Cliff Walkers

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Zhang Yimou directs. Zhao Xiaoding behind the camera. Cho Young-wuk scores. Li Yongyi cuts. Produced in China, Hong Kong. Dialogue in Turkish, Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 5 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Turkish, Mandarin.
• 3International production across 2 countries: China, Hong Kong.
• 4Directed by Zhang Yimou, shot by Zhao Xiaoding. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Cho Young-wuk. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Li Yongyi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Zhang Yi and Yu Hewei and Qin Hailu carry the top of the cast.
• 8IMDB entry: tt11448076 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Zhao Xiaoding

Original score

Cho Young-wuk

Editing

Li Yongyi

Runtime

120 min · 2h 0m

Status

Released

Box office

$172,919,448

Original language

ZH

IMDB

Cliff Walkers (2021) ↗

Also by

Zhang Yimou

• 
  庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年联欢活动

  2019 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Beijing 2008 Olympic Closing Ceremony

  2008 · ★ 8.6
• 
  To Live

  1994 · ★ 8.1
• 
  Puccini: Turandot at the Forbidden City of Beijing

  1999 · ★ 8.0
• 
  最忆是杭州

  2016 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Beijing 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony

  2008 · ★ 7.9

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Cliff Walkers - Official International Trailer (2021) English Sub

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Pietro Carrara2021-07-27
  ★ 8/10

  Cliff Walkers follows 4 Chinese spies trying to reach the Japanese-dominated city of Harbin, where they should await for further instructions. However, the Japanese are aware of their plans, and send their agents to infiltrate and sabotage the mission. This film has spies doing what they do best: handling information. The first scene has the protagonists split into 2 groups, with no radios or other ways to contact each other. In a following scene, when one of the groups learns that they're being watched, they must pass this information to their teammates without busting their identity. In another, they must schedule a meeting without seeing each other. The challenge of transmitting/receiving information is the base for the whole movie. The Japanese suspects they have a mole, so they're also careful when sharing information among them. The film goes back and forth like this, alternating between scenes following the Japanese or Chinese teams. All the characters are smart, and will play tricks to withhold or extract information from others. The tension starts at the 10-minute mark and lasts throughout the session. It feels exactly how a spy movie should. While the writer has said this is a movie where spies are "portrayed as people with emotions", I couldn't connect with any of the characters. But I wouldn't say this is a bad thing, I actually think it's good. There are moments where the tension will ease and the characters will shed tears or talk about their past, but they represent a minor slice of the movie's length (it lasts 2 hours). They use just enough time so that you don't feel like you're watching emotionless robots. But this means that the time not being used to make the spies more human is being used to build up the tension, which represents the absolute best aspect of this film. Unfortunately, I can't say I enjoyed the movie to it's fullest. There were moments where I couldn't absorb new information fast enough. All the characters wear the same clothes, which makes it kinda hard to know who is who. This leads to scenes where you don't understand what just happened. A character/event flowchart would be a welcome companion while watching it. From what I've been able to research, this is actually a prequel to the 2012 TV show "悬崖" (Cliff) by the same writer, Quan Yongxian. In an interview, he said that in 2015 he had written the script for this prequel as a 60-episode show. If this had been a TV show – or even a book –, where things could flow in a more friendly pace, this would've been an absolute must-watch. Overall, it's a very good movie, and I recommend anyone interested to watch it. Even though you'll scratch your head sometimes and may wish to rewind a bit to understand what is happening, the movie is perfectly enjoyable without an aforementioned flowchart.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Emperor Motion Pictures

  HK

• 

  Shanghai Film Group

  CN

• 

  Huaxia Film Distribution

  CN

• 

  China Film Group Corporation

  CN

Key crew

• ColoristYan Li
• Production CoordinatorLi Linxuan
• Score EngineerPatrick Lemmens
• Sound MixerPatrick Lemmens
• EditorLi Yongyi
• ScriptPan Yiran
• Co-ProducerYu Xiaonan
• PresenterAlbert Yeung
• PresenterFu Ruoqing
• ProducerPang Liwei
• ProducerLuca Liang
• Executive ProducerLiang Yu
• PresenterLi Jie
• AdministrationWang Jun
• AdministrationZhao Haicheng
• Sound DirectorZhao Nan
• Sound DirectorYang Jiang
• Action DirectorJung Doo-hong

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• japan
• china
• spy
• baffled

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2021-04-30

Also known as

International titles

• Xuan ya zhi shangCN
• Cliff WalkersUS
• ImpasseUS
• Над обрывомRU
• Lucha por la libertadMX