Speechless

Excellent suspenseful film is worth a look.
An unidentified young European man is found on a Chinese countryside riverbank, naked, and seemingly unable (or unwilling) to communicate. He is taken to a hospital, where no physical reason for his silence is found, and it is decided to send him to a mental asylum. Jiang, n orderly at the hospital, senses that the patient isn't crazy but just troubled, and takes off with the young man, hoping to get him to open up about his past. One clue comes when Jiang spots him calling a young Chinese woman on his cell phone, just to hear her voice. Looking into their relationship, Jiang eventually discovers the devastating event that apparently caused him to withdraw from life.

This 2012 feature is an excellent suspense-filled story, with capable acting and direction, definitely worth a look. Has been featured at several international film festivals. DVD dialogue is in Mandarin with English subtitles, with extras including an interview with director Simon Chung. Not rated,...

Not a suspense thriller, but low key intrigue
This film lacks a certain polish and luster. While mildly entertaining and captivating, I never really got caught up in the narrative. The pacing of the film is a little too slow and never seems to pick up steam when it should. Usually a suspense film has a point when loose strands of the narrative are drawn together and the hidden elements of the plot revealed. The film's pace picks up and so do the emotions of the viewer as the dialectic of mystery graduates to revelation and the story becomes complete. This emotional elevation never really happens in the film. Though the story is believable and the ending logical, mediocre writing and gaps in the plot, which an alert viewer can bridge, slow down the action producing a lethargy in the viewing experience. The intrigues in the characters' relations is what drive the suspense, but the director uses largely inexperienced actors who never seem to create the necessary tension between themselves, and his choice of an oddly saccharine...

Worlds apart; hearts together
A young European man is found naked and mute in the Chinese countryside, then is taken by the police to a hospital, where he befriends an orderly who slowly uncovers the truth of his past. Interesting story with great emphasis on the characters.

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