So Close to Paradise

Granted the title hints at the obligatory bleak fate in store, but fans of gritty, hard-boiled film noir in the Hollywood B-movie tradition wouldn't have it any other way. Wang Xiaoshuai's 1998 So Close to Paradise (which was delayed by Chinese censors) follows country boy Dong Zi, who heads for the big bad city, where he takes a job and ekes out a menial, but honest, living on the docks. Eventually, Dong Zi hooks up with the older Gao Ping, who hailed from the same village, and has now become a petty hood. When Ping is ripped off by a rival kingpin, he kidnaps a Vietnamese cabaret singer who knows where the money is--but she won't tell him and they fall in love and the affair--of course--is doomed. A stylistically low-key film with attitude to spare, So Close to Paradise is an invigorating noir transplant and is recommended. (K. Lee Benson)