The Shadow Play

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The Shadow Play

2018

2h 5m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

20%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

38%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Forced out of his job after investigating the death of a Chinese government official, a rookie cop endeavors to discover the truth.

Deborah Young

The Hollywood Reporter

02/13/2019

There's more to the art of the thriller than exciting cutting and dizzying camerawork, as evidenced in the misguided police actioner The Shadow Play.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

02/12/2019

2/5

[A] wildly overblown, overcomplicated drama that dissipates tension because it is always doubling back on itself and not achieving much impact with each of its narrative shifts.

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Richard Yu

Cinema Escapist

11/04/2019

The Shadow Play is not a movie that you kick back and watch on Netflix at the end of a long day; it's a film that requires involvement and thought on the part of the viewer.

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Lee Marshall

Screen International

02/12/2019

A chaotic plot stumbles its way towards a feeble denouement.

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Rhys Handley

One Room With A View

02/12/2019

2/5

Despite its tendency to fall into incomprehensibility and monotony, this Chinese state-approved schlockfest is a wildly inane, earnestly baffling thrill ride.

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Yuanfeng S

07/09/2024

This crime thriller about "money worship and gangster capitalism," as The Guardian puts it, is so underrated. Best pre-covid social commentary about eviction.

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Ye Lou

Director

Boran Jing

Yang Jiadong

Song Jia

Lin Hui

Songwen Zhang

Actor

Sichun Ma

Actor

Hao Qin

Actor

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Synopsis

Forced out of his job after investigating the death of a Chinese government official, a rookie cop endeavors to discover the truth.

Director: Ye Lou
Producer: Nai An, Chia-lu Chang, Xiaoping Li
Screenwriter: Feng Mei, Yujie Qiu
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Chinese
Runtime: 2h 5m