Murder in 405 (WCL Exclusive #70) (Blu-ray Fullslip) [China]

[ksosk]

MP Group Buy here

 

Release date: May 18th

Retail Price: 338 CNY

Limit: -

 

BD-25 : 102 mins of remastered film [1080P Full-HD AVC], Region-free

1.33:1

Audio: Mandarin (LPCM 1.0)

Subtitles: Simplified chinese and English

 

[extantsrevenge]

Our Group Buy is now open

 

 

[Darnoc]

looks pretty good- review for this one:

 

Making this conspiracy-minded genre thriller in 1980 must’ve felt a bit like getting away with murder — then again, maybe not, since a lot of its values and its politics are pretty closely aligned with then-PRC Chairman Deng Xiaoping’s stated ambitions of ‘uncovering truth’ and shining a light on systemic flaws in post-Cultural Revolution China. That the steadfast investigators here ultimately begin to question the very authority figures they serve could be seen as a predictor of Deng’s resorting to policy changes over the next decade. In any case, the real strengths of this historically important film are obviously attributable to its genre genes: All sorts of clever transitions, dramatic soundtrack cues, surprisingly convincing fight scenes, Third Man-esque foot chases, and some expressionist touches that reminded me a bit of Boorman. The plot is dense, such that even if there were English subtitles to help out where my Chinese failed me it might be hard to make sense of everyone’s role in it (one retrospective article claims to have counted a total of 96 speaking roles over the course of the film’s 97 minutes), though the redundancy of individuals and unnavigable social order are likely part of the point. Finally, it’s wild to think that the late great Zhong Xinghuo (he plays the older hero detective, who gets beat up twice before he’s finally, successfully abducted by the villain’s henchmen) also had lead roles in two other major 1980 releases, Evening Rain and The Legend of Tianyun Mountain. Not a lot of Chinese actors have had better years than that.