Ge You, Zhang Ziyi, and Tadanobu Asano in The Wasted Times

By MOOK Travel Family Editorial Team
 
Directed by Diao Yinan, The Wasted Times, shot by Du Jie — twice nominated for Best Cinematography at the Golden Horse Awards — showcases the director’s distinctive and intense style, setting a new benchmark for the wave of auteur-driven commercial films in Chinese cinema. The film’s three leads, Ge You, Tadanobu Asano, and Zhang Ziyi, deliver compelling performances for emerging director Diao Yinan. Notably, Ge You, an accomplished actor known for his roles in award-winning director Feng Xiaogang’s films and often cast as an everyman, breaks away from his familiar persona to portray a stern yet ruthless gang boss in The Wasted Times, surprising audiences with his nuanced performance.

The film is set in 1930s Shanghai, amid a turbulent yet glamorous backdrop where, beneath the surface, criminal families secretly controlled the pulse of the international settlement. A web of characters — including a gang patriarch, a Japanese son-in-law, a socialite, a movie star, an assassin, a butler, a concubine, and a lackey — weaves a complex human network, while repressed desires simmer beneath the surface.

On the eve of war, the gang patriarch and a Japanese military leader engage in a covert power struggle over Shanghai. With tensions rising and everyone on edge, the situation is primed to explode. A bank investment scheme triggers a bloody gang war, further entangling the intricate web of desire, love and hate, life and death, loyalty and revenge. Amid the chaos of war, secrets long buried are slowly unraveled...

【Info】
The Wasted Times
Director: Diao Yinan
Cast: Du Chun, Gillian Chung, Ni Dahong, Zhao Baogang, Yuan Quan, Yan Ni, Han Geng
Cinematography: Du Jie
Release Date: May 19, 2017
Distributor: Jia Shang

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