Jia Zhangke portrays the plight of workers in the new China. Set in four provinces, A Touch of Sin is humanist critique of the country's turn to capitalism.
– Bill Stamets,
Chicago Sun-Times,
22 Nov 2013
fresh:
Jia is passionate about his characters, but that never compromises his considerable artistic control.
– Walter V. Addiego,
San Francisco Chronicle,
2 Jan 2014
fresh:
In two decades of moviemaking, China's Jia Zhangke has examined the damage of his country's explosive growth with a poetic sense of outrage. With his latest effort, the implied violence bubbles over.
– Ty Burr,
Boston Globe,
2 Jan 2014
fresh:
This masterwork is set in contemporary China, where the gulf between those able to maneuver (or manipulate) the country's economies of change and those left behind or defeated by the seismic shifts widens.