A Touch of Sin
Koch Lorber Films | Release Date: October 4, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 3, 2013
A blistering fictionalized tale straight out of China, A Touch of Sin is at once monumental and human scale. Read full review
100
Slant MagazineChris CabinSep 28, 2013
As depicted by Jia Zhang-ke, the balance between the spoils and moral rot of murder are far preferable to the debasing rigors of tradition and hollow nationalism. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 2, 2013
The bloodshed is fast and brutal — the flash of a knife, a splash of crimson in a backseat, an opening robbery gone horrifically awry. There’s even a little Tarantino in the staging, as when a blood-splattered wallflower unleashes her Kill Bill-style vengeance straight into the camera lens. Read full review
90
NPRMark JenkinsOct 4, 2013
A Touch of Sin is the most dramatic and even lurid of writer-director Jia Zhangke's movies. The film-festival star hasn't quite become a Chinese Tarantino, however. Read full review
90
Film.comCalum MarshSep 23, 2013
Part of what’s so invigorating about A Touch of Sin is its refusal to betray the depth of its intellectual ambition, deferring when needed to generic convention and relishing the entertainment which follows. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenFeb 1, 2020
As a director, Jia constructs sparsely edited scenes built upon long, single takes—nothing showy, just patient, uninterrupted attention given to the characters in a way that feels empathetic and mournful. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsNov 21, 2013
A Touch of Sin is humanist critique of the country’s turn to capitalism. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJul 8, 2017
It’s a harrowing and impressive accomplishment (especially considering potential government censorship), and it shows how, in its mad rush toward modernity, China has become a land of haves and have-nots, where income inequality and lack of opportunity have made a mockery of the nation’s purported ideals. Sound familiar? Read full review
83
The Film StageForrest CardamenisJul 8, 2017
What we have may be Jia’s most accessible work, but the careful framing and editing that matches cuts to abrupt changes in soundscape prove to be the real treat. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyJul 8, 2017
What keeps gratuitousness at bay is Zhangke’s controlled style and empathy for the have-nots Read full review
80
CineVueDaniel GreenMay 21, 2014
It's been some time since a drama has tackled the moral complexities of revenge quite so brutally - and so well - with each character offering a different perspective on China's crippling corruption and ethical decay that's depressingly common, yet rarely reported. Read full review
80
EmpireSimon CrookMay 12, 2014
There's more than a nod to King Hu's Touch Of Zen as Zhangke unleashes a four-fisted chunk of ultraviolent fury. Tarantino would approve. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 4, 2013
This is a bitter, jagged, disaffected drama, pessimistic about China, pessimistic about the whole world. One characters asks another if he ever feels like travelling abroad. "Why would I?" he replies. "Everywhere is broke. Foreigners come here now." Jia Zhang-ke's movie gives us a brutal unwelcome. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirNov 4, 2013
Anyone interested in the current state of China should see it, and it may open up this remarkable filmmaker to a larger audience. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 10, 2013
A Touch of Sin, the powerful if uneven new film by highly regarded Chinese director Jia Zhangke, is a corrosive depiction of the New China. Read full review
80
The DissolveScott TobiasOct 2, 2013
A Touch Of Sin stumbles in the coda, which makes the themes embedded in its title too explicit, but it’s a bold, invigorating statement from a director who keeps reinventing himself. Read full review
80
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekOct 1, 2013
In A Touch of Sin, Jia is attuned to, and saddened by, the violence he sees creeping through his country, caused at least partly by the ever-widening disparity between rich and poor. He ends on a note that's more haunting than hopeful. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichOct 1, 2013
There’s a sense that all the thematic messiness is intentional, a way for Jia to diagnose the ills of a country whose economic and social fabric is wilting under the effects of rapid modernization. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 27, 2013
[A] stately and ambitious ensemble drama. Read full review
75
Paste MagazineTim GriersonJul 8, 2017
Sadly, A Touch of Sin isn’t a movie that will have any trouble translating to other cultures. If anything, it’s upsetting how much Jia’s dark tale of murder, retribution and suicide echoes similar issues within America’s contentious class system. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 8, 2017
The time for poetry is past, the director seems to say, as his camera looks deep into the eyes of the mob in the film’s final image. The chaos may be just be getting started. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoJan 4, 2014
Jia is passionate about his characters, but that never compromises his considerable artistic control. Read full review
75
Washington PostJohn DeForeNov 21, 2013
Some sequences...depict gunplay that wouldn’t be out of place in a conventional crime film. But Jia offers a stark presentation (no music, few edits) that discourages vicarious thrills; the violence is startling, not cool. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMarsha McCreadieOct 4, 2013
It's not a pretty picture, but it's a compelling one. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeOct 3, 2013
A Touch of Sin is by no means subtle, but it is composed with a passion and sinuous grace that makes it far more effective than many other sincere message movies. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyOct 3, 2013
A Touch of Sin is a distinct departure, dipping into the pulpy martial arts tradition in a scathing portrait of post-Maoist China, where money is the new religion and horrific violence is its by-product. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJul 8, 2017
Sin, more stylized than the director’s previous work, is also more detached. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangMay 27, 2013
There’s a certain pleasure to be had in seeing a revered auteur go off the disreputable deep end, and there’s no denying A Touch of Sin packs a visceral wallop. Read full review
50
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 27, 2013
The people of Jia’s film are mysterious, their reactions and motivations, outside of that first segment in which we get the best-drawn and therefore most anomalous character, are all but unknowable. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 27, 2013
Tonal inconsistency, lethargic pacing and a shortage of fresh insight dilute the storytelling efficacy of this quartet of loosely interconnected episodes involving ordinary people pushed over the edge. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonGuy LodgeMay 27, 2013
If the final effect is somewhat less nuanced than his previous work, it's a good deal more vigorous. Read full review
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