Ultimately, Trap Street is not about the two lovers, but what is transpiring outside of their relationship that is invading their collective private space. Qu smartly imbues social concerns about personal privacy, and finds a good spot broaching Chinese politics without being overtly anti-government.
I will not say too much about what goes on because I want you to discover the movie for yourself. Surveillance, an often debated issue post-9/11, is given fair treatment here, but in ways that are positively satisfying. It begins like any other saccharine drama about a blossoming romance between two strangers, but veers into an unexpected direction that recalls the thematic concerns of films such as Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) and Haneke’s Cache (2005).
Trap Street is a crisply-shot feature with sharp images, often in low-key lighting. Being naïve and all, he falls in love with her.
Qu’s film was featured at the Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, and while it is not a film of tremendous dramatic power, it works as a genre-hopping romance-mystery that echoes influences of noir.Ī man is acquainted with a nice but mysterious woman on an unmappable street. Directed by debutant writer-director Vivian Qu, who also produced the Golden Berlin Bear winner Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014), Trap Street is one of a handful of works from the increasingly prominent and diverse mainland Chinese independent cinema scene. This is a clever film, so relevant and in many ways reflective of the climate of today’s socio-technological world. (Reviewed at Italian Film Festival 2014 – first published )