THE WASTED TIMES

China, 2016, 125 minutes, Colour.
You Ge, Ziyi Zhang, Tadanobu Asano.
Directed by Er Cheng.

This is a complex film, beautifully crafted, tracing the period in Chinese history from the mid 30s to the end of World War II.

The time structure of the film is also complex, moving backwards and forwards, making demands on the audience, their trying to identify the characters and their interactions.

The initial setting is Shanghai, a powerful businessman, his deals and his ruthlessness, ensuring business in China but also negotiating with the Japanese. This was the period of Japanese domination in China, especially with the siege of Nanking. There were also Japanese double agents in China which had repercussions for the war years.

The ruthlessness of the businessman and his associates is very strong, quite a deal of shooting of enemies.

The film focuses also on one of the Japanese at work in China, his life in Japan, wife and children, his fighting during the war, his being interned in a prisoner of war camp. He is also shown to be particularly cruel and ruthless.

Another chief character is a former actress, raped by the Japanese, used by the Chinese, coming to the prisoner of war camp in the Philippines at the end of the war, accompanied by the Chinese businessmen, the death of one of her sons, the wreaking of revenge.

The audience needs to pay attention, trying to work out the different time segments, the effect of each segment on the other, the development of the characters, the development of the business deals, the background of the war, relationships between China and Japan.

And there is quite an irony in the title.