A Touch of Sin (2013)
Figures
Form & technique
- The film's four-part structure depicting seemingly ordinary people committing extreme violence.
- The film's overall visual style, blending documentary-like long takes with highly stylized genre violence.
- The narrative of Xiao Hui, the young migrant worker who ultimately commits suicide.
- The scene of Xiao Yu watching a traditional Jin opera performance on a street stage. → The Alienation Effect
Tropes
- Dahai's shotgun rampage against corrupt village officials.
- The film's depiction of characters moving through vast, impersonal landscapes (highways, train stations, factories).
- The recurring, abrupt appearances of animals (a whipped horse, a snake on the road, caged ducks).
- Xiao Yu's violent stabbing of the corrupt officials who assault her in the sauna. → The Reduced Human
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