Good Morning Beijing

A micro-budgeted indie, this cross-cuts between two distinct stories which may or may not be related. A man hires a hardbitten private detective to help him find and release his kidnapped girlfriend. They spend the entire night criss-crossing Beijing, from one supposed rendez-vous point to the next, and eventually resort to a fortune teller for advice. Meanwhile a young woman is pressed into service as a prostitute alongside other women; they service generally elderly men in a locked, windowless apartment. Both strands are based on fact, and the film as a whole certainly reflects the current lawlessness on China's city streets and in the sex industry in particular. If the film ultimately seems to go round in circles as hopelessly as its protagonists do, it's brought alive by the performance of Sun Peng as the worldly, laconic PI.