Mobile Navigation
Los Angeles premiere!
The Village of No Return (Taiwan/China, 2017)
Jian wang cun
A local tyrant plans to frame the inhabitants of the pastoral Desire Village in order to take over their land. But a scruffy traveling priest arrives bearing a magical, proto-cinematic device that allows people to forget their painful memories. Then, as the simple minded villagers sink into blissful amnesia, a roving band of guerrilla fighters strikes. Can the downtrodden yet resourceful and clever Autumn (played by Shu Qi, star of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin) save her fellow villagers? Chen Yu-Hsun’s frenetic costume drama is the latest example of the Lunar New Year’s comedy, an annual commercial genre designed to span the Taiwan, Hong Kong and China markets during the holiday season.
DCP, color, in Mandarin with English subtitles, 116 min. Director: Chen Yu-Hsun. Producer: Lee Lieh, Yeh Jufeng. Screenwriter: Chen Yu-Hsun, Chang Yaosheng. Cinematographer: Yao Hung-I. Editor: Cheung Ka-Fai, Jerry Kao. Cast: Shu Qi, Wang Qianyuan, Chang Hsiao-Chuan, Lin Mei-Hsiu, Eric Tsang, Ku Pao-Ming, Tony Yang.
