Ning Hao is one of the few directors in China whose films are stamped with a distinctive style. After scoring two hits with black comedies Crazy Stone and Crazy Racer, his new film No Man's Land topped the box office when it was released on December 3.
A scene from the film Photos: CFP
No Man's Land was originally slated to hit screens in 2010, but was initially denied release because censors disapproved of its allegedly exaggerated and unrealistic depiction of the dark sides of human nature. In the intervening three years, Ning, who has been compared to Quentin Tarantino, made changes including cutting some violence and making the ending more upbeat, and the film was finally cleared by censors in October.
The film starts with a story about how two monkeys band together and cooperate to survive in the wild, which is used to illustrate how human society is formed. By casting its characters in a desolate, uninhabited no man's land, the film explores the tension between human's animal instincts and their socially constructed selves.
Pan Xiao, a young middle-class lawyer played by Xu Zheng, goes to a rural western town in the desert to handle the case of a falcon poacher who ran over and killed a policeman. Pan wins the case through sophisticated reasoning, forces the poacher to give him his car as a reward and begins to drive home. But unbeknownst to Pan, the car is carrying stolen falcons and before long he runs into a series of unlucky accidents and meets some unsavory characters. After he loses his glasses and accidentally hits another poacher (Huang Bo of Lost in Thailand), Pan is consumed by fear and guilt, and embarks on a real and metaphorical journey back to civilization.
Xu Zheng (left) and Huang Bo star in No Man’s Land.
Ning's dark, sarcastic sense of humor can be seen everywhere in the movie. At first Pan is a self-proclaimed Buddhist and vegetarian. He wears Buddhist prayer beads and prays for help when he feels guilty and scared. But it is when he begins to eat mutton and drops his beads that he finally finds bravery and his conscience.
Xu Zheng and Huang Bo previously worked with Ning in Crazy Stone, which established a new type of black comedy in China. Both are well cast in No Man's Land, especially Huang, who brings to life a brutal, savage role.
No Man's Land is a gripping, thought-provoking thriller with plenty of twists and turns that Ning uses to reflect the complexity of the human heart. Ning has demonstrated real improvement since 2006's Crazy Stone. His distinctive black humor is still there, but in No Man's Land, it's used to tell a parable about man's ability to overcome inner demons.
A poster for the film
Everyone's a critic
Ashley Wang
22, Chinese
"Both Huang Bo and Xu Zheng acted brilliantly in this film. The beginning was amazing with its western tone and the shots of falcons, which lets the audience know at the very beginning that this film is about animality and humanity."
Fei Shiwen
28, Chinese
"It's an enlightening film though there are some plot holes. But I really appreciate the wild scenery, the desert, the desolate highway and broken car. It's a typical road movie, but is much more than that. Its theme is profound and quite thrilling."
Cai Shuning
25, Chinese
"Ning Hao is definitely one of the greatest young directors in China. I love the way he tells stories. Every character has distinctive and complicated personalities, which resonate with my feelings about society. This film is great.ing Hao has created another new genre in Chinese cinema."
