A TOUCH OF SIN DIVIDES CRITICS AT CANNES

Once controversial Chinese director Zhang Ke Jia's new film A Touch of Sin premiered at Cannes earlier today, and has attracted a lot of attention for its strong violence and stinging critique of contemporary Chinese society. Surprisingly, it's his first studio project, and is also being labelled as his most mainstream to date.

Reactions from the British press have, thus far, been quite positive: Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian uses terms such as 'bitter, jagged, brutal', although not as criticism, and, despite its high violent content, Robbie Collin at The Telegraph comments on the film's stateliness. American critics have largely been less complimentary: although praising the cinematography, The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney is somewhat unaffected by A Touch of Sin, and Variety's Justin Chang is disappointed by the director's change of tone and pace. But better reports come from Jordan Cronk at Slant, and Fionnuala Halligan at ScreenDaily.