Five characters — a tough lovelorn female cabbie, two inept smugglers from the countryside, a man of multiple personas and a baffled policeman are all caught up together in this fast-paced Chinese thriller.

The New Wave of Chinese filmmaking is very much alive in this edgy, exhilarating urban tale about five strangers all strangely intertwined with each other. Innovatively directed by Cao Baoping, this puzzle of a film stars Zhou Xun as Li Mi, a tough, foul-mouthed chain-smoking cab driver obsessed with her long missing fiancé. Though it’s been four years since she last saw him, Li Mi continues to cling to his letters and photos. She grills all who enter her cab if they know his whereabouts. When two bungling hicks and would-be drug smugglers enter her taxi, their presence propels Li Mi into a frenzied chase that involves kidnapping, a suicide, amnesia, mistaken identity and more, all told at a breakneck pace and not always in chronological order. Part action, part comedy, part romance, one will be in for a wild ride with this modern Chinese thriller. (Mandarin with English subtitles) -- Raymond Murray