We enter this movie as voyeurs, intruders into Xiao Jian's sewing room.We see only Xiao Jian's shadow, bent over the shadow of the sewing machine projected on a yellowish dirty wall,implying that this is going to be a story of a man projecting another life into his world a made up shadow of his real self.I see this as a movie within a movie Xiao Jian's acting out the movie in his head -- having power as a policeman.The actor gives a perfect awkwardness to Xiao glossed over with poorly contrived bravado as he intimidates commuters in deserted highways.Later he smoothly shows Xiao's increasing confidence, not in his con game, but in some kind of self-deception that he has become a real policeman.His walk is more determined,his sneakiness less nervous,more cunning. The wearing of the uniform has turned fantasy into a discovery of something in him to respect. The movie is about finding self-respect.The final Chaplinesque image of Xiao biking away confirms for me that this movie is a commentary on some specific socio-political condition in China presented in a Silent Movie mood. Xiao is cartoonish yet moves us, makes us feel for him as Chaplin's and Keaton's characters did. He is the innocent, naive Everyman caught in the turmoil of wiser men and forced to fight his way out. His policeman's uniform is the reincarnation of all those common objects Chaplin and Keaton used to throw at their pursuers. Zheng Shasha's waifish persona is a strong reminder of all those women Chaplin and Keaton's characters used to go goo-goo eyes over. This is a Silent Movie with sound and dialogue (although there are long stretches without any conversation). A movie that says a lot, simply. Cinematography is tinted like the patina of tarnished metal, greenish, darkening beginnings of rust. Gives the movie its character's mood of increasing desperation.tito a. ##