I’m a sucker for the neo-noir vibe and thank goodness filmmakers all over the world are too. The Wild Goose Lake (2019) is a Chinese film about aesthetics, rainy nights in urban areas, neon signs casting a glow outside in the darkness and bold lighting indoors. But the film also feels tied to a specific place and culture, such as the casual clothes worn on the street by thieves and by the cops trying to look undercover, the intersection with everyday living – a town square dance to Boney M, rubbish being discarded constantly, lectures by operators in backrooms given to hungry people looking to earn. More plot orientated than other ‘vibe’ neo-noirs (such as 2018’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night), the film opens with a meeting at a train station between a crook on the run, Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) and a sex worker contact, Liu Aiai (Gwen Lun-mei), which segues into flashbacks explaining how they both got into this mess. There’s also a manhunt for Zhou with police swarming the lawless outer-reaches of The Wild Goose Lake area led by Captain Liu (Liao Fan). Action comes quick and suddenly; I had to rewind the applause-worthy moment an umbrella is opened during a fight scene. The movie generally would rather luxuriate in people pacing about, figuring out their next move. I was really into this movie, and the ways the performers, particularly the leads, Hu Ge and especially Gwen Lun-mei (who kind of walks away with the movie), made each archetype feel real and human, while also posing as surfaces for light and shadow to play across. Directed by Diao Yinan; apparently people compare this as not as good as his previous neo noir, Black Coal, Thin Ice, which I’ll have to seek out. Definitely feels like it is feeding off influences like Nicolas Winding Refn and Wong Kar-wai in the way it stylises the dark rainy nights and urban streets, how a scene is bathed in purple neon lighting or car lights play out in the distance on a dark mountain road. Rented The Wild Goose Lake on iTunes. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 