Octopus with Broken Arms

"I won't forgive!"

2024 1h 50m ZH

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 23

CrimeMysteryThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Coinciding with a grand local holiday celebration, wealthy businessman Zheng Bingrui invites his daughter Tingting's teacher Li Huiping and a group of classmates' parents to a party at his home, but Tingting is suddenly kidnapped. Police officer Zhang Jingxian led the team to investigate the case, the kidnappers to Ting Ting life threat, requiring Zheng Li with a huge ransom to the appointment, along the way the two found the kidnapping case behind the hidden secrets ......

“I won't forgive!”

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Cast

Xiao Yang
Zheng Bingrui
Tong Liya
Li Huiping
Duan Yihong
Zhang Jingxian
Liu Yase
Yayin
Wang Longzheng
Wu Dayi
Feng Bing
Shi Fu'an
Zhou Chuchu
Tinaya
Jack Kao
Daymond

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jacky Gan
Writers: Li Peng, Wu Wenjing, Chen Sicheng
Languages: Mandarin
Countries: China, Hong Kong

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: China, Hong Kong.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Manslaughter Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jacky Gan, shot by He Shan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Hu Xiao'ou. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tang Hongjia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Xiao Yang and Tong Liya and Duan Yihong carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

AWARDS

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "I won't forgive!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jacky Gan directs. He Shan behind the camera. Hu Xiao'ou scores. Tang Hongjia cuts. Produced in China, Hong Kong. Dialogue in Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 2 years ago.
2International production across 2 countries: China, Hong Kong.
3Part of the "Manslaughter Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Jacky Gan, shot by He Shan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Hu Xiao'ou. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Tang Hongjia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Xiao Yang and Tong Liya and Duan Yihong carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "I won't forgive!".
9IMDB entry: tt32813270 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 23 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: He Shan
Original score: Hu Xiao'ou
Editing: Tang Hongjia
Costume design: Stanley Cheung Sai-Kit
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Status: Released
Original language: ZH
IMDB: Octopus with Broken Arms (2024)

Part of

Manslaughter Collection

Also by

Jacky Gan

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-01-11
★ 6/10
When the daughter of a wealthy businessman is kidnapped from his home, the police (Yihong Duan) are called just as the felons demand $100 millions as a ransom. "Zheng Bingrui" (Yang Xiao) has little faith in the authorities so decides to pay, and to follow the instructions for delivery he's getting over the phone. The girl's teacher "Li Huiping" (Liya Tong) feels partially responsible and insists on accompanying him. With cameras, trackers and microphones almost everywhere, we now follow their frankly rather preposterous journey and along the way learn a little about just what is motivating the criminals to persecute this outwardly upstanding citizen. There is plenty of action at the start, and as the underlying story starts to evolve, the plot becomes quite sophisticated in it's search for explanations and revenge, but sadly the acting isn't up to much and it really does lose it's way as it heads to a denouement that I found rather a convoluted cop out. There is one scene, incidental to most of the actual plot, that I did find subtly harrowing. A young lad is innocently bouncing up and down in his new light-up shoes whilst his mum fills out some forms at a nearby counter. Then he's gone. A victims of child kidnappers who will hope to sell him to wealthy "westerners" for up to $50,000! That's the punchy message that this film does deliver. It showcases the abhorrently profitable practice of trafficking in young children and the lengths to which parents will go, in anger and despair, to find them and or to avenge this epitome of cruelty as well as those to which the perpetrators will go regardless of the misery they cause. The octopus analogy makes sense at the end but it hasn't anywhere near the focus of something like "The Sound of Freedom" from last year. It's still worth a watch, though.

Production companies