''The Missing Gun'' () is a 2002

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film directed by

Lu Chuan Lu Chuan (born 8 February 1971) is a Chinese filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He is the son of novelist Lu Tianming (). Education Educated at the in Nanjing, Lu spent two years serving in the Army as a secretary to a general. After his time ...

and starring

Jiang Wen Jiang Wen (born 5 January 1963) is a Chinese actor, screenwriter, and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "Sixth Generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred wit ...

Ning Jing Ning Jing (; born April 27, 1972) is a Chinese actress and singer. She is best known for playing Milan in ''In the Heat of the Sun'' (1994), Danzhu in '' Red River Valley'' (1997), Angel in '' Lover's Grief over the Yellow River'' (1999) and Emp ...

and Wu Yujuan. A

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

of Lu, the film premiered during the 9th

Beijing College Student Film Festival Beijing College Student Film Festival, first held in 1993, is an annual event organized by Beijing Normal University and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio, Film and Television. It is held in April or May, and is one of the biggest film festivals i ...

on 21 April 2002. A pioneer digital screening was subsequently held in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

on 28 April, making ''The Missing Gun'' the first film screened in China with

digital cinema Digital cinema refers to adoption of digital technology within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to b ...

technology."The Missing Gun" is China's first digital movie which used the GDC's DSR digital cinema system. The film was officially released on 8 May in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Adapted from a novelette by Fan Yiping, the film revolves around a small-town policeman who embarks on a search for his missing gun. The film also explores the themes of self-identity and self-respect, as well as addresses a number of pertinent social issues, such as

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

s, in China.

Plot

War veteran turned small-town policeman Ma Shan (played by

) wakes up after a drunken night at his sister's wedding banquet to find his issued gun missing. After making sure his wife Han Xiaoyun ( Wu Yujuan) and third-grader son have not taken it, Ma embarks on a search around the town. He questions his sister and brother-in-law, as well as two ex-comrades in an attempt to connect the dots. He finds out that he was sent home the previous night in a car by Zhou Xiaogang (

Shi Liang Shi Liang (; March 27, 1900 – September 6, 1985) was a prominent lawyer and activist of the Republic of China. She was the only woman arrested in what was known as the Seven Gentlemen Incident on the eve of war with Japan in 1936. In 1949, s ...

). Ma knocks on Zhou's door but is greeted by Li Xiaomeng (

), Ma's former lover who married and moved to

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, but has since returned. Li claims that Zhou is not home. Ma leaves but manages to run into Zhou a moment later. After searching Zhou's car, he ascertains that Zhou has not taken his gun either. Ma is left with no choice but to report the missing gun to his superiors. He is stripped of his uniform but is allowed to continue the search on his own. During his search, Ma comes across a thief who has snatched a woman's handbag and gives chase. The desperate thief, seeing no escape, pulls out a gun. Mistaking the gun for his own, Ma refuses to back down. The thief fires, only to reveal that the gun he holds is a fake. Meanwhile, a murder has taken place in town. A man has sneaked into Zhou's home and shoots Li with the missing gun. Upon interrogation, Zhou insists that he was not the intended target. However, Ma investigates on his own and reveals that Zhou runs an underground factory which produces counterfeit wine. Ma then retains Zhou, exchanges clothes with him, and boards a bus heading out of town. True to his prediction, the criminal trails Ma, thinking that he is Zhou, shoots him from behind at the railway station but fails to kill him instantly. As the criminal approaches to confirm his kill, Ma turns over and locks the two of them together with his handcuffs. The criminal turns out to be Stammer Liu, a local bricklayer whose family was poisoned from drinking Zhou's illicit wine. Liu begs Ma to let him go to avenge his family but Ma refuses. Ma then draws out the fake gun he confiscated from the thief and Liu, in fear, fires and spends the last bullet. Ma bleeds profusely and feels faint, lying on the ground. The police arrive, and as they rush over to apprehend Liu, Ma—or his hallucination—is shown to suddenly stand up and walk away with his recovered gun, apparently unhurt and laughing (or perhaps crying) at finding his lost weapon. The film ends with a freeze frame.

Cast

as Ma Shan, a smalltown policeman who wakes up one day to find his gun missing *

as Li Xiaomeng, a resident of the town, Ma's first love * Wu Yujuan as Han Xiaoyun, Ma's wife, a teacher at a local school *

as Zhou Xiaogang, a local businessman

Reception

''The Missing Gun'' first premiered during the

on 21 April 2002, where it clinched the award for Best Debut Film. A pioneer digital screening was then held in

on 28 April, marking the first use of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

."上海启动全国首家数码影院数码电影《寻枪》首映"
''羊城晚报'', 3 May 2002 After its official release in

on 8 May, the film recorded more than ¥1 million in

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

within a week of release, topping '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. It was subsequently selected for the 59th

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

, though it failed to clinch any awards. The film drew criticism from the

National Language and Character Committee National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

for using the Guizhou dialect instead of

Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...

. The committee's director

Yuan Guiren Yuan Guiren (; born November 1950) is a Chinese academic and politician. He formerly served as Minister of Education of China and president of Beijing Normal University, his alma mater. Biography Yuan was born in Guzhen County, Anhui, in Novemb ...

disapproved

's selection of dialects as language media for two consecutive films (the previous being ''

Devils on the Doorstep ''Devils on the Doorstep'' (; ja, 鬼が来た!; literally "the devils are here"; the devil is a term of abuse for foreign invaders, here referring to brutal and violent Japanese invaders in China during World War II) is a 2000 Chinese black come ...

''), claiming that such a choice misguides the audience on the importance of learning

, a standard adopted by the Chinese government."语言文字工作委员会负责人批评姜文用方言拍电影"
''成都日报'', 2 September 2002

Awards and nominations

, 2002 ** Best Directorial Debut *

Golden Trailer Awards The Golden Trailer Awards are an American annual award show for film trailers founded in 1999. The awards also honor the best work in all areas of film and video game marketing, including posters, television advertisements and other media, in ...

, 2003 ** Best Foreign Film (nominated)

DVD release

A DVD featuring subtitles in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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, French and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

was released on 4 May 2004 and distributed by

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Missing Gun, The 2002 films 2002 black comedy films Chinese black comedy films Films based on short fiction Films set in Guizhou Films directed by Lu Chuan Chinese comedy-drama films 2002 directorial debut films 2002 comedy films 2000s Chinese films