The Wild Goose Lake

Released Mar 6, 2020

1h 53m

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

List

91%

81 Reviews

Tomatometer

A gangster ends up making a mistake that causes every gun on both sides of the law to point at him. While on the run, he comes across a mysterious woman who might get him out of trouble or make things worse.

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Critics Consensus

Smart and stylish, The Wild Goose Lake blends B-movie thrills with bold filmmaking choices and thought-provoking social commentary.

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James Lattimer

Sight & Sound

While Chinese director Diao Yinan's The Wild Goose Lake hardly reconfigures the crime thriller afresh, it does pare it down to the essentials to exhilarating effect...

Feb 21, 2021

Full Review

Richard Whittaker

Austin Chronicle

The Wild Goose Lake's most undeniable appeal is in the cinematography of Dong Jingsong.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 26, 2020

Full Review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

AV Club

What it all adds up to has some of the unevenness of a nightmare, the belly sweat and oscillating fans of muggy summer heat mixed up with unrealities.

Rated: B

Mar 10, 2020

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... favors mood and atmosphere over plot and momentum, creating a sense of desperation over a humid, overheated summer night.

Jul 9, 2022

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Selina Lee

In Review Online

The Wild Goose Lake is essentially a manhunt thriller and its characters' bleak circumstances are a stand-in for the social ills that got them there in the first place.

Jun 5, 2021

Full Review

Sarah Ward

Concrete Playground

With a feature this arresting, the audience is luxuriating in every inch of every frame from start to finish.

Apr 4, 2021

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JJJJJJ J

The film kept my interest throughout but really didn't do anything special. For me the plot never felt like it really had any emotion and I think this was really the main weakness of the film. There are a lot of subplots in many ways but none ever really materialize into anything interesting more or less each is created and then later ended. The main character in the end seems to be a good guy yet for some reason I never really felt any strong hope for him to live, or for him to succeed. The characters of this film constantly have a flat straight face and I feel like this is a good way to describe this movie. Flat and slightly down but really not having any strong emotion.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

After her dazzling and - why to deny it? - difficult first film, Diao Yinan returns with a film that seems to mark the style that his later career will have, following the old tradition of Asian cinema of violence, lies and political allegories, combining them with neon colors that hypnotize the viewer. I'm not a fan of noir cinema, but this is a feast.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Dan F

Too slow, but terrific camera work.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/03/21

Full Review

jack d

A view of life of regular people in China.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The grit and uncertainty of where it’s going is enough to hold you on through it’s initial slow pace, then when the characters become engaging things pick up. I suppose it’s neo noir, from China no less, two characteristics I don’t see too often. There’s also flashes in the pan of artistry, and when thought about the film as a whole, there is social commentary.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/18/20

Full Review

Audience Member

The director is a great master of film noir. The movie is visually beautiful. Every actor is great.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Diao Yinan

Director

Fan Liao

Captain Liu

Ge Hu

Zenong Zhou

Guey Lun-Mei

Aiai Liu

Regina Wan

Shujun Yang

Jue Huang

Yan Ge

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Synopsis

A gangster ends up making a mistake that causes every gun on both sides of the law to point at him. While on the run, he comes across a mysterious woman who might get him out of trouble or make things worse.

Director: Diao Yinan
Screenwriter: Diao Yinan
Distributor: Film Movement
Production Co: Green Ray Films, arte France Cinéma, Memento Films Production
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 6, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 5, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $12.6K
Runtime: 1h 53m

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