Taiwan thriller impresses mainland audiences

Illustration: Chen Xia/Global Times

The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon, a crime film from Taiwan released on Friday, has taken audiences in the Chinese mainland by surprise with its black humor and dark thrills. Gang crime, violence, religion, cult, self-redemption… Many claim the film has great potential to become a dark horse at the box office after China's 2024 Spring Festival film season.

The crime thriller featuring Ethan Juan was directed by Hong Kong director Wong Ching-po. It was first released in Taiwan in October 2023. It is among the small amount of films from Taiwan that have received theatrical releases in the Chinese mainland recently. The film garnered positive reviews after advance screenings and its attraction continues to spread after its official release on March 1 in the Chinese mainland. Its box office has quickly surpassed 100 million yuan ($14.07 million) by Sunday afternoon, according to Chinese online ticketing platform Maoyan.

The film's Chinese title is Zhou Chu Chu Sanhai, which can be literally translated as "Zhou Chu eliminates the three evils." The modern crime film does a successful job in adapting the classic Chinese ancient folk tale of Zhou Chu. The story of the legendary figure was documented in the Jin Dynasty (265-420) historical text Book of Jin and historical compilation A New Account of the Tales of the World. Zhou was an infamous villain, and was considered by local people as the three greatest evils along with a dragon and a tiger. To get rid of the three evils, local people encouraged Zhou to kill the two beasts in the hope that the three would all die while fighting each other. 

Zhou spent days fighting with the dragon and the tiger, so the local people thought the three evils had all died and they started celebrating. Upon his return, when Zhou discovered the reason for the celebration, he began to feel remorse for his past mistakes and decided to start over by doing good deeds for self-redemption. 

Set in Taiwan, the film focuses on a notorious hitman and fugitive who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six months to live. The third most-wanted criminal in Taiwan, he decides to hunt down and eliminate the top two criminals to contribute to the public good.

The influence of Buddhism can also be traced in the story as well as the film's English title. 

The three poisons, or the three unwholesome roots in Buddhism, refer to delusion, greed and hate. The three poisons are symbolically drawn at the center of many Buddhist wheel artworks, with the pigeon, snake, and pig representing the three poisons, respectively. In the film, while the protagonist is determined to redeem himself by doing the right thing, he underestimates the lure of the three poisons, which turns out to be the real sins and punishments he must confront at the end of his life.

The film also incorporates elements from true crime and the figure of Liu Huan-jong, a gangster in Taiwan who was executed in 1993, further expanding the film's dimensions. 

According to a poster released by the film's official account on China's X-like Sina Weibo on February 26, the film earned a 8.4/10 on Chinese media review site Douban shortly after its advance screenings. It became one of the highest-rated Chinese-language crime action films on Douban in nearly 11 years. With positive reviews flooding in after its official release, many believe the film will become the dark horse for the box office after the 2024 Spring Festival film season.

In 2023, a number of domestic crime films hit theaters. Unlike many of these films, The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon is less commercialized and it focuses more on visual storytelling with an artistic tone, which makes it further stand out. Suo Yabin, a professor at the Communication University of China, said that compared to the large number of crime thrillers in the Chinese movie market, The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon holds its distinctive features in all aspects such as storytelling, character creation and tone. 

Given the strong start, it is very exciting for people to see if The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon can continue charging forward and become a dark horse at the box office. It also sends a very invigorating signal that Taiwan film producers are very welcome to embrace the broad market of Chinese mainland cinema, with their great works to further strengthen cross-Straits bonds.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. [email protected]