This film is currently unavailable
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_480x270/public/hero-images/touch-of-sin-player-1920x1080.jpg?itok=4KiTVnPS)
A Touch of Sin
Jia Zhangke’s state-of-the-nation report on contemporary China is comprised of four stories about shocking acts of violence.
Director: Jia Zhangke
Overview
Jia Zhangke’s Cannes prize-winner comprises four fact-based stories of violence and murder and constitutes a virtual state-of-the-nation report on China in 2013. Across four skilfully interlinked stories, which traverse the country from north to south and back again, Jia presents a range of indelible characters: an ex-miner enraged by corruption and profiteering, a man who kills and steals to stave off boredom, a woman who stabs her would-be rapist and a young kid drifting through the foreign-owned factories and nightclubs of the south.
As the title suggests, the film pays dues to King Hu (A Touch of Zen) and other wuxia directors who explored earlier times when Chinese society had no adequate rule of law. Jia sees a present-day society in which violence seems almost endemic, and dares to ask: what is the country coming to?
Related
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Bottle-Rocket-01.jpg?itok=3v6BuE4i)
Bottle Rocket Bottle Rocket
Comedy 1995 91 mins Director: Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson's rarely screened debut ditches the kitsch in favour of surprisingly subtle comedy, in this tale of a criminally inept gang led by Owen Wilson.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Morgiana-01.jpg?itok=NwFN0AiD)
Morgiana Morgiana
Crime 1972 97 mins Director: Juraj Herz
Delirious gothic tale of terror from Czech New Wave master Juraj Herz, about a jealous sister with dark desires and splintered minds.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/20160116-bande-a-parte-qa-with-anna-karina-1920x1080.jpg?itok=6aBh6Efb)
Bande à part Bande à part
Crime 1964 95 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Godard's playful tribute to the Hollywood pulp crime movies of the 1940s, executed with typically Gallic cool.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/easterncondors_grabs_1.jpg?itok=y-r6YUHW)
Eastern Condors Eastern Condors
Crime 1987 98 mins Director: Sammo Hung Kam-bo
Sammo Hung directs and stars in this high-kicking tribute to The Dirty Dozen, which sees ten convicts offered amnesty if the undertake a deadly mission behind enemy lines in Vietnam to destroy a top-secret munitions dump
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Mapantsula-4.jpg?itok=8YiTfkBp)
Mapantsula Mapantsula
Crime 1989 104 mins Director: Oliver Schmitz
Panic, a petty gangster, is caught up in Township riots in this cult classic crime drama, the first anti-Apartheid film shot guerilla style on the streets of Soweto.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/wages-1920.jpg?itok=1-LW7Dg2)
The Wages of Fear The Wages of Fear
Crime 1953 153 mins Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic, nail-biting suspense thriller won both The Golden Bear and the Palme d'Or in 1953.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/betty2.jpg?itok=vLR5mxKZ)
Betty Blue Betty Blue
Drama 1986 185 mins Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Jean-Jacques Beineix’s story of a volatile, highly sexual relationship was one of the most successful French films of the 1980s.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/9195f5220cdfd03a549f671306ef703e.jpg?itok=cC2_eL9l)
Live Flesh Live Flesh
Drama 1997 97 mins Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar’s sexy and suspenseful thriller follows the intertwining destinies of a cop (Javier Bardem) and the criminal who paralyses him.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/happy-go-lucky-2_0.jpg?itok=9zH6EdUj)
Happy-Go-lucky Happy-Go-lucky
Comedy 2008 118 mins Director: Mike Leigh
Sally Hawkins shines in her breakout role as the perpetually sunny Poppy, in Mike Leigh’s charming drama about the power of optimism.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/4ea7b32c43cc6863da56bfd57803fa93.jpg?itok=gBxwcryw)
The Deep Blue Sea The Deep Blue Sea
Drama 2011 99 mins Director: Terence Davies
Buried passions boil over in a buttoned-up postwar Britain in Terence Davies acclaimed adaptation of Rattigan's play, starring Rachel Weisz.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/promo232042756_2.jpg?itok=ttRG9wrs)
Dreams of a Life Dreams of a Life
Documentary 2011 91 mins Director: Carol Morley
The power of kinship is explored in Carol Morley’s drama-documentary, drawn from real life and resonant with the way we live now.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/a6f62eaffa05c098f84f24eddd071eed.jpg?itok=j0ux10IJ)
Calvary Calvary
Drama 2013 101 mins Director: John Michael McDonagh
Brendan Gleeson and writer-director John Michael McDonagh combine again for a powerful story of a rural priest threatened with death in seven days.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/After-Love-headroom.jpg?itok=mdXkugIU)
After Love After Love
Drama 2021 90 mins Director: Aleem Khan
In this knockout feature debut from Aleem Khan, Bafta-winner Joanna Scanlan is the woman who discovers her late husband’s secrets.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Damsels-in-Distress_04.jpg?itok=itoCZrvO)
Damsels in Distress Damsels in Distress
Comedy 2011 99 mins Director: Whit Stillman
Greta Gerwig shines as a college student challenging the male dominated culture on campus, in Whit Stillman’s sweet, eccentric and frequently hilarious comedy.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Sex-lies-and-videotape_05.jpg?itok=7oRHapOi)
sex, lies, and videotape sex, lies, and videotape
Drama 1989 100 mins Director: Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderberg’s audacious debut, starring James Spader and Andie Macdowell, is an intimate exploration of sexual desire, and a landmark of 90’s American independent filmmaking.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Bottle-Rocket-01.jpg?itok=3v6BuE4i)
Bottle Rocket Bottle Rocket
Comedy 1995 91 mins Director: Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson's rarely screened debut ditches the kitsch in favour of surprisingly subtle comedy, in this tale of a criminally inept gang led by Owen Wilson.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/ama-gloria-01.jpg?itok=SeT-WRGY)
Àma Gloria Àma Gloria
Drama 2023 84 mins Director: Marie Amachoukeli
Six-year-old Cléo spends a final summer with her beloved nanny Gloria, in this profoundly moving story of chosen family, duty and innocence lost.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Morgiana-01.jpg?itok=NwFN0AiD)
Morgiana Morgiana
Crime 1972 97 mins Director: Juraj Herz
Delirious gothic tale of terror from Czech New Wave master Juraj Herz, about a jealous sister with dark desires and splintered minds.