COCK AND BULL is a low key crime film from mainland China, shot well enough and with a quirky enough, blackly comic tone to keep you watching even if the running time is a bit on the lengthy side. The story follows an inept assassin as he tracks down his latest victim in a run-down industrialised landscape, only to end up killing the wrong man. The story subsequently develops, following three separate characters through an absurd situation. There are some Tarantino-style quirks and twists in the non-linear narrative which reminded me of PULP FICTION, but the photography is good and the set-pieces engaging. The three main actors also work hard to invest you in their unlikely characters, and it's one of those films which becomes more involving the longer it goes on.
5 Reviews
Insights into capitalist China
jim-man25 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Cock and Bull (2016)
To be commended for rising above the standard cop and robber genre. Rashomon-style, the film follows three parallel stories that converge.
The first protagonist is the tow truck driver (a country bumpkin) who is falsely accused of murder. Enraged by the suspicions of some of his fellow villagers, the mechanic pursues the suspected murderer.
The audience gets a hilarious look at the crude methods employed by the bumpkin, and villagers. At the same time, the film offers a commentary about the moral center of rural society.
The second protagonist is the suspected murderer. Turns out that the young man (from the city) is merely a thief. He took the murdered man's motorbike. He gets a brutal beating from the real murderer who tried to recover his jacket left on the bike.
The real murderer is a surprise. He is a be-spectacle salary-man with some education. Yet, he accepts a job to commit murder. He kills easily, but it is the wrong man. After that, he commits more violence as he seeks to erase his mistakes.
In his final act, the unlikely killer explains his backstory as the police surround him. Its a tale of the brutal life in the city.
I enjoyed the film. Besides the non-linear story telling, the film is also a critique of capitalist China today.
That said, the film was not perfect. In the latter part of the movie, there was a lot of violence mixed with foolery. IMO, this diffused the impact. Though the Chinese audience may have welcomed the comic relief.
To be commended for rising above the standard cop and robber genre. Rashomon-style, the film follows three parallel stories that converge.
The first protagonist is the tow truck driver (a country bumpkin) who is falsely accused of murder. Enraged by the suspicions of some of his fellow villagers, the mechanic pursues the suspected murderer.
The audience gets a hilarious look at the crude methods employed by the bumpkin, and villagers. At the same time, the film offers a commentary about the moral center of rural society.
The second protagonist is the suspected murderer. Turns out that the young man (from the city) is merely a thief. He took the murdered man's motorbike. He gets a brutal beating from the real murderer who tried to recover his jacket left on the bike.
The real murderer is a surprise. He is a be-spectacle salary-man with some education. Yet, he accepts a job to commit murder. He kills easily, but it is the wrong man. After that, he commits more violence as he seeks to erase his mistakes.
In his final act, the unlikely killer explains his backstory as the police surround him. Its a tale of the brutal life in the city.
I enjoyed the film. Besides the non-linear story telling, the film is also a critique of capitalist China today.
That said, the film was not perfect. In the latter part of the movie, there was a lot of violence mixed with foolery. IMO, this diffused the impact. Though the Chinese audience may have welcomed the comic relief.
A worthy interpretation - Rashomon once again comes to life
shide_8516 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
End notes contains spoilers (nothing from the actual plot but regarding how the movie is built).
Pretext: If you are a fan of crime/thriller this is highly recommended. This is an interpretation of Rashomon of Akira Kurosawa (which is the person that Sergio Leone and a few other productions of Westerns and a lot of other movies have copied since) and his movie Rashomon.
In short: Brings back Rashomon with strength, there have been tries earlier and with a lot larger budgets (one example being Vantage Point 2008), this is simply better. 3 perspectives on a crime and on cause and events, three stories unfold and in the end - what is there? Realistic, with one comedic element breaking up the slow paced movie with dead on accuracy.
In longer: Cinematography is average, what shines here is the editing - which is above average but not perfect (one example being a cut mid-scene early on during a chase). However it is suitable to the storyline depicted - as different environments are shown so does partially the type of shots (actively adapting the cinematography without overdoing it). The simplicity in act changes stands out (keeping effects simple when that is in line with the story), if something flashy had been used it would have killed the impression of the subtle evolution of the plot line. The acting is good (with less than a handful of weaker points), in the start there are a few moments of overacting but as the movie moves on the acting is pretty much solid throughout. And finally the characters are also given time to grow (as they should when the movie circles around perception of cause and events) which with solid actors really brings it up a notch. Because of the song and showing outtakes during the credits i almost rated this one star lower. It definitively weakend my impression of the movie.
Pro's Editing Character development Acting Cinematography A worthy interpretation.
Con's A few momentary mistakes Song's son; Tao's (Wang Yunhui) crying near the end should have been skipped (edited out) Ending song (way too upbeat) & outtakes during credits - spoiled the impression quite a bit (a really bad call in my book)
End notes: Although it carries another message and doesn't have an open ending it gives you a sentiment not often seen in movies in these days of widespread fascism.
For those who wanted to see Rashomon end differently i strongly recommend watching this movie.
