Blind Shaft (2004)
Two con men in modern-day China work on their latest scam using a sixteen-year-old boy as an unsuspecting mark. Well-constructed film has the benefit of a killer scenario and some not-so-subtle political commentary about the state of China now that capitalism has come to roost. It's shame, then, that the director thwarts his work by shooting it with an unaffected naturalism. A film of this nature requires some kind of tension to keep the blood boiling and the mind engaged, but the approach here seems to have been early De Sica, which works only to smooth out the rough edges and make the whole thing go down a little too easily. By the time the thudding (and wholly unearned) irony of the climax comes crashing down on our heads, it's too late to care.
Grade: C+
Two con men in modern-day China work on their latest scam using a sixteen-year-old boy as an unsuspecting mark. Well-constructed film has the benefit of a killer scenario and some not-so-subtle political commentary about the state of China now that capitalism has come to roost. It's shame, then, that the director thwarts his work by shooting it with an unaffected naturalism. A film of this nature requires some kind of tension to keep the blood boiling and the mind engaged, but the approach here seems to have been early De Sica, which works only to smooth out the rough edges and make the whole thing go down a little too easily. By the time the thudding (and wholly unearned) irony of the climax comes crashing down on our heads, it's too late to care.
Grade: C+
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