The Bird People in China

“The children of the sky.”

Wada (Masahiro Motoki) is a salaryman who wants to prove himself, so he accepts a trip to China to check on a possible jade mine. Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi), a violent but sentimental yakuza, tags along to collect on a debt, and Shen (Mako) guides the three of them on a long, miserable road toward the mine. Takashi Miike's quietest film is about how easily a person can lose his old life, and how little he may want it back.