A decade ago, a medical student and a steelworker become pen-friends when they chance upon the same copy of Leo Tolstoy's "Resurrection". Off the page, passion and hatred mingle and two murders are committed, and the two friends part ways. A young police officer starts to investigate, but in vain. A decade later, the young graduate student has become a renowned doctor, and has married his sweetheart. The steelworker returns to the city, bringing with him his handicapped girlfriend. Meanwhile, the police officer can't shake off the unsolved mystery of the murder cases. The last ten years have brought with them great change, each of the characters falling deeper into webs of vice and desire. They must choose the path to salvation, or the road to hell.
Cinematography
Smog-choked industrial landscapes that breathe despair.
Acting
Luo Jin's doctor hides monstrous calm behind surgical precision.
Writing
Tolstoy as murder weapon—rare adaptation with actual literary teeth.
Director
Li Xiaofeng
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Li Xiaofeng spent years in industrial towns before filming; every rusted location is authentic, not dressed.
The film bombed in China but found cult status internationally—perhaps because its moral rot mirrors post-economic-boom anxieties officials preferred unexamined.
CN
