StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Leofwine_draca An intriguing, low budget little drama about two miners who devise a racket in which they make money by bumping off younger co-workers and claiming a reward from the mine owners, either to hush them up or as insurance money. It's a grim and gritty production, dank and downbeat, exploring the darker side of the human psyche, and also one of those films in which very little happens. The normal rules of film-making don't apply here. There's little suspense or drama, no stylistic flourishes, no music or fancy editing, just two ordinary guys with a penchant for murder.The film is oddly gripping despite the lack of incident, and the realistic nature of the proceedings help to give it a true story vibe. It's certainly a miserable little tale, but there's light in it too, and humour besides. Li and Wang are effectively nasty as the pair of murderers, but the film's real heart comes from Baoquiang Wang's oddly touching turn as the innocent soul residing at the heart of the proceedings. BLIND SHAFT is arty, slow-moving and subtle, but it shines a light into some of the gloomier areas of human existence, and it has a great ending to boot.

manendra-lodhi The film explores the human nature with all possible situations that might arise in life nicely. The story revolves around two people who used to work in a mine and fake the dead person as their relative in order to take money from the mine owner. Things got changed when one of them had a change of heart. It might look normal to see this type of story but the way they acted and portrayed the characters and the representation that they do not care anything about morality but in their heart they wanted to do the right thing, is worth watching. Pros:The story moved forward at a good pace to its climax and was interesting. The actors acted properly. What I liked most was the different angle of the film with respect to the story. Without entering into much detail of mines, they just showed us what was really necessary. CONS: Nothing.Message: "No matter what you do there is always a good person in you." VERDICT: "A recommended watch."

gifnon I just saw this at the Pan African Film Festival where it was curated in conjunction with Visual Communications in a cross-cultural viewing. Bravo for that foresight.And bravo for selecting BLIND SHAFT. Is it a masterpiece? No. What it is is a very solid piece of film-making. In basketball terms, it isn't Magic Johnson, it's James Worthy.Rather than go into the plot, which everyone seems wont to do on these boards, I think it's much more helpful to talk about films in terms of their elements. Plot you can get anywhere, such as Ebert.The story is a simple morality tale. Nuff said. What's standout about this movie is the ACTING - some of the best, particularly by the youngster that plays the young boy. He is super. The two principles and extended cast are solid as well.Which points toward director Li Yang who flexes assured muscles throughout. Nothing fancy - no super montages or MTV fancy shmancy technique. In fact, the lighting is uniformly flat throughout, with a decidedly blue cast to connote the frigid brisk air. That's it.It's also marked by the absence of a soundtrack.BLIND SHAFT is a return to film-making of a Bressonian order, but with actors, not "models" as Bresson called them. It is a simple tale, but told in such a straight-ahead honest manner, it stands in stark contrast to the contrived machinations of the Hollywood puke machine that spews out "packages" like clockwork.See this movie if you want bare-knuckle, honest film-making. Skip it if you want Brett Ratner window dressing from Hollywood - it's not for you then.

will lee This powerful film just took top honors at the Tribeca Film Festival, winning in the category of best narrative feature. All the competitors were first-time feature directors, so don't expect Bertollucci here, but this is a view of working-class Chinese characters that will grip you from start to finish. Thankfully, the programmers at this festival are daring enough to support this film in spite of the Chinese government's ban on it. Let's hope it findsdistribution soon.Why do we love movie gangsters? What is it about the good-badman thatdraws us in to Cagney at his selfish best, or a zillion noir protagonists? All of that is here, and more in the writing, and the low-key acting never threatens to spoil the bleak mood, either. This is DETOUR, PATHS OF GLORY, SWEETSIXTEEN (Ken Loach's latest) territory. The scene where the two miners singkaraoke, wasted with two sex workers in a cheap brothel is enough to make agovernment blacklist and everyone's else's must-see list at the same time.These men have spent their lives being exploited by crooked mine owners andare fighting back in a crude and _extremely_ callous way, and the reserve with which the scene plays out conveys so much more than even the best socialistrealism of Sayles' MATEWAN ever did. (A great film in its' own right, don't get me wrong. But the situations for coal miners depicted in BLIND SHAFT are allthe more sobering since it is contemporary.) Don't sweat the ending of a tale like this. First-time directors should always get a pass on wrapping a film up. If they get the characters across convincingly (and here they do) then what comes in the last reel hardly matters. Gangsters back in the day knew enough to leave a theater before the moral was delivered. The real message is in the body of a film, where the mirror is held up to real life.