PARTNERS IN CRIME | 共犯 (Taiwan/Hong Kong, 2014)
Directed by: Chang Jung-chi
Starring: Wu Chien-ho, Teng Yu-kai, Cheng Kai-yuan, Yao Ai-ning
When a schoolgirl takes a swan dive off her balcony, she hits the street right in front of three classmates who are total strangers. Convinced that there’s more to her suicide than meets the eye, these kids team up Veronica Mars–style to investigate her death. But instead of being a whodunnit, the bottom falls out of everything, one death leads to another, and life becomes a nightmare. Shot through with sudden flashes of light and set in a high school inexplicably located in the middle of a steaming jungle, Partners in Crime is what might happen if David Lynch directed River’s Edge. The film is much more than the sum of its parts, and the mystery at the heart of the story isn’t why did a kid kill herself, but why do we all feel so alone even when we’re in a crowd.