Brief Story Line
Story focused on He Fei (Zhu Yilong - Lighting Up the Stars etc) who reported his wife Li Muzi missing while they were celebrating anniversary in Barlandia (fictional country in South East Asia). The matter became complicated when a woman claiming to be Li Muzi (Janice Man - Cold War 2, The Message TV series etc) appeared, but He Fei insisted that she was not his wife. However, lots of circumstances seemed to prove otherwise.
As his frustration increased, He Fei sought the help from a brilliant lawyer Chen Mai (Ni Ni - Shock Wave 2, My Best Friend's Story TV series etc) who seemed to know a lot of similar cases in the region. With time running out as his visa would expire in few days time, He Fei must find out the truth before he had to leave the country.
So what actually happened to Li Muzi? And why was another woman claiming to be her? You could find out all the answers in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Well that was quite brilliant! Even the premise already made me intrigued and was the main reason for me to watch it. This movie actually had played in Indonesian cinemas few months ago but I was on long holiday trip out of the country then and did not get the chance to see it. Anyway I am just grateful that it is now available via streaming, otherwise it would be very frustrating not being able to finish the story. The movie started with the mystery of the missing wife, but not until the appearance of Li Muzi that it became very interesting and made me curious & excited at the same time.
As the story progressed, it would be clear that things were not as what they seemed with few twists along the way. It was entertaining to see how it developed, although once I reached the final half hour or so, I could see where it was heading, which was quite surprising but not exactly that great. However, the final twist before the ending was truly amazing. It provided me that huge feeling of in awe with how smart the story telling was. Credit had to be given to the directors Liu Xiang and Cui Rui who managed to keep us invested till the end.
During the closing credit, I noticed that it was based on Trap for Lonely Man which after further reading I found it to be a 1990 Soviet film directed by Alexy Korenev that was adapted from French Playwright by Robert Thomas back in 1960. The premise seemed to be the same, but it was said to be a comedy which was the total opposite of this dark movie. For a film that was 2 hours long, it was sufficient to cover the whole story. Btw, there was a mid end credit scene here in case you are wondering.
The cast in general did a fine job. Zhu Yilong was convincing as the worried husband, while Ni Ni was good enough. But I thought Janice Man was wonderful here as she provided some chilling performance. There were also other cast like Du Jian (See You! My Wife TV series etc) as police officer Zheng and Kay Huang (The Forbidden Depths etc) as a fairly important character. The setting of South East Asia look realistic enough with the creation of fictional country probably not to offend people from the specific country.
Overall I was quite satisfied and entertained by this movie. It was very mysterious and intriguing with plenty of surprising twists. The revealing of the truth was the most fun part while the final scene was the most memorable as it left a great impression. So if you are looking for some mystery psychological thriller movie that would leave you guessing, then this one's for you.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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