Pretext: If you are a fan of crime/thriller this is highly recommended. This is an interpretation of Rashomon of Akira Kurosawa (which is the person that Sergio Leone and a few other productions of Westerns and a lot of other movies have copied since) and his movie Rashomon.
In short: Brings back Rashomon with strength, there have been tries earlier and with a lot larger budgets (one example being Vantage Point 2008), this is simply better. 3 perspectives on a crime and on cause and events, three stories unfold and in the end - what is there? Realistic, with one comedic element breaking up the slow paced movie with dead on accuracy.
In longer: Cinematography is average, what shines here is the editing - which is above average but not perfect (one example being a cut mid-scene early on during a chase). However it is suitable to the storyline depicted - as different environments are shown so does partially the type of shots (actively adapting the cinematography without overdoing it). The simplicity in act changes stands out (keeping effects simple when that is in line with the story), if something flashy had been used it would have killed the impression of the subtle evolution of the plot line. The acting is good (with less than a handful of weaker points), in the start there are a few moments of overacting but as the movie moves on the acting is pretty much solid throughout. And finally the characters are also given time to grow (as they should when the movie circles around perception of cause and events) which with solid actors really brings it up a notch. Because of the song and showing outtakes during the credits i almost rated this one star lower. It definitively weakend my impression of the movie.
Pro's Editing Character development Acting Cinematography A worthy interpretation.
Con's A few momentary mistakes Song's son; Tao's (Wang Yunhui) crying near the end should have been skipped (edited out) Ending song (way too upbeat) & outtakes during credits - spoiled the impression quite a bit (a really bad call in my book)
End notes: Although it carries another message and doesn't have an open ending it gives you a sentiment not often seen in movies in these days of widespread fascism.
For those who wanted to see Rashomon end differently i strongly recommend watching this movie.
The Wrong Victim
boblipton24 September 2016
An automobile mechanic is suspected of committing a murder. As he begins to investigate the murder to clear himself, the audience is also given the perspective of another suspect and the actual murder.
This murder mystery is given a Quentin Tarrantino handling, as the point of view shifts and the characters keep running into each other. It is a potentially very interesting handling of a standard film-noir. However, although it shows the underbelly of the events well enough, the constantly changing focus makes it difficult for the viewer to keep track of his own impressions of the matter. Neither are any of the three main characters particularly interesting (or, in a Tarantino sense) quirky enough to command our intention, nor do any of them offer a compelling moral center to the piece. While the situation is interesting enough to keep you watching to the end, there is never any sense of accomplishment or relief, except that it is over.
This murder mystery is given a Quentin Tarrantino handling, as the point of view shifts and the characters keep running into each other. It is a potentially very interesting handling of a standard film-noir. However, although it shows the underbelly of the events well enough, the constantly changing focus makes it difficult for the viewer to keep track of his own impressions of the matter. Neither are any of the three main characters particularly interesting (or, in a Tarantino sense) quirky enough to command our intention, nor do any of them offer a compelling moral center to the piece. While the situation is interesting enough to keep you watching to the end, there is never any sense of accomplishment or relief, except that it is over.
What's wrong with this supposedly good movie
MovieIQTest11 August 2019
1) Bad screenplay, messy and sometimes clueless.
2) Bad editing. But the worst came from
3) The heavily accented localized Chinese dialect is a fatal flaw of this actually not bad movie. I don't think most of the Chinese would be able to understand what the darn dialog speaking between or among the characters unless he or she is luckily from that region of China. The absurd English subtitles could only do little to help understanding what's going on in this movie, because even the subtitles contributor(s) didn't understand what's really going on. So all he (or they?) could translate were "Mobile phone vibrating....crying loudly..." Well, these are not subtitles, but only provided as CC for the hearing aid. Since the dialog so hard to understand, so most of the time, it's like a guessing game to the audiences who got to translate for themselves and interpret by the on-going storyline or scenarios, but it's not easy as you could achieve. Dialog that even typical Chinese couldn't understand, added up the lousy editing and the clueless directing, all we could do was just followed the guy's desperate search of the murderer. He's guessing, we're guessing too. And most of the time, we just didn't know what they really talked about.
This is a quite interesting WHODUNIT movie. The usual suspect is an unjustified ordinary guy who's easily been framed and becomes the easy victim for the police to solve and close the murder case. "I swear I didn't do it!" in China is a useless protest. What make this film even more absurd is the suspect has to prove his innocence in two days by finding the real murderer himself. This scenario is even more stupid and impossible when the murder case happened in China. The suspect may already be cuffed first and locked up in jail, "Guilty until proved innocent" is the modern Chinese legal system, otherwise there should be so many innocent but politically incorrect citizens sentenced to long jail times.
This is a quite interesting WHODUNIT movie. The usual suspect is an unjustified ordinary guy who's easily been framed and becomes the easy victim for the police to solve and close the murder case. "I swear I didn't do it!" in China is a useless protest. What make this film even more absurd is the suspect has to prove his innocence in two days by finding the real murderer himself. This scenario is even more stupid and impossible when the murder case happened in China. The suspect may already be cuffed first and locked up in jail, "Guilty until proved innocent" is the modern Chinese legal system, otherwise there should be so many innocent but politically incorrect citizens sentenced to long jail times.
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