“Curbing Violence” Poster
Was 2024 the year the Chinese web movie discovered irony? For a production titled Curbing Violence there are more bottles smashed over heads than is possible to count, bodies are frequently thrown into inanimate objects, and faces regularly subjected to a barrage of punches. Not that I’m complaining. With a scene stealing villainous turn in Black Storm from the same year, here Bao Beier (Journey to the West: Demon Chapter) reunites with director Qin Pengfei (Wings of Dread) for a production that essentially makes his superstition obsessed bad guy the main character (to the point said character is even given centre billing on the poster).
With ailing health and a pregnant wife, we meet Beier’s ride hailing app entrepreneur during his visit to a trusted monk, who advises a debilitating aura has attached itself to him. Apparently such auras spread from the head down, so in an amusingly specific explanation, the monk reveals that his body needs to be cleansed before it reaches his philtrum. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie where discussion about a philtrum is featured so prominently. Painting his body with a protective sutra, the other activity Beier needs to complete in order to be cleansed is to have intercourse with a female born on a specific day. Where to find such a female? Of course, thanks to economical storytelling contrivances, there just so happens to be a poor single mother driver who works at the same company with the exact birthday Beier needs to work his charms on.
Played by Zhao Xi Xi (Sunny Sisters), a company event is held as a pretence for the pair to meet, in which she’s given The Most Beautiful Female Driver Award (I’m not sure if Uber has a similar award category?), and Beier has the excuse to accompany her home to take some “publicity photos”. When Xi Xi rejects his advances though she ends up raped Continue reading →
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