A Touch of Sin

A Touch of Sin follows four people in different parts of China whose lives are pushed toward violence. A miner in a village takes a stand against the corruption of its leaders. A migrant worker, home for a visit, comes to see what a gun can do for him. A young woman working at a sauna is worn down by the advances of a wealthy customer. A factory hand drifts between jobs that keep getting worse. Their stories unfold separately, in different provinces, and together they form a portrait of a country in the middle of rapid economic change, where violence has become part of everyday life.

Jia Zhangke directed and wrote the film, which was released in 2013 and runs 131 minutes. It sits between Still Life and Mountains May Depart in his filmography, his sixth feature as director following earlier work such as Pickpocket and Unknown Pleasures. The cast includes Jiang Wu as Dahai, Baoqiang Wang as Zhou San, Zhao Tao as Xiao Yu, Li Meng, Zhang Jiayi and Luo Lanshan. Shozo Ichiyama produced the China-France-Japan co-production on a budget of about 4 million dollars.

The film has a critics' rating of 7.8 out of 10 from 92 reviews, higher than its audience scores on IMDb, where it holds 7.1 from around 14,000 votes, and on TMDB, where it has 7.2 from 395 votes.