All the Crows in the World 2021

Set in Hong Kong, the film opens with two girls, Shengnan Zhao, [Xuanