TOO COOL TO KILL

White Mulberry Award for first time director, 2022 Udine Far East Film Festival

A mobster, a filmmaker, a sister, and a struggling actor walk into a conspiracy. Wei Chenggong (Wei Xiang) has one dream, and that is to become a successful comedic actor. There’s no better way to achieve this goal than to take the first opportunity presented. Little does he know, this irrefusable role to star alongside actress Milan (Li Ma) as “Killer Karl” is nothing more than a huge scheme. Acting in his breakout role as an improv hitman in a real life mob, Chenggong acts his ass off in high stakes negotiations with the Italian mob and playing poker in the den of the wolves. In an unbelievable string of pure luck, Wei Chenggong unknowingly dodges death countless times while “filming.”

Adapting the Japanese film The Magic Hour, Xing Wenxiong gives us a goofy gangster comedy teetering the tightrope of pastiche and parody. TOO COOL TO KILL is a love letter to film, paying homage to nearly every gangster genre film you can think of…and Singin’ in the Rain. Truly owning the slapstick style comedy of his character, Wei Xiang executes the task of playing a horrible actor in an incredibly precarious situation.

—Selena Do