On this same day, a teenage boy, unrelated to the old woman, loses his grandfather, who has alzheimer's disease. Although he is helpless, he skips school and spends all day in the computer game arcade. It is a hot summer day, SARS fears are in the air and the city is anxious.
Blind Shaft (
Directed by Li Yang (
In one of the many poorly-equipped coal mines in Northern China, Song Jinming and Tang Chaoyang begin another day of hard work with Tang's brother Chaolu, who has just arrived. In the depths of a mineshaft, Song and Tang strike Chaolu with a pickaxe and kill him. They make the mine collapse and then escape from the "accident" unscathed. While pretending to lament the death, Tang and Song threaten to report the incident to the local government and police, in order to extort compensation monies from the mine's owner. Fearing exposure of the mine's illegal operations, the mine owner finally gives in to their demands.
After leaving and sending their loot home, the partners start scouting for another "relative." At the local train station, which is full of itinerant job-seekers, Tang finds another potential victim, Yuan Fengming -- a 16-year-old peasant boy from the countryside. Song believes that Yuan should not be killed as Yuan is just a kid, but Tang gets his way and the plan is carried forward. The relationship between the partners is gradually transformed by Yuan's innocence. Finally, the partners' scheme takes an unexpected turn.
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