Wu Hongyan is a female bailiff in a regional court in West China dealing with women awaiting execution—more often than not, sentenced for crimes of passion. Every weekend, without much luck, she looks for love at the Good Luck Matchmaking dance, until she meets the husband of one of her prisoners.
Cinematography
Severe compositions that turn bureaucratic spaces into moral traps.
Acting
Liu Dan's face does what the script refuses to explain.
Direction
Diao's control of silence—every pause is a judgment.
Director
Diao Yinan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Diao Yinan shot in his hometown of Xi'an using actual court employees as extras—their blank institutional faces weren't acting.
The 'Good Luck' dance hall was a real post-Mao phenomenon where divorced or widowed workers sought partners; the film weaponizes this socialist-era ritual against itself.
CN
FR
