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Guizi lai le (Devils on the Doorstep)

Guizi lai le (Devils on the Doorstep) (2000)

  • 90% of critics liked it
    (10 reviews)

  • 91% of users liked it
    (1,524 ratings)

Jiang Wen directed and stars as the hapless protagonist in this incendiary, sociopolitical satire set in a Chinese hamlet during World War II's waning days. One wintry night, peasant Ma Dasan (Wen) becomes -- at gunpoint -- the custodian of two Japanese prisoners, one a rabid, jingoistic soldier… More

Unrated,
Directed By
,
Written By
Wang Shuping, Shi Jianquan, Jiang Wen
Genres
Art House & International, Comedy
In Theaters
Jan 1, 2000 Wide
Cowboy Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • Stephen Holden, New York Times

    In its dry and forceful way, it delivers the same message as Jiri Menzel's Closely Watched Trains and Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land.

  • V.A. Musetto, New York Post

    A wild ride that effortlessly combines devilish dark humor, slapstick comedy, extreme violence and bitter satire.

  • Dennis Lim, Village Voice

    Shot in rich, shadowy black-and-white, Devils chronicles, with increasingly amused irony, the relationship between reluctant captors and befuddled captives.

  • , Hollywood Reporter

    There's a gem of an idea lurking inside this movie, but the film is burdened with an overwrought and static first hour and wild tonal fluctuation.

  • Widgett Walls, Needcoffee.com

    As the film rolls towards its conclusion, it just becomes more intense until the very end pretty much punches you in the throat.

Read all 10 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Universal D


    In every truly comic moment there is perhaps some deep, deep tragedy happening at the same time, or at least that's true in this interesting WWll tale of Japanese occupied China wherein a simple Chinese villager is forced to care for a Japanese prisoner secretly. At first the… More

  • El Hombre I


    An epic war film about the Chinese suffering under the control of their enemies in a Japanese occupation after the war. But guess what? It's also a comedy. While this may sound hard to believe, just remember that Stalag 17 and Hogan's Heroes made POW camps humorous. It… More

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