Traces of Justice review – ‘Chinese Sherlock Holmes’ at centre of arresting forensic cop thriller

Summary

Based on real scientist Cui Daozhi, this sharp feature has thumping set pieces and knotty puzzles set across 30 years of gripping cases The latest from Chen Sicheng, prime mover behind the hit Detective Chinatown franchise , offers a disarming mix of propaganda, copaganda and gripping narrative. It’s essentially a portmanteau biopic: its hero is Cui Xun, a fictional stand-in for the venerable Cui Daozhi , a still-extant real-life figure who so revolutionised forensic science he became known as “China’s Sherlock Holmes”. Ripping three-and-a-bit tales from the casebook – involving a 1970s child…

Description from The Guardian.