Released from prison after serving 20 years on trumped-up charges, world-weary Sheng Li (Jiang Wu, NYAFF 2018 Star Asia Award recipient) seeks out his accuser. However, wrath quickly turns to sympathy as he agrees to kidnap her boss’ son so she can have her own retribution. Director Wang Yichun follows her revelatory debut What’s in the Darkness (NYAFF 2016) with a deliriously biting satire of class, ambition and moral turpitude. With everyone under the eyes of ubiquitous cameras, the boy’s parents, supposedly the film’s most lawful characters, ironically can’t see the forest for the trees. Mistaking their young son’s altruism as a mental deficiency is just one shining example of Wang’s astute social critique. Sharp attention to detail includes a strikingly resonant close-up of a half-dead fly under a glass. Such visual flair is further evidenced by Wang’s dynamic framing, surreal cinematic devices, and evocative production design, which render this wholly original juxtaposition of cynicism and hopeless romanticism a modern masterpiece.