The Post-Truth World review: A mediocre murder mystery >

In the Taiwanese thriller The Post-Truth World, a baseball player who has spent almost seven years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit escapes to prove his innocence. He receives assistance from Liu Li-min, a frantic journalist, during this procedure. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

A baseball star player named Zhang Zheng-Yi is in jail after killing his lover Wang Shi-Yun. The media portrays him as a man with a very short fuse who killed his own lover.

After 7 years, Zheng-Yi sneaks out of jail and kidnaps Liu Li-min, a previously well-known media personality. To regain the fame in his profession that he once had, Liu begins his own independent investigation into the murder that happened at the stadium.

Liu starts investigating his wife Hsu Ya-Jing, who passed away from an illness years before, after Zheng-Yi admits that her article accusing Zheng-Yi was on Shi-Yun’s secret phone.

Zheng-Yi strikes Fu Lin hard in an effort to question him because he thinks Fu Lin was somehow involved in Shi-Yun’s death and that it was Fu Lin who sent individuals to rob Liu of his home.

An audio tape of Shi-Yun pleading with Ya-Jing not to publish Zheng-Yi’s drug test results so that Zheng-career Yi’s won’t be ruined is played by the chief editor of TrueNews.

Liu and Zheng-Yi visit the hospital in the middle of the night to speak with the geriatric woman who cleaned the baseball park and the person who recognised Zheng-Yi as the murderer.

They capture Jing-An, her grandson who was caring for her in the hospital and who had acknowledged killing Shi-Yun.

Zheng-Yi murders Jing-An by stabbing him despite Liu’s efforts to stop him. Shi-Yun’s murderer Jing-An and his grandmother were found guilty, while Zheng-Yi was exonerated.

Performances

The film as a whole hangs together thanks to some outstanding performances, and the rather enigmatic ending pays off.

It is Liu Li-min, played by Hsiao-chuan Chang, who propels the narrative. He seems natural at playing the stereotype of the obstinate, dishonest reporter, eschewing morality in order to obtain the news.

He nevertheless manages to project the image of a sympathetic hero despite his shortcomings and dubious activities being a media person.

Zhang Zheng-Yi is rendered by Edward Chen as having two distinct characters. When he is with his girlfriend, he shows himself as a very happy man, but he also has a melancholy and spiteful side which is shown once he breaks out of jail.

Each character had an intriguing role to perform, and the casting was good. Without the dedication of the whole supporting ensemble, the film would not have worked.

Positives

A traditional murder mystery narrative forms the core of this story. The scenario has all it needs for a gripping narrative— a suspicious family, inept cops, unreliable witnesses, and people getting conned.

The movie’s premise is so well-crafted that it keeps the viewers intrigued in the chaotic setting. The plot does a fantastic job at delaying its reveal and avoiding rushed or arbitrary conclusions.

Though it is amusing enough, the picture provokes contemplation because of the major characters’ subtle intricacy.

Negatives

The tale doesn’t truly lead to the culprit, even though the perpetrator is only revealed at the very end of the film. The entire narrative introduces the spectator to a new group of characters who were not involved in the mystery.

It will be challenging for viewers to draw conclusions or process the ending because the killer and the other characters had no relation to one another.

The narrative included a killer who was not actually relevant to the revelations and major plot since the movie fell under the murder mystery genre.

The plot involved drug trafficking and dishonest journalistic reporting and had nothing to do with a murder. All the other components of the film deteriorate because the film is so preoccupied with hiding the identity of the true perpetrator.

When the emotions are at their peak, it may seem as though the audience is watching a completely separate movie.

Verdict

In The Post-Truth World, the audience will be left wondering about what they have heard so far and where the plot is going next with each new revelation. Although it might not be the ideal thriller that the viewers had hoped for, they won’t may not consider it a complete waste.