THE EQUATION OF LOVE AND DEATH (China, 2008)
Directed by: Cao Baoping
Starring: Zhou Xun, Deng Chao, Zhang Hanyu

"Sometimes deception can be charity," stern cop Zhang Hanyu tells hard-bitten cabbie Zhou Xun, but neither of them believe it; by the end of Cao Baoping's daylight noir, THE EQUATION OF LOVE AND DEATH, they might feel differently.  Part romance, part thriller, part existential meditation, EQUATION's serpentine twists and turns camouflage a devilishly simple story about self-described "mediocre people" and lost love told with elegant economy.Addled, disheveled and somewhat frenzied taxi driver Li-Mi (Xun) has been looking for her missing boyfriend Fang-Wen (Deng Chao, of ASSEMBLY) for four years, and gives every fare she picks up the third degree about his whereabouts, showing off her John Hinckley-esque scrapbook of photos and memorabilia while calculating and re-calculating how long he has been gone in relation to his fifty-four letters home.  Li-Mi could do this dance with herself forever, but everything changes when she picks up two strange men (Wang Baoqiang and Wang Hanyui) who want to be dropped off in the middle of the freeway.  One body, a car crash and a chance encounter later, Li-Mi finds herself a prisoner in her own cab, destination unknown, on a collision course of causality and probability leading right back to Fang-Wen.  But will she like what she finds?The film's unquestionable star is Zhou Xun, who took Best Actress at the Asian Film Awards for her stunning performance.  Shattering her own image as a romantic leading lady, Xun eschewed makeup and soft focus for an unpretentious turn as the foul-mouthed, chain-smoking Li-Mi; you can feel every inch of her ragged, nails-bitten-down-to-the-cuticles intensity coursing through your veins, leaving no room for gauzy Cantopop valentines or glamorous pans and romantic dissolves.  Zhou is your passport to the cosmic chain of events that form the narrative, and she holds your attention as unrelentingly and viscerally as a blade pressed against your jugular.  THE EQUATION OF LOVE AND DEATH is Cao Baoping's second feature, and his camera fixes on its subjects with a rhythm that reflects their moods, following their every placid, glassy ebb and jagged jump-cut flow as Li-Mi and her captors alike struggle with manic desperation and feelings of helplessness.  Li-Mi may be on the hunt for Fang-Wen, but virtually every character in the picture is desperately seeking something or someone, and has been forced to somehow compromise in order to continue to exist in the autocannibaliizing urban sprawl.  Li-Mi tells us that she is "mediocre," but the unspoken question pertains to the system that makes sure she and the rest of the tale's motley crew stay that way.  Over half the people we meet in the film are either madmen or criminals, so why do they all feel like victims?