Li (Xiao Yang, Detective Chinatown) and his wife A Yu (Tan Zhuo, The Bravest) run a small business in Thailand and enjoy a happy home life with their two daughters. When their eldest daughter is violently assaulted, blackmailed and left traumatised by another student, her parents intervene, leading to a dead body which needs to be hidden, and every trace of the boy buried to cover up the accident. However, the missing boy’s parents, dogged detective La Wen (Joan Chen, Marco Polo, Lust, Caution) and mayoral candidate Du Peng (Philip Keung, Blind Detective) are pushing the local police to turn over every rock to find the truth, stopping at nothing until their missing son is found.
I'll start by saying this is one of my favourite films this year a tight and taut thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. There aren't so many great thriller films or those that try to take you on a thrill ride by Sheep without a Shepherd does just that. A film that manages to keep you on that edge not knowing if they will get away with it or if they will be caught by Joan Chen who just steals the show for me as a woman on a mission to find her son at all costs and its a wonderful performance.
Xiao Yang and Tan Zhou both put in strong performances that are either end of the scale, from a dramatic focused and steely determined husband to a wife who is protecting her daughter but is just a heartbeat away from letting slip and their world being torn apart.
Like a say this is a thriller that will thrill you, excite you and keep you biting those nails to the final reel. A Must See.