Filmbath Festival 2023 – Lost In The Stars

Hitchcock would be proud of this terrifically twisty and entangled mystery thriller, which proves that Chinese cinema can do anything Hollywood can do – or better. This is familiar territory – a missing wife, police who are not interested in the case, and any number of leads that may be dead ends or red herrings. But it is a narrative that never fails to grip. Who do we trust? What do we believe?

He Fei’s wife, Li Muzi, has disappeared while they’re on holiday. The police couldn’t care less. He Fei is desperate, but he wakes up in their hotel the next morning to find a woman next to him in bed. His wife? Well, she says she is, and she has the evidence to prove it. But he is convinced that it’s not his wife, and gets increasingly enraged when she says she is.

A helpful policeman, a hotshot lawyer and a whole array of oddball characters join the fun, as we try to work out what is happening. Beautifully shot in an exotic island environment, with multiple (possibly) unreliable flashbacks, Lost In The Stars makes for a riveting two hours, during which we, the audience, are tossed back and forth between doubt and conviction. Ridiculously enjoyable.

The film outperformed Indiana Jones in its home country.