The Killing Performance
戏杀
China, 2024, colour/b&w, 2.35:1, 129 mins.
Director: Niu Zhaoyang 牛朝阳.
Rating: 6/10.
Period whodunit comedy, with suspects seated round a table, looks good but is too long and over-twisty.
STORY
Zichou city, somewhere in China, during the late 1920s/early 1930s. One evening, policeman-turned-private detective Man Tianfu (Jia Bing) is summoned by Tong Huaici (Yu Entai), boss of Longsheng opera troupe, to his theatre. Arriving just before 20:00, he meets five others who’ve received the same invitation: Bao Zhongshan (Liu Hua), boss of Helu opera troupe; writer/poet Xie Shucheng (Yu Yang), nephew of gangster Hu Daxia (Han Feng); Hu Jiaojiao (Li Qian), daughter of Hu Daxia; Chen Xiaowu (Niu Xinxin), a long-haired martial artist who works for gangster Jin (Huangfu Boyuan); and Tong Huaici’s maid, Yang Yu’er (Feng Xinyao), who serves them all tea. Last to arrive is Long (Xu Zhe), head of the Green Dragon gang which, along with Hu Daxia, controls Zichou city. Tong Huaicai finally appears, with his lead singer Yun Siyue (Jiang Mengjie), and says they’re all being held hostage in the theatre – by Fengzi (“Madman”), who suddenly appears wearing an opera mask and with a team of gunmen. Telling everyone it was he who was resposnsible for the slaughter of 18 people in the so-called Scorpion League gang massacre, Fengzi gives Man Tianfei until midnight to solve the murder, a week ago at a party in Tong Huaici’s mansion, of well-known actress Mo Lianyi (Feng Keying, Ye Zi), who was his favourite opera singer. He adds that the murderer is amongst the assembled group; if Man Tianfu fails, he will kill all of them. Long protests and, in a shootout between his and Fengzi’s men, he is shot dead. Man Tianfu has less than four hours to solve the case, with seven suspects around the table. Already familiar with the details, Man Tianfu explains that the evening Mo Lianyi was shot, there were 57 people at Tong’s mansion. The party was to celebrate several people – including the city’s favourite Beijing Opera actress, Mo Lianyi – moving from Helu troupe to Longsheng, in a deal worked out with Bao Zhongshan. (Just past 19:00, Mo Lianyi had descended the stairs, saying how happy she was to be joining Longsheng, before wandering off into the garden; but then Yun Siyue, Longsheng’s top singer, had appeared and made catty remarks about being downgraded because of Mo Lianyi joining the troupe. Tong Huaici had taken her into a side room to calm down and then announced to everyone that the banquet would start at 19:30. He had asked Chen Xiaowu to collect Mo Lianyi from the garden; but just after he had called out to her to come inside, she was shot in the back at 19:26. Just prior to that, Xie Shucheng had found a pastry wrapping in his pocket on which was written, in Mo Lianyi’s hand, that her life was in danger. He had shown it to Chen Xiaowu.) By 23:35 Man Tianfei is still no closer to unmasking the assassin. He finally gets around to questioning Tong Huaici’s shy maid, Yang Yu’er. Then, at one minute before midnight, a familiar face suddenly appears and tells Fengzi to take off his mask.
REVIEW
From being an almost unknown genre in Chinese cinema, the whodunit has gradually become a familiar sight during the past decade, from exotic versions like Lost in the Stars 消失的她 (2022) to more traditional, Agatha Christie-like murder mysteries set in contained spaces (village-set Destiny 来者何人, 2019; costumer Full River Red 满江红, 2023). The Killing Performance 戏杀 falls into the latter category, with a private detective called in to solve a murder, and with a setting and comedic tone similar to other period exercises, Thrilling Eve 夜幕惊魂 (2013) and Be Somebody 扬名立万 (2021). Alas, the film falls victim to the same over-twistiness as Be Somebody, as well as being at least 20 minutes too long. But where that film managed to hawl in over RMB900 million, despite having no major stars, The Killing Performance fell flat on its face with only a miniscule RMB8.6 million.
