Brother
黑暗中的救赎
China, 2012, colour, 1.85, 99 mins.
Director: An Zhanjun 安战军.
Rating: 4/10.
Crime drama centred on a prison officer and his brother’s murderer lacks a real dramatic pulse.
STORY
Beijing, the present day. After attacking partner-in-crime Lu Jiantao with a broken bottle in a nightclub, Lin Yu (Ren Quan) is arrested and held in a low-security prison. Overnight, however, Lu Jiantao dies. Lu Jiantao’s elder brother, Lu Jianjun (Guo Jinglin), is an officer in the prison who’s in the process of divoring his wife, Ji Mei (Liu Mintao), a hospital nurse. That morning he’s so upset by the news that he misses an appointment with Ji Mei at the divorce office. Gangzi (Zhang Jingjia), who works for Lin Yu’s gang boss, Wen, gets himself arrested in order to warn Lin Yu in prison that he’s on his own now the charge is murder and to keep his mouth shut about Wen’s drugs business. Lu Jianjun questions Lin Yu, who says Lu Jiantao was trying to steal some of the goods for himself. Enraged, Lu Jianjun attacks him and has to be dragged away and sent home. Depressed, Lin Yu tries to commit suicde by swallowing a toothbrush. Taken to hospital, he urgently needs blood during the operation but only Lu Jianjun is immediately available with the same rare blood type. Lu Jianjun reluctantly agrees to donate some blood to his brother’s murderer. Later, via DNA tests, the police discover that Lu Jiantao was not Lu Jianjun’s brother by blood. In fact, his real brother is Lin Yu. That night at home, Ji Mei is assaulted by a drunken Lu Jianjun and is only rescued by the arrival of her hospital colleague Xie Qian (Hao Ping), who fancies her. Lu Jianjun’s mother, who’s suddenly taken to hospital, confirms the fact that he and Lin Yu are actually brothers and that Lin Yu was taken away by her husband when they divorced. Lu Jianjun then persuades Lin Yu to help the police bust Wen’s drug-dealing gang.
REVIEW
A curious, almost experimental crime story by superior journeyman director An Zhanjun 安战军, Brother 黑暗中的救赎 is let down by an over-manipulative script that’s too schematic and an overall lack of any dramatic pulse. Supposedly inspired by the true story of the accidental death during a fight of the younger brother of first-time scriptwriter Yu Bo 于波, it has an interesting central idea – a prison officer finds he’s related to the drug dealer who killed his younger brother – but loses credibility due to the flat way in which it unrolls. Box office was a miniscule RMB1 million.
An’s films generally sport solid, good-looking production values; but in Brother he seemingly goes for a new style of long takes, a much flatter look (with wintry, bleached colours by d.p. Yuan Jiaping 袁佳平) and minimalist execution that make the whole thing look like a video movie for TV. As per usual, An focuses on the actors’ performances, and is rewarded by solid, if inexpressive, playing from lead Guo Jinglin 果静林, then 42, as the conflicted prison officer, and Liu Mintao 刘敏涛, 36, more natural as his estranged wife, both of whom just manage to squeeze the film an extra point between them. (A graduate of The Central Academy of Drama and largely a TV actress, Shandong-born Liu went on to give striking lead performances in two later An films, rural drama The Unexpected 原祸, 2016, and relationship drama For the Memory Never Forgotten 黑蝴蝶, 2017.) But as the third side of the central triangle, 39-year-old Ren Quan 任泉 (Assembly 集结号, 2007; The Double Life A面B面, 2010) is colourless until the final stages, with too much enigmatic staring into space and too little dialogue as the young convict. The long coda, in which Ren’s character goes through the judicial process, is plodding, and as bereft of drama as most of the rest of the film.
Writer Yu is not to be confused with the actor of exactly the same name. The film’s Chinese title means “Redemption in Darkness”.
CREDITS
Presented by Longchang (Beijing) Film & TV Culture (CN), Hao’an (Beijing) Cultural Communication (CN). Produced by Longchang (Beijing) Film & TV Culture (CN), Hao’an (Beijing) Cultural Communication (CN), Beijing Guangyin Shidai Culture Media (CN).
Script: Yu Bo. Photography: Yuan Jiaping. Editing: Liu Lizhen. Music: Hu Xiao’ou. Art direction: Xu Duo. Costumes: Zhang Yan. Sound: Wang Lewen, Wang Haiping, Wang Anran, Li Zhiwei.
Cast: Guo Jinglin (Lu Jianjun), Ren Quan (Lin Yu), Liu Mintao (Ji Mei, Lu Jianjun’s wife), Hao Ping (Xie Qian), Yu Bo (Wu Peng), Chu Jian (Wang, prison officer), Hao Rongguang (Cui, prison officer), Sun Yili (Xiaohuangmao/Yellow Hat), Han Yong (Da Yong), Zhao Yuanming (Xiaozai, young man in cell), Chen Xi (Li), Zhang Jingjia (Gangzi), Guo Yiming (Xiaoqiao, gay in nightclub).
Release: China, 21 Jun 2012.