The Wild Goose Lake

This seems like classic film noir: A fugitive gangster in search of redemption, a desirable woman helps him, and on the opposite side, the police and mobsters chase them. It is also evident that this film was inspired by Hollywood noir classics. But Diao Yinan’s fourth feature, which was screened as part of the official competition at Cannes to critical acclaim, uses the genre to create a dark portrait of modern China, a country seething with crime and corruption. The competent Chinese director, whose previous film Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014) won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, presents a stylized and intelligent work, with immaculate cinematography and acting performances, that continuously surprises from the very first to last shot.