Malice

恶意

China, 2025, colour, 2.35:1, 99 mins.

Directors: Lai Mukuan 来牧宽, Yao Wenyi 姚文逸.

Rating: 7/10.

Mainland actress Zhang Xiaofei, as a conflicted journalist in the online media world, anchors this moody crime drama, which is weakened by an over-stuffed script.

STORY

Binjiang city, somewhere in China, 7 Sep 2019. Yang Jingyou (Yang Enyou), 10, a cancer patient in an ICU on the fifth floor of No. 3 People’s Hospital, steals out of her room during the evening, pursued by her nurse Li Yue (Chen Yusi) who has noticed she has gone missing. Also alerted is the girl’s mother, You Qian, who is in the hospital. She runs to the roof, where she sees Yang Jingyou and Li Yue fall off the building. The two women are barely alive when police detective Liang Guan (Huang Xuan) arrives. Separately, his wife, hard-nosed journalist Ye Pan (Zhang Xiaofei), manages to gain access to the hospital building, where the hysterical You Qian tells her that Li Yue pushed Yang Jingyou off the building. Ye Pan is editor-in-chief at an online TV station, where her show, Evening Talk 夜话, helped make Yang Jingyou famous two years earlier; known as The Cancer-Fighting Angel 抗癌小天使, Yang Jingyou currently has 3.5 million online fans. Back at the office, Ye Pan comes under heavy pressure from TV station owner Xiao Baoqian (Zhang Zixian), whose only interest is getting online hits, to go public with You Qian’s accusation. But Ye Pan sticks to her rule of only following the facts and decides to wait for hard evidence. Office intern Chenchen (Li Gengxi) discovers that the security camera on the hospital roof wasn’t working, so there is no visual evidence of a crime having been comitted. However, Ye Pan agrees to release online some audio that Chenchen secretly recorded of the police discussing the camera problem. Liang Guan becomes angry at Ye Pan for doing this. Meanwhile, Ye Pan and Chenchen gain access to the hospital and question some staff and patients about the nurse, 22-year-old Li Yue. They hear that Li Yue had been sacked the day of the event, and that many of the staff didn’t like her, as she was the mistress of Meng Hao, head of surgical oncology, whose wife had caused a stir one day by publically announcing the fact at the hospital. Ye Pan and Chenchen record an interview with You Qian, who repeats her accusation that Li Yue deliberately killed Yang Jingyou, who had photographed Li Yue and Meng Yao together. Ye Pan’s team discovers Li Yue had a reputation as a party girl, so Ye Pan orders them to post the You Qian interview. The online media world goes into meltdown, but Li Yue’s mother (Ailiya) denies her daughter is a murderer. Ye Pan’s team tracks down one of Li Yue’s schoolfriends, an online personality known as Lord Dao (Li Jiuxiao), who goes on Ye Pan’s show and defends Li Yue, saying that even a half-truth is as destructive as a lie. He adds that You Qian may be lying – something that, unknown to him, the police’s growing evidence supports. Humiliated on her own TV show, Ye Pan realises she’s broken her own rule of only following the facts and not getting involved in trials by media. Her past history – by which she earned the nickname “the killer journalist” 杀人记者 – comes back to haunt her. And then her team discovers new evidence that takes things in a completely new direction.

REVIEW

A hard-nosed journalist finds her principles coming under pressure in the dog-eat-dog world of online media in Malice 恶意, a mixture of whodunit and personal/ethical drama anchored by an excellent performance by Zhang Xiaofei 张小斐, 39, who’s finally getting the roles she deserves (Hi, Mom, 2021 你好，李焕英; Five Hundred Miles 交换人生, 2023; YOLO 热辣滚烫, 2024). Though it’s always very watchable, the film is hampered by an over-stuffed script that needed a couple more re-writes to realise its full potential, as well as a clear editorial eye to decide which of its many strands to focus on. No doubt helped by the name of Chen Sicheng 陈思诚 (Detective Chinatown series) as co-writer and creative producer 监制, it took RMB254 million this summer, okay for such a non-action crime drama.

Born in northeast China, Zhang initially studied dance before switching to acting, and then concentrated on comedy under veteran stand-up comedian Feng Gong 冯巩, in whose Happiness around the Corner 幸福马上来(2018) she had a small role as the assistant of Feng’s character. But it’s only been under the production umbrella of well-known comedienne/director Jia Ling 贾玲 (another of Feng’s pupils) that Zhang has flourished, especially with her leading role in mega-hit Hi, Mom. Malice shows her spreading her wings in a dramatic role with no hint of comedy – and succeeding, despite a hit-and-miss script.

The two co-directors both have links with Chen. Lai Mukuan 来牧宽 (aka Lai He 来赫) has worked in all areas of film and TV (including the online spin-off series Detective Chinatown 唐人街探案, 2020), and made his first major theatrical film under his real name with Revival (2023), an atmospheric whodunit flawed only by an over-cooked script. Yao Wenyi 姚文逸, 35, worked on the first two Detective Chinatown features and makes his theatrical feature debut with Malice. Neither of the two co-writers appear to have had any prior links with Chen, though Chengdu-born Li Xiangxing 李翔星, 34, previously worked with Yao on two online movies. Zhang Zhen 张臻 was involved with several online dramas before co-writing her first theatrical feature, the street-dancing movie One and Only 热烈 (2023), starring Huang Bo 黄渤. The screenplay of Malice is based on the novel Who Is Killing Her? 恶女阿尤 by Xian Liang 咸良, a writer in his mid-30s, that was originally serialised by online publishing company One Is All ONE · 一个, founded by writer/film-maker/rally driver Han Han 韩寒 (Duckweed 乘风破浪, 2017; Pegasus 飞驰人生, 2019).

