Deadline

A suicide note alarms a prestigious school focused on nothing but excellence. Was it a bad joke, or is there a life in danger? As the mystery unravels, the cracks in the system presumed perfect start showing and priorities are reshuffled.

En-Shan High School is a prestigious private school boasting a perfect system of evaluating not only students’ but also teachers’ performance – a school where excellence is the only mindset acceptable. Seven days before the final exams, hundreds of copies of an anonymous letter fill the halls, announcing that if the exams go on, a student will commit suicide. The school is in panic. Who wrote the letter? Is it a sick joke of one of the underperforming students? Or could a student really feel that way? Then again, who could that be?

Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow knows the school situation up close and personal and Deadline draws from his experience. A breathtaking suspense drama, the film is a critique of the system as well as a broader reflection on authority, respect, obedience and rebellion – offering a warning, as well as encouragement and solace. Set in an impressive, real-life university building, Deadline stuns with every image, every movement, every character and every performance, and it lingers long after leaving the cinema.

– kijA

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