The Wild Goose Lake
“The Wild Goose Lake” is a modern noir story, as a criminal becomes a fugitive from both sides of the legal spectrum when he accidentally shoots a police officer while trying to get away. I say accidentally because, while he deliberately does the shooting, he was unaware of it being a cop until afterwards. Now, he has the cops after him, in addition to fellow criminals in the slums of Wild Goose Lake in the Wuhan province in China. If you go along with director Diao Yinan’s deliberate pacing, it’s an exciting drama, even if the momentum wanes as the film seems to get more convoluted.
The film begins with a man and a woman meeting under a railroad station overpass. They have not met before, but they will be linked throughout the remainder of the film. We then flashback, as the man (Zhou Zenong, played by Hu Ge) is seen as part of a criminal underworld in around Wuhan. These are low-rent criminals, however- no men in suits here- and they are divvying up the area in which to operate. An argument breaks out between rivals, and the leader decides that the two gangs- the other one led by Hua Hua (Dao Qi)- to a race to steal the most motorcycles (which is their trade) to see who will get that particular area. When the race gets violent is when Zhou shoots the officer. Now, with both sides against him, he must rely on a local woman (Lui Alai, played by Gwei Lun-mei) to get a message to his wife, and hopefully, get out of town before the violence escalates, and innocent people start dying.
There’s a weirdly atmospheric tone at work in this film that is actually accentuated by the film’s grimy location. That comes from the cinematography by Jingsong Dong, which has personality but is not an example of “showing off” in terms of lighting and camera movement. There’s a mood captured in this film that sucks us in, even if it doesn’t feel stylish. There’s an immersive feeling to the world of Yinan’s film that keeps us engaged as the plot seems to meander, and sometimes, get a bit lost. The central relationship between Zhou and Lui is an interesting one; it’s not a romantic one, but the two have a connection in the film that is palpable, and what keeps us watching the whole way through, up through an action-packed final act that leaves us feeling like everything, and nothing, has changed at the same time, for the people in the area this takes place in.
