The Devotion of Suspect X (2017)

There is this saying in Chinese entitled, Ren Suan Bu Ru Tian Suan (Man proposes but God disposes) that came to my mind as soon as I finished watching this movie. Throughout the movie, we see how a man could calculate all he wants and yet there are things or aspects in life that one could not be able to calculate to the dot and in this case especially a person's heart as well as what a person views as valuable/meaningful. I think the story plot was well laid out from beginning, slowly but surely building up to the few possibilities the audience might be able to grasp and catch if they pay enough attention. To me, it would be one of the reason why this movie would worth a rewatching - i.e., to retrace the steps and clues while putting yourself in their shoes. I really like the conversations and interactions between the two main characters, both as genius trying to calculate each other moves. The metaphorical conversations between them were insightful and beautiful for me. In terms of acting, both WangKai and Edward Zhang shine in their respective roles especially Edward in expressing Shi Hong's nonverbals - for someone who appeared emotionless but yet trapped in seas of emotions when fall in too deep in the maze of mind and end goal. I must say though that it did appear somewhat the truth was told in a rush manner - a sudden pick up contrast from the slow laid out from the beginning, which if would have been made more engaging (to match with the tempo set so far between the two MCs) then would be a more digestible solution out of the many solutions up the mountain.

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I have read the novel this movie was based on and one thing is for sure: I HATE how they adapted it.

The only good thing I can say say is that Wang Kai was okay! He definitely got part of the essence of Prof. Yukawa (his original name in the novel). Shi Hong unfortunately did not live to my expectation of his novel counterpart, and I absolutely disliked the extreme woodenness of his character and illogical decision making. How they established Shi Hong and Chen Jing's relationship was also not as well shown as it was in the novel as well. They cut out some great parts from the book, and added things for dramatic purpose which was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY to me.

BOTTOM LINE: PLEASE READ THE BOOK. It is so much better.

PS: I might edit this review when I watch its other adaptations.

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I hadn't been aware that there was a Chinese adaptation of the novel and seriously I'm surprised that this movie somehow slipped my radar lol. But since I was rewatching Perfect Number, I ended up finding out about this movie.

This is a very interesting take of the novel, in which the plot more or less closer to novel but 'Yukawa' is now a professor at a Police University and also a Police Consultant. As much as I had mused what an adaptation of Devotion would be like with the original setting, it was a pretty unique experience to see Professor Tang as a police consultant who also still somewhat well-versed in physics.

In terms of adaptation accuracy, this Chinese one was like a merge of the Japanese and Korean version mixed together. I could see parts that are similar to some scenes in Perfect Number (the circumstances on how the initial murder happen, the extra interactions btw the teacher and single mum, how the math teacher end up having himself be arrested) as well as parts from Suspect X (the mountain climb scene, Ishigami/Shihong's attempt to 'kill' Yukawa/Tang Chuan). I'm also amused that the movie also used a bit of reference from another earlier Galileo plot (murder using a sonic device to cause accidents) to add a different twist in the movie.

Still, of all three movie adaptations, I have to say that this one was the least emotional to me. The lack of Higashino-sensei's touch despite the movie was based on his novel was really telling, the movie did feel like its soul had been missing. The plot, as much as it follows the novel much more closely compared to the original Japanese adaptation, felt like it was moving too fast to really allow you to feel anything for the characters. And it still feel weird seeing a 'Yukawa' who willingly helped in police investigations. I guess you could call it a personal bias, since the biggest emotional impact that I love about the original story was the struggle that Yukawa felt trying to investigate the case on his own while also wanting to protect Ishigami and helping Kusanagi to solve the case. When that important element is gone, it just felt weird.

Nevertheless, this was an okay adaptation. Like I did at one point mused about wanting to see how it'd be like if there's a movie adaptation that follows closely to the novel (without Utsumi), and well... here it is.

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