''When Night Falls'' is a
docudrama from Chinese independent film director
Ying Liang. The film is based on the real-life criminal case of
Yang Jia, a Chinese man who killed six police officers after being arrested and beaten for riding a bicycle without a license. After the film's screening, threats of arrest from Chinese authorities resulted in Ying being exiled from Shanghai. Ying won best director at the
Locarno Film Festival.
Plot summary
The film focuses on a partly fictionalized account of the real-life case of a Chinese man who killed six policemen after he was continually harassed by them. The incident started after he was beaten and taken into custody for riding a bicycle without a license. The plot is from his mother's perspective.
Production
The film is based on the criminal case of a Chinese man named
Yang Jia, who was arrested and beaten because he rode a bicycle without a license. Despite repeated complaints by Yang Jia, the police would not stop their harassment. As a result, Yang Jia killed six policemen with a knife and later received a death sentence.
Film director
Ying Liang said that he could relate to the incident and said, "When I was 11, my father was kept away from home for three years. And my mother's reaction to this family disaster is unforgettable."
The finished film was first screened at the
Joenju International Film Festival in May 2012. Subsequently, while Ying was in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, he heard from his mother through a phone call that he would be arrested if he returned to
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 flowin ...
.
Reportedly, policemen arrived to talk to Ying's family in Shanghai several times while using "intimidating words".
Chinese authorities also offered to buy the film's rights from its South Korean owner for $5 million.
Ying is still exiled from Shanghai and currently lives in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
.
Reception
Stephen Dalton, writing for ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'', wrote, "In the light of such state-sponsored bullying, it feels churlish to criticize ''When Night Falls'' for its minimal entertainment value. But the pacing is painfully slow in places, while the lack of factual background seems to undermine Ying’s intention to illuminate an infamous injustice".
Richard Brody of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' said, "It’s a marvellous work of cinematic art, but it’s also a horrifically fascinating and deeply poignant view of a non-independent judicial system at work: its subject, in effect, is procedural injustice".
Ying was awarded best director at the
Locarno Film Festival, while
An Nai won best actress.
See also
*
List of TV and films with critiques of Chinese Communist Party
References
External links
*{{IMDb title , id=2164662 , title=When Night Falls
Chinese independent films
Chinese docudrama films
2012 films