Fire on the Plain

In this drama set in the bitter winter landscape of China’s industrial northeast in 1997, Shu, the taciturn son of a local gangster, and Fei, the introspective daughter of a factory worker, conspire to flee their desperate lives as a serial killer runs rampant, targeting cab drivers in their hometown. On Christmas Eve, the young lovers’ secret rendezvous hits an unexpected dead end, causing a ripple effect into a near future neither of them foresaw. Balancing family melodrama and hard-boiled film noir, veteran cinematographer Zhang Ji’s auspicious directorial debut luxuriates in a Chinese mindset of fatalism, reconciliation, and scarcity, reminiscent of executive producer/director Diao Yinan’s Black Coal, Thin Ice (2015) and The Wild Goose Lake (2019).