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Plastic City

Dangkou

Hong Kong, China, Brazil, Japan

2008

118 Min
Color
2.35:1
Mandarin, Portuguese, English, Japanese
  • Currently 2.7/5 Stars.
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DIR Nelson Yu Lik-wai

PROD Fabiano Gullane, Caio Gullane, Keung Chow, Jia Zhangke, Yuji Sadai

SCR Nelson Yu Lik-wai, Fernando Bonassi

DP Lai Yiu-Fai

CAST Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Huang Yi, Tainá Müller, Jeff Chen, Jô Odagiri

ED Li Wenders, André Finotti

PROD DES Cassio Amarante

MUSIC Fernando Corona, Yoshihiro Hanno

SOUND Ken Wong

Venice (Competition), Toronto (Special Presentations), Vancouver (Dragons & Tigers), AFI FEST (Homage), Stockholm, Chicago, São Paulo, CPH PIX

Synopsis

Liberdade, São Paulo– a multi-ethnic neighborhood with the largest Japanese immigrant community in the world. Here,
traditional Japanese achitecture clashes with the gritty urban landscapes, while people of all races come here to do business – legal or illegal. This is where the story of Plastic City begins…

Yuda, a feared Chinese outlaw, and his adopted son Kirin, an impulsive young dreamer, together rule the pirated goods
racket in the ultra-liberal Brazilian metropolis. The magnate and his heir control all of from rival gangs to street hawkers, corrupt politicians to erotic dancers. But an empire that takes years to build can also crumble to the ground with one fatal mistake…

A conspiracy between politicians and the mafia begins to threaten Yuda’s power. Little by little, he loses control of his business and is ultimately arrested. Kirin struggles to re-conquer his father’s honor, fighting this city’s wars singlehandedly. But Yuda, tired of the bloodshed and feeling the weight of his years, abandons his son, falsifies his own death and returns to the jungle in a last attempt to put an end to his criminal life.

Escaping from a complex maze of violence, Kirin sets out to find his father. In the mysterious jungle, father and son both have to wipe the slate of their past clean. Only in the end will Kirin discover the ultimate answer to the search for his own destiny.

Director

Original

Nelson Yu Lik-wai

Yu Lik-wai (simplified Chinese: 余力为; traditional Chinese: 余力爲; Mandarin Pinyin: Yú Lìwéi; Jyutping: Yu4 Lik6 Wai4; born August 12, 1966 in Hong Kong) (sometimes credited as Nelson Yu Lik-wai or simply, Nelson Yu) is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu was educated at Belgium’s INSAS (Institut National Superieur des Arts de Spectacle) where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994.1 Yu has become a mainstay in both the cinemas of China (where he is perhaps best known for his collaborations with director Jia Zhangke) and Hong Kong.

Yu has served as director of photography for nearly all of Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s films, and along with Jia, the two men founded their own independent film production company, Xstream Pictures.—Wikipedia 

Wall

Displaying 4 of 5 wall posts.
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paolone_fr

6Dec12

magmatic cinema.

DT likes this

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Michael Nisi

10Dec10

Weird in a good way, especially the second part. Didn't really get it.

DT likes this

Picture of Addiena of Mubi land

Addiena of Mubi land

10May10

The visuals are stunning, but the storyline? Nothing much really. I've spent almost 50 mins of it, trying to figure out what was this film trying to say, but in the end, if it's saying anything, it didn't say much. Almost fell asleep, even.

Picture of kumiko

kumiko

10Oct09

Tyler Aikens, have you got the answer to your question? I have the same question.

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 78 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

What is the 21st Century?: Going Places with Yu Lik-wai

By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on October 25, 2009

If you're going to talk about cinema at present, even if you're not talking very thoroughly, it's inevitable that Yu Lik-wai's work, if not

read article

NYAFF 09 Review: PLASTIC CITY

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
[Our thanks to Pat Dahn for the following review.] PLASTIC CITY is a dark, brooding new work from director Yu Lik-Wai (himself a frequent cinematographer for Jia Zhang-ke). An international production
read on Twitchfilm.com

TIFF Review: PLASTIC CITY

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
Begin rant: Anyone out there currently occupying a position of power in a multi-lingual film, I beg you not to force your actors to learn lines phonetically or redub their performances after the fact
read on Twitchfilm.com

TIFF Review: PLASTIC CITY

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
Begin rant: Anyone out there currently occupying a position of power in a multi-lingual film, I beg you not to force your actors to learn lines phonetically or redub their performances after the fact
read on Twitchfilm.net

NYAFF 09 Review: PLASTIC CITY

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
[Our thanks to Pat Dahn for the following review.] PLASTIC CITY is a dark, brooding new work from director Yu Lik-Wai (himself a frequent cinematographer for Jia Zhang-ke). An international production
read on Twitchfilm.net

Lists

Displaying 5 of 15 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 4 of 4

A Better Tomorrow

By DT on November 12, 2012

As Nelson the D.P. is associated with Jia, Nelson the director almost couldn’t be further away, this piece emerging heavily stylised, cued – a diverse, pulsing, shifting palette (though one sometimes…  read review

Letdown

By Law on November 30, 2009

This review attempts to emulate the form of Plastic City.

A pretty incomprehensible gangster film about nothing really by Yu Lik-wai, renowned for his cinematographic work with Jia Zhangke…  read review

Untitled

By ryan on September 8, 2009

Saw this at TIFF08. Visually, it’s stunning and highly experimental. In terms of plot, it’s unforgivably flawed in pacing and lacks any semblance of coherency. Forcing Anthony Wong to speak Portuguese…  read review

Untitled

By Ben Cho on September 4, 2009

Saw the Venice cut of this last year (from memory it clocked in at around 120mins) but I don’t think that’s ever going to be released. I thought the DVD may have both versions but I recently got the…  read review

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