The Soul

The owner of a technology company is found dead in his laboratory. Prosecutor Liang, who takes the case, is seriously ill himself and in treatment. As the investigation goes on, research into the transfer of consciousness turns out to lie behind the killing. Cheng Wei-hao directed. Chang Chen plays Liang, Janine Chang his wife. The source is a novel by Jiang Bo. The film mixes genres in a way Taiwanese cinema rarely does: crime, science fiction, and eastern medicine's understanding of the spirit. It begins like a murder case and moves in its second half entirely to questions of body and identity: does carrying a consciousness into another body count as keeping that person alive. The visual language is cold and blue; the laboratory and the hospital share one aesthetic. It runs over two hours and the pace sags in places, but the explanation in the final section makes you reread the whole film. Who it is for: viewers who like science fiction and crime together. Who it is not for: anyone wanting fast thrills; this is slow and talkative.