On DVD: A World Without Thieves

Directed By: Xiaogang Feng

Starring: Andy Lau, Rene Liu, You Ge, Baoqiang Wang and Bingbing Li

Another beautiful Asian film from Tartan Extreme

The Movie

A World Without Thieves opens up with our protagonists, Wang Bo played by Andy Lau, and Wang Liu played by Rene Liu,covering ground in a late model BMW. They start out on a freshly paved six lane expressway and end up on some lonely gravel roads. The worse the road gets the better the scenery becomes as they travel seemingly without a destination. In an economical bit of cinema we get the impression that Bo and Liu are a couple and partners in crime. Liu seems to sense that they are getting a little long in the tooth for what they are doing, but Bo thinks he's still in his prime. The further from civilization they get the more distant they seem to become till Liu announces that she's had enough and wants out. She wants to lead a “normal life”. Bo is amused and attributes the sentiment to altitude sickness since they are at that point in the mountains. About this time the  credits wrap up to reveal a gorgeous sunrise, or it could be a sunset I guess, just as they come to a point overlooking a valley housing a small town and a Buddhist Temple. In a beautiful shot the sun breaks thorough the clouds and shines down on the Temple and the whole valley is suffused in gold light.

At the Temple Liu prays sincerely while Bo does his magic. Literally. There are no normal thieves in this movie, everybody is a Master in pickpocket fu. Feng manages to make picking pockets look as cool as a gunfight or car chase. While Bo is accepting contributions he notices another petty thief who makes stealing a cell phone look like magic. This thief, Xiao Ye, played by Bingbing Li, is as beautiful as she is skilled. Things come to a head for Liu and Bo after they leave the temple and Liu ends up alone on the side of the road.

Liu is literally out in the middle of nowhere on a two track dirt road. There is almost no traffic and what traffic there is shows no interest in helping her out until the walking mcguffin of the film rides up on a bicycle. Sha Gen or Dumbo as he's named in the subtitles is played by Baogiang Wang. Dumbo is an orphan who works with a construction gang that travels repairing Temples.  So Dumbo stops and gives Liu a ride to the nearest town. The town they come to has a train station so Liu goes to the train station where she happens to bump into Bo who was there looking for her. Also at the train station is Xiao Ye, who happens to be a member of a gang of pickpockets and petty thieves. Into this mix add Liu's new friend Dumbo. Dumbo has just made up his mind that he wants to go home to his village, build a house and find a wife so he is taking the the train back to his home village with his payout for six years of repairing Temples. Dumbo who maybe the bumpkinest bumpkin to ever appear on screen in an example of his extreme bumpkinism announces to a room full of thieves that he is traveling with a large sum of money.

Liu's maternal instincts kick in and she makes up her mind that she is going to protect Dumbo from everybody, including Bo, especially Bo.

With a name like A World Without Thieves   I was expecting more of a caper movie but this is straight up melodrama. Wonderful, glorious, unashamed melodrama, and Feng lays it on with every tool in his grasp. It's not just the story but the editing, the effects, and the soundtrack. At poignant moments Feng provides haunting piano ballads or cellos. In the pickpocket fu battles he cues up some spicy Latin tunes. It should seem over the top and it probably is to some, but I think what kept it from going over the line for me was the sheer beauty of what was on the screen and the sincerity of the performances. Everybody was great, but perhaps Baogiang Wang was the most impressive. Dumbo like I said before might be the biggest bumpkin in movie history but Wang made him believable as well as likable. 

8/10

The Video

The video quality is excellent. The transfer was done from a perfect print. The colors are vivid and rich, the blacks are black. There are several scenes where an almost florescent red object stands against a background of a much more subdued color and I only noticed any kind of bloom once. Aside from a few scenes that I'm fairly certain were  intentional I never noticed any kind of graininess.  The video is about as close to perfect as I've seen.  The only criticism I can come up with is some of the CGI looked a little cheesy, but I don't really think you can fault Tartan Extreme for that.

10/10

The Audio

There are three audio tracks; Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, DTS Surround Sound 5.1 and stereo all in Mandarin. You have your choice of English or Spanish subtitles. The mix has a large  dynamic range, but I did not find myself constantly fiddling with the volume, of course I do live  alone. The dialog was always crisp and never covered up by the score or sound effects. I never noticed any distortion even during the loudest moments.

9/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD is packaged in a standard amaray case. The arts kind of your standard floating head variety, but hey these are mighty attractive heads. There are no commentaries but there is a making of featurette, some deleted scenes and some trailers for other Tartan Extreme releases. A little disappointing for a contemporary film, I've come to expect a little more from Tartan's releases.

6/10

All in all a great DVD. Even if the melodrama bugs you a little bit this is one gorgeous movie, just mute it and let it play in the background.  I loved it and can't wait to see more stuff from Xiaogang Feng

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

The Review

The Movie 8.5/10

The Video 9/10

The Audio 8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 8/10

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

-Stephen Lackey