"The Wasted Times" plays like a movie carved out of a much larger mini-series, whose segments are then shown out of order.

The majority of the characters murder or are murdered in short order, so finding someone to root for or a storyline to follow in this strangely empty Shanghai (even the train station looks abandoned) is difficult.

One of the singular achievements of this movie year.

While The Wasted Times is not quite the ordeal its title may suggest, it nevertheless makes for convoluted, impenetrable viewing.