It’s the most ambitious production to date by Shanxi-born songwriter/film-maker Niu Zhaoyang 牛朝阳, now in his early 50s, who’s directed six features (plus a couple of TVDs) the past two decades – including CNY comedy Super Player 大玩家 (2010) and star-laden rom-com Lovers & Movies 爱我就陪我看电影 (2015) – but is probably best known as the producer of a string of budget horrors during the 2010s, including the Under the Bed 床下有人 series. After several years away from the scene, Niu has returned with a good-looking production, atmospherically shot by Hong Kong d.p. Chen Zhiying 陈志英 (shoot-’em-up Firestorm 风暴, 2013; stygian gangster movie Wolf Hiding 怒潮, 2023) and staged by art director Tian Yulong 田玉龙 (Lovers & Movies; Hi, Mom 你好，李焕英, 2021) and stylists Guo Dan 郭丹 and (previous Niu collaborator) Liu Xiaoxia 刘晓霞.
After a confusing intro that simply establishes the main character, private detective Man Tianfei, is a charlatan, Niu’s script gets down to business as he and a group of others are summoned to a Peking Opera theatre in the fictional city of Zichou. The setting is vague, but clearly around the late 1920s or early 1930s, whose period look saturates the film and its characters – all gangsters, grifters, molls and servants. After plenty of byplay among the assembled players, it turns out that they haven’t been invited by the theatre’s owner (who, along with his top actress, is also a “guest”) but by a gun-wielding madman in an opera mask who orders Man Tianfei to solve a puzzle by midnight: who killed his favourite opera actress, Mo Lianyi, at a mansion party a week ago? The murderer, he adds, is one of those on tonight’s guest list.
Considering that a large chunk of the film – apart from flashbacks to the murder – takes place round a table in an empty theatre building, Niu maintains interest for a considerable time, helped by a characterful cast, mobile editing, a lightly comedic tone, and a plot that keeps mushrooming possibilities. The way in which the face of Mo Lianyi (who’s actually played by two actresses) is never shown alerts genre fans to prepare themselves for some major plot twists; and the way in which characters from Chinese opera are used to paragraph the action parallels the device of opera masks hanging from the ceiling of the theatre.
The plot twists do indeed come, but as so often in Chinese whodunits there are way too many. The Killing Performance is still pulling rabbits from the hat during the final 15 minutes, when the film should have been well over. And attentive viewers will notice that one of them is hinted at in the movie’s Chinese title, which literally translates as “Play Kill”.
Comic character actor Jia Bing 贾冰, who’s been taking more major roles of late (I Like You More 倍儿喜欢你, 2023), is excellent as private detective Man Tianfei, alternately commanding and gleefully bullshitting. When given the chance, veteran Liu Hua 刘桦 easily dominates the acting as one of the suspects, a grumpy (and randy) old opera boss.
CREDITS
Presented by Shanxi Filmoon Culture Media (CN), Shenzhen Sure Enough Film (CN), Zhejiang Eastern April Day Film & Culture (CN), Zhejiang Jinzhong Movie & TV Production (CN).
Script: Niu Zhaoyang. Photography: Chen Zhiying. Editing: Wu Xiaodong. Music: Shi Yang. Theme song: Niu Zhaoyang, Shi Yang (music), Niu Zhaoyang (lyrics), Niu Xinxin (vocals). Art direction: Tian Yulong. Styling: Guo Dan, Liu Xiaoxia. Sound: Li Ming, Chen Dongyan. Action: Yang Shuai. Visual effects: Chang Aobo, Zhang Keju. Executive direction: Ren Zhengguang.
Cast: Jia Bing (Man Tianfei), Yu Entai (Tong Huaici), Jiang Mengjie (Yun Siyue), Liu Hua (Bao Zhongshan), Yu Yang (Xie Shucheng), Li Qian (Hu Jiaojiao), Niu Xinxin (Chen Xiaowu), Wang Qingting (Shitou, mute), Feng Xinyao (Yang Yu’er), Han Feng (Hu Daxia; Fengzi), Xu Zhe (Long), Feng Keying, Ye Zi (Mo Lianyi), Huangfu Boyuan (Jin), Wang Qing (Huang, police chief), Liu Jiayue (young Mo Lianyi), Song Yu (young Shitou), Wu Ruochen (child Shitou), Feng Keying (Lin Xiaobi).
Release: China, 2 Mar 2024.