{"id":5119,"date":"2014-10-14T01:34:33","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T00:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=5119"},"modified":"2015-09-06T23:46:56","modified_gmt":"2015-09-06T22:46:56","slug":"no-mans-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/10\/14\/no-mans-land\/","title":{"rendered":"No Man\u2019s Land"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"No<\/a>
No Man\u2019s Land<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nDirector:<\/B> Ning Hao

\nWriters:<\/B> Ning Hao, Shu Ping, Xing Aina

\nCast:<\/B> Xu Zheng, Yu Nan, Huang Bo, Duo Bujie

\nOriginal title:<\/B> Wu ren qu<\/i>

\nChina 2013

\n117 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

One of the most thoroughly enjoyable films in the Berlinale 2014<\/a> Competition line-up, No Man\u2019s Land<\/i> was originally shot in 2009, but then held by censorship authorities and rescheduled several times over the past few years because of its allegedly negative portrayal of the police. After at least three official resubmissions and endless editing and re-cutting, the currently circulating version of the film finally got a general release in China in 2013. Except for its newly attached, and effectively arbitrary ending, it comes as a welcome surprise that Ning Hao\u2019s wildly cynical (and frequently bonkers) fable remains tightly paced and eminently fun to watch.<\/p>\n

A nihilistic neo-Western road movie comedy thriller, No Man\u2019s Land<\/i> concerns the relationship between man\u2019s animal instincts and social responsibility, with greed being the driving force in a spectacular cat and mouse game set on a lonely stretch of the Gobi Desert highway. The action-packed, if inherently simplistic, plot spins around attorney Pan Xiao, a swanky city slicker who drives to the remote desert region of Xinjiang to defend Lao Da, a falcon poacher accused (and, in fact, guilty) of murder. An expert in his profession, Pan manages to get him off the hook, but when the two men sit down to settle business, disagreements about Pan\u2019s fees lead the greedy lawyer to take over the reins and drive off in his client\u2019s brand new red mustang. And while things may have been slightly \u2018off\u2019 from the outset, they inevitably turn sour from here.<\/p>\n

As he rushes back to town for his very own book launch party, Pan gets caught in an escalating cycle of ugly misunderstandings that, eventually, prevent him from meeting his self-aggrandising commitments. And it\u2019s not to say he isn\u2019t trying. It\u2019s just that every one of his more or less ingenious attempts to save his skin is answered with more car crashes, gunfire, high kicks and heavy punches. <\/p>\n

With its engine deliberately set to run idle, the film adopts a blatant gonzo style and mocking tone that aptly serve its underlying philosophical parable about a society which has gone completely off the rails, while pitch-black wit and occasional daredevil stunts ensure that one does not lose interest for too long. Visually compelling and suitably fitted with a boisterous Morricone-inspired score, No Man\u2019s Land<\/i> is, quite literally, a blast. <\/p>\n

Pamela Jahn<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

This review is part of our LFF 2014 coverage<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ning Hao’s nihilistic neo-Western road movie comedy thriller is a blast.
\nReview by Pamela Jahn<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[1079,1066,613,1083],"class_list":["post-5119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-festivals","tag-chinese-cinema","tag-lff","tag-road-movie","tag-western"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1kz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/05\/29\/ten-canoes\/","url_meta":{"origin":5119,"position":0},"title":"TEN CANOES","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"May 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Rolf de Heer's charming Ten Canoes, set among the Yolngu community and billed as the first feature in the Aboriginal language, starts as it means to go on, humorously deflating myths and conventions. 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