Design of Death

A stone village wedged into the mountains of southwest China in the early 1940s. What the village prides itself on is long life: everyone here lives to be old. Niu Jieshi is a man who gives nobody any peace; he breaks the rules and annoys everyone. His death is put down at first to an infectious disease. As the investigation goes on it becomes clear that everyone in the village had a reason. Guan Hu directed the film from Chen Tiejun's novel. Its Chinese title means "to kill a living thing". The telling starts like a murder puzzle, but its real subject is the community: how a group of people come to an understanding about removing someone who disturbs the order. Huang Bo takes the lead and plays the part almost as physical comedy.