''Cliff Walkers'' (), previously titled ''Impasse'' in English, is a 2021 Chinese

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

spy thriller Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

film directed by

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...

and written by Quan Yongxian. It is set in the

Imperial Japanese The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its o ...

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

in the 1930s before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

erupts. It was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its u ...

Plot

Set in the Japanese puppet state of

, the film follows four

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

agents who parachute back to

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

in Northeastern China in the early 1930s. Together, they embark on a secret operation code-named “Utrennya” ( rus, "утренняя") that intends to extract a former prisoner who could expose the

unethical human experimentation Unethical human experimentation is human experimentation that violates the principles of medical ethics. Such practices have included denying patients the right to informed consent, using pseudoscientific frameworks such as race science, and tortu ...

and other

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

committed by

Unit 731 , short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentatio ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

in front of the

international community The international community is an imprecise phrase used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world. As a rhetorical term Aside from its use as a general descriptor, the term is ...

. Upon landing, the team members split into two groups to avoid being captured and tortured to sell out their loved ones on the other group. They are also ready to sacrifice themselves by ingesting cyanide-equivalent pills contained in a match box. Soon after their separation, group 1 discover their local contacts are disguised by enemies. They manage to escape the trap, but also realize they had been sold out by a traitor, who caved after being tortured and witnessing the execution of his fellow comrades.

Cast

* Zhang Yi as Zhang Xianchen, a former journalist-turned CPC agent * Yu Hewei as Zhou Yi, a CPC agent embedded within the enemy *

Qin Hailu Qin Hailu (, born 11 August 1978) is a Chinese actress, screenwriter and singer. She has won Best Actress at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award and Golden Bauhinia Awards. Early life and education Bo ...

as Wang Yu, Zhang's wife and comrade *

Zhu Yawen Zhu Yawen (, born April 1984) is a Chinese actor. He appeared in the films '' The Witness'' and ''The Founding of an Army''; and the television series '' Red Sorghum'' and ''Empress of the Ming''. In 2018, he took part in variety show The Sound ...

as Chu Liang, Zhang's comrade *

Liu Haocun Liu Haocun (; born ) is a Chinese actress. She made her acting debut in the drama film '' One Second'' (2020), and has since gone on to appear in various film titles. Early life Liu was born in Tonghua, Jilin Province. She studied in the middl ...

as Xiao Lan, Zhang's comrade and Chu's girlfriend *

Ni Dahong Ni Dahong (; born 1960) is a Chinese actor best known for his roles as Sima Yi in the historical television series ''Three Kingdoms'', based on the classical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' by Luo Guanzhong; and Su Daqiang in family dram ...

as Gao Bin, enemy in charge * Li Naiwen as Gao's henchman * Yu Ailei as Jin Zhide, Gao's henchman *

Lei Jiayin Lei Jiayin () is a Chinese actor. He is best known for his role as Chen Junsheng in drama ''The First Half of My Life''. Lei ranked 62nd on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list in 2019, and 61st in 2020. Early life Lei Jiayin was born in Tiedon ...

as Xie Zirong, a CPC agent-turned traitor

Production

A conceptual poster was released in October 2019 during

Pingyao International Film Festival The Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF), officially as "Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival", is a film festival held in Pingyao, Shanxi, China. It was launched in October 2017 by Jia Zhangke, a Chinese fil ...

. On Dec 13, 2019, the cameras started rolling in Xuexiang National Forest Park. The shooting wrapped on May 19, 2020. The original score was composed by

Jo Yeong-wook Jo Yeong-wook (, occasionally romanized as Cho Young-wuk: born January 1, 1962) is a South Korean film music supervisor. He is most widely known for his collaborations with director Park Chan-wook. Filmography Film *'' The Contact'' (1997 ...

, whereas the eponymous theme song is composed by the band RadioMars and performed by

Zhou Shen Zhou Shen (; born ), also known as Charlie Zhou, is a Chinese singer known for his ethereal voice and wide vocal range, capable of singing soprano. He is best known for his song "Big Fish", which has won 8 awards. In November 2017, Zhou releas ...

Release

The movie was released on April 30, 2021 in both China and the United States. In China, it is released in

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

, CINITY,

Dolby Cinema Dolby Cinema is a premium cinema created by Dolby Laboratories that combines Dolby proprietary technologies such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, as well as other signature entrance and intrinsic design features. The technology competes with IMA ...

, etc. In the United States, it is distributed by

China Media Capital China Media Capital (Chinese: 华人文化) is a public equity and venture capital firm specializing in growth capital, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, corporate restructuring, management buyouts, and mergers & acquisitions. The fir ...

Reception

''Cliff Walkers'' received a 82% positive rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, with an average rating of 6.7/10.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * *
Cliff Walkers at filmaffinity.com

Cliff Walkers at hkmdb.com

Cliff Walkers at rogerebert.com
{{Zhang Yimou 2020s Mandarin-language films Chinese war drama films 2021 war drama films Films shot in China Films directed by Zhang Yimou Films set in Manchukuo Films set in Heilongjiang