Devils on the Doorstep Movie Review 2000

Chinese film needs some sharp editing before this black comedy about a tiny village's survival during WWII could be anything more than frustrating. Local peasant Ma Dasan is surprised when the Chinese Army dump two prisoners in their remote village--a Japanese POW and his Chinese interpreter. When no one comes for the prisoners after six months, the fearful villagers decide they should be executed and Ma is sent to hire an assassin. When this doesn't work out, the villagers try to return them to nearby Japanese troops. This idea isn't any better and by now the movie's exhausted a viewer's patience. Japanese and Mandarin with subtitles.

Distribution

Not Yet Released

Available on VHS
Running time 162 minutes.
Originally from Chinese.

Cast and Crew

Genres

World War II, POW/MIA, Military: Foreign, Hit Men/Women

Screenplay

Jiang Wen

Cast

Jiang Wen, Kagawa Teruyuki, Jiang Hongbo, Chen Qiang, Sawada Kenya, Yuan Ding

Cinematography

Gu Changwei

Director

Jiang Wen

Awards

Cannes 2000: Grand Jury Prize.