INVISIBLE KILLER review

It seems as if Wang Jing's third film Invisible Killer ought to be a government-backed 'main melody' propaganda effort; a mainland Chinese police procedural about the unforeseen consequences of internet hate-mongering? The PRC has long struggled to contain the ire of Chinese netizens and their 'human flesh searches' in particular, impromptu crowd-sourcing projects on a mammoth scale where hundreds of thousands of people collaborate to track down anyone from local government ministers accused of corruption to couples caught in the act in public places.

Invisible Killer takes place largely on the tiny island of Yangshan (off the coast of the mainland, close to Shanghai). In the course of a routine bust the local cops apprehend a bystander who tries to flee the scene the moment he sees police uniforms. Under interrogation the man confesses he's hiding from an internet campaign to out him as an adulterer. He claims it's all a misunderstanding, that the husband falsely accused him, but when the wife's headless body washes up on shore the next day the tough female officer in charge of the case has to swiftly revise her estimations.

On a superficial level it makes a poor piece of propaganda. As police procedurals go the film progresses at an almost glacial pace; there's little to no action here and other than one or two pivotal scenes much of the character development comes through what secrets tireless detective work uncovers. On top of that the isolated environment isn't a particularly original narrative device, and the script throws up precious few surprises.

At the same time it becomes obvious fairly early on the screenplay is surprisingly ambiguous, with each of the principals commendably flawed - never to the point of caricature, though more than enough they all stand out. There's a curious lack of melodrama, too, what with neither overt heroes nor villains and an ending that seems weirdly anticlimactic yet even more tragic all at once.

The acting is solid throughout, from Weng Bo patiently laying the groundwork as the lady cop to Li Yixiang's icy rage as the cuckolded husband (Lost and Found, Blind Shaft - looking like a younger Francis Ng) and Cao Wei's eerie zealotry as one of the muck-raking online journalists.

Gritty, muted visuals make the slow pace a virtue, Yingshan all cold grey skies and flat white shorefront property, an almost Western European look. This is the first film to be shot in the mainland with the ultra-high-resolution Red One digital camera and DP Li Ran sets up some fantastically restrained compositions, never focusing on flash, letting the tension build little by little.

Sadly, the main shortcoming - one that drags the film down quite some way - is Invisible Killer never quite shakes off the impression it's primarily concerned with having Something To Say. Whether or not the viewer wants to read in any ulterior motive, while the movie never resorts to outright preaching it does feel like a public service announcement.

The downbeat ending sets the narrative apart from a great many more extrovert genre features but it also robs everything that's gone before of a great deal of its power - it's hard to ignore the conviction all that careful legwork deserves some kind of grand payoff yet no such thing ever turns up. And while the cast all do good things with the material none are quite good enough to dispel the sense that - for all they're atypical - they're fairly two-dimensional.

All the same Invisible Killer remains a compelling, engrossing film, never reaching the level of a Memories of Murder but still managing several genuinely haunting moments that linger for quite some time after the credits. While it doesn't entirely overcome the drawbacks to its basic premise it's a far more nuanced, measured film than audiences might expect, something any fan of more laid-back entries in the genre would do well to seek out. Smartly written, beautifully presented and solidly acted Wang Jing's third feature deserves more than just domestic success and comes recommended.