NZIFF - The Wild Goose Lake

Director of the terrific, Berlinale-winning police procedural Black Coal, Thin Ice (NZIFF14), China’s Diao Yinan wowed Cannes with this superlative film noir. Stacked with some of the most uniquely thrilling sequences you’ll see in a cinema this year, his lauded follow-up centres on a rogue gangster (Hu Ge) on the run – and the opportunistic prostitute (Gwei Lun Mei) who may or may not give him up for the sizable bounty on his head.

“The Wild Goose Lake is another assured, exhilarating tale of criminality and the havoc it wreaks on interpersonal connection, with everything impressive about its predecessor – attentive procedural detail, curious experiments with colour and shadow, action set pieces that’d make Michael Mann envious – raised to the Nth degree.

There’s not a single false step in its two hours; every edit, every shot setup, every movement of the camera maximises the raw cinematic effect. There’s power in Diao’s more subdued passages, but when he really lets loose and the fists (or bullets, or strategically concealed booby-traps) start flying, this film’s greatness transforms from the kind that sneaks up on you to the kind that blows you away.” — Charles Bramesco, Little White Lies

China 2019
Director/Screenplay: Diao Yinan
In Mandarin with English subtitles
110 minutes/R16 violence, cruelty & content that may disturb

Tickets are available online through Ticketek, from the front desk at MTG or the box office at the Napier Municipal Theatre. Door sales will also be available at the MTG Century Theatre one hour prior to the screening.

Rating: R16 - Restricted to persons 16 years and over

Presented by: New Zealand International Film Festival