Yearender: Film critics' top 10 Chinese films of 2015

No 5: A Fool

A screen capture of A Fool. [Photo/Mtime]

Hui Lang: The crux of the film lies in the uselessness and fruitless effort of resistance against alien, business and modern sources. A somewhat sour and sharp black comedy.

Tan Fei: A Fool is a black comedy of irony. In a society that's out of pitch, a nice man is inevitably treated as a fool, and sometimes driven crazy. In a world ruled by the law of "survival of the fittest" and materiality, souls of some "humans" are dark, even darker than the coals in the mines, and their moral standard lower than one would ever expect. Chen Jianbing's team created a story that's suffocating to watch. However, as the truth unfolded among performances with no traces of acting, so undisguised and bare, it impossible to shun one's eyes against it.

Jiang Xiaoyu: A Fool, written, directed and played by actor Chen Jianbing, has surpassed the expectations of the public. This is a heart-wrenching story of China, with the weight that life is bound to carry. The film, with many scenes shot as if shot in secrecy, portrays coarse images and desolated sceneries that are choking to see. The structure, character setting and lines of the film may seem simple, but the messages that lie behind are seeped throughout the story, all presenting a painful reality - human morals have collapsed to a point of no return.

In brief: The movie centers on a man named La Tiaozi (played by Chen Jianbin) and his wife (played by Jiang Qinqin) who are blamed for selling a fool who actually cheated the couple. La determines to find the fool, which also makes him look like a fool.