The film starts like a regular crime drama as two women – a 10-year-old cancer victim who’s escaped from her ICU and a young nurse who runs after her – fall off the roof of a hospital one night. The girl’s hysterical mother claims to have seen them fall and says the nurse deliberately killed her daughter. Ye Pan (Zhang Xiaofei), editor-in-chief at an online TV station, gets on the case but holds back from broadcasting the mother’s accusation until firm evidence emerges. But gradually, as her team uncovers more evidence and pressure grows from her click-obsessed boss, she starts to bend her own rules and, after a disastrous interview on her own evening show, her past history rebounds on her like a boomerang. (This aspect of the film, if seen simply as one woman’s ethical dilemma, is nicely captured in another poster, see left.)

On the one hand, Malice is a mystery in which there are multiple possible solutions (murder? suicide? accident?); on the other, it’s a study of a veteran journalist who tries to stick to her hard-earned guns but becomes a victim of the very world in which she operates – online media, with all its lies, half-truths, gossip-mongering, clickbait, cyber-bullying and the rest. In its second half, the film explicitly condemns such things without coming down really hard on a world in which everything is recorded, stored and traceable, and society has been groomed to be in thrall to it – a virtually impossible task nowadays for a film without alienating its core youth audience. (Critiques of the destructive power of modern media go back to the superb Caught in the Web 搜索, 2012, directed by Chen Kaige 陈凯歌, though that now seems to belong to a different era.)

Ye Pan and her team’s investigation essentially takes over the role of the police in the film, which is reduced to occasional scenes showing how things are going. That’s fine, but the script throws in another curved ball: Ye Pan is also married to the detective in charge of the case, who occasionally registers his displeasure when she starts revealing things online. The couple also appear to be in the process of divorcing, though it’s hardly discussed and their relationship isn’t portrayed in any depth – a shame, as Zhang and the experienced Huang Xuan 黄轩 (underplaying as usual) have good on-screen chemistry.

It’s typical of the untidiness of the script, which tries to pack too much into a single 100-minute movie. As a result, Malice is a disappointment as a crime drama and under-performs as a study of the film’s title. As the third act starts, around the hour mark, it also takes on a more frantic, potboiler tone that threatens to derail the whole enterprise. Luckily, an extended coda, lasting almost 20 minutes, sets things back on track, with more thoughtful treatment of the film’s ethical questions, an unexpected character twist, and Zhang coming through strongly with her mixture of strength and self-doubt.

Though Zhang’s performance makes Malice worth watching, she’s ably supported by the supporting cast, including Huang, Zhang Zixian 张子贤 (as Ye Pan’s heartless boss), Chen Yusi 陈雨锶 (from Chen Sicheng’s excellent Decoded 解密, 2024) as the accused young nurse, Yang Enyou 杨恩又 as the young cancer victim, and especially Li Gengxi 李庚希 (so good in The Oldtown Girls 兔子暴力, 2020, and Viva la vida 我们一起摇太阳, 2024) as the office intern whom Ye Pan takes into her trust. Veteran actress Mei Ting 梅婷 is okay as the girl’s mother in the quieter scenes but too often is just called upon to be hysterical.

Technically, the film – shot in Wuhan, central China – has a thoroughly professional look, largely thanks to the moody autumnal look by Hong Kong d.p. Zhang Ying 张颖 (Trivișa 树大招风, 2016; Dealer/Healer 毒。诫, 2017; Sheep without a Shepherd 误杀, 2019). Music by Hu Xiao’ou 胡小鸥 varies, from conventional wallpaper to jagged violin solos.

CREDITS

Presented by As One (Hainan) Pictures (CN), Shanghai PMF Pictures (CN), Shanghai Maoyan Pictures (CN), Wanda Pictures (CN). Produced by As One (Hainan) Pictures (CN).

Script: Chen Sicheng, Zhang Zhen, Li Xiangxing. Script advice: Li Peng. Novel: Xian Liang. Photography: Zhang Ying. Editing: Tang Hongjia. Music: Hu Xiao’ou. Art direction: Chen Weiren. Costumes: Zhang Yu. Styling: Lv Fengshan. Sound: Wang Chao, Li Tao. Action: Xue Feiwei. Visual effects: Jiang Jun. Executive directors: Wang Jin, Dai Yuwen.

Cast: Zhang Xiaofei (Ye Pan), Mei Ting (You Qian), Chen Yusi (Li Yue), Yang Enyou (Yang Jingyou, You Qian’s daughter), Huang Xuan (Liang Guan, police detective), Li Gengxi (Chenchen), Zhang Zixian (Xiao Baoqian, Ye Pan’s boss), Li Xiaochuan (Wei Qiang, You Qian’s second husband), Chen Chuang (Chen Fujun), Ailiya (Li Yue’s mother), Li Jiuxiao (Dao Ye/Lord Dao), Lv Yan (Haozi), Lei Songran (Dachun), Tudou (online reporter), Wang Nan, Luo Shengdeng, Zhang Tao, Li Linfei, Li Doudou, He Guangzhi, Sun Yue, Wang Mian (online influencers), Pei Kuishan (Gao Jianmin, hospital head), Zhang Lin (Huang Shengqi/Huang Mao/Yellow Hair, Ye Pan’s underworld contact), Xie Keyin (female detective).

Release: China, 5 Jul 2025.