Underplayed Gems

Trap Street (2013)

Trap Street poster
Original title
水印街
Directed by
Vivian Qu
Genre
drama film, mystery film
Country
People's Republic of China
Runtime
1h 33m
Rating
6.6 of 10 from 15 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young surveyor who helps install CCTV cameras becomes infatuated with a woman he meets while mapping a street. After she disappears, he uses his skills to track her down, only to find the street has been erased from digital records and camera footage.

suspensefulmelancholiccerebralslow-burnlonelymysteriousunsettlingcontemplative

What happens

Trap Street (Chinese: 水印街; pinyin: Shuiyin jie) is a 2013 Chinese film written and directed by debut Chinese film director Vivian Qu and starring Lu Yulai and He Wenchao. It premiered at the 2013 Venice International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the prestigious Luigi De Laurentiis Award. It subsequently won the Dragons and Tigers Award - Special Mention and second place in the Award itself at the Vancouver International Film Festival in the same year, and the Grand Jury Prize at the Boston Independent Film Festival in early 2014. The film tells the story of a young digital map-making surveyor, working for a digital mapping company, who in his spare time helps install CCTV cameras. He becomes infatuated with a young woman who works at a mysterious building in a street he has recently mapped. After establishing what appears to be a growing friendship, he loses contact with her. Determined to find her by using his computing and electronic skills, he discovers that the street has mysteriously disappeared from the electronic record, and the CCTV images of it are not accessible. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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