A powerful, gripping drama about a policeman with a troubled past, Tears describes a world where guilt and revenge coexist with the possibility of redemption. Director Cheng Wen-tang’s passionate commitment to unearthing Taiwan’s repressive history sears this tale with an unmistakable moral authority. Guo—divorced, short-tempered and near retirement—seems like a pretty good bad cop. On the one hand, he instructs his younger colleagues in the finer points of interrogation and torture from the days when Taiwan was a repressive police state. On the other, he dedicates himself to solving the suspicious overdose of a young woman, an investigation that leads him through a morass of tea-sipping gangsters and underground collusion. When not on the case, he frequently visits two “betelnut girls,” scantily clad young women who sell the chewable snack from a roadside stall, and his protection comes in handy when they’re harassed by local toughs. Part thriller, part policier, part subdued family melodrama, Cheng’s complex film balances its various elements with authority and confidence. This is a film that restores one’s faith in the tradition of serious cinema in Taiwan, where art and politics go hand in hand to craft works of urgent import and serious beauty.


U.S. Premiere. Written by Cheng Wen-tang, Cheng Jin-fen, Chang I-feng. Photographed by Feng Hsin-hua. With Tsai Chen-nan, Huang Jian-wei, Serena Fang, Enno Chang. (111 min, Joint Entertainment)