Chen Sicheng’s Chamber Piece: A Director Unshackled

Chen Sicheng has built a career on maximalism. From the dizzying Detective Chinatown franchise to the glossy psychological thriller Lost in the Stars, his name has become synonymous with high-concept, high-budget spectacle. Yet Being Towards Death, a small-budget chamber drama set in a terminal ward, is a startling anomaly. It is as if the director, tired of his own formula, has stripped everything back to bare walls and authentic human noise.

Compared to the intricate plotting of Detective Chinatown 1900 or the heavy suspense of Lost in the Stars, this new film feels radically lightweight. There are no car chases, no overseas locations, no murder mystery. Instead, we get a suicidal young man (Jiang Long) finding reluctant purpose among a motley crew of loud, boisterous cancer patients. The shift is seismic. Chen’s usual industrial production gives way to raw, almost vérité observation. The result is flawed but fascinating: a meta-narrative where the patients decide to make a film, allowing Chen to openly mock his own cinematic tics while searching for genuine pathos.

This retreat into a single room aligns Being Towards Death with two rich traditions of Asian cinema. Like Taiwan’s Dear Ex or The Victims’ Game, it sits in the uncomfortable space between comedy and trauma. However, it lacks the meticulous slow-burn atmosphere of Taiwanese auteurs like Chung Mong-hong. Chen is louder, more chaotic, more willing to risk sentimentality.

More interesting is its divergence from Korean chamber dramas such as Breathless or Hope. Korean cinema often weaponises cramped spaces—the gritty rooftop, the claustrophobic gosiwon—to heighten social critique and class rage. Chen’s hospital room feels less like a critique of society and more like a sanctuary from it, a place where death is imminent but life is excessively, almost irrationally, celebrated. Where Korean films might punish you with despair, Chen offers redemption without irony.

The film is not without flaws. Its tonal shifts can feel jarring, and the supporting cast sometimes leans too hard into caricature. Yet Being Towards Death proves Chen Sicheng can be vulnerable without the safety net of special effects. It is messy, sentimental, and surprisingly sincere—a minor work from a major director. Its raw energy and willingness to sit with messy, dying souls makes it the most honest film Chen has ever made. It is not a masterpiece, but it is a necessary rebellion against the soulless logic of the blockbuster. And in that small, cluttered hospital room, Chen finally finds something he has long chased: a heartbeat.

Elven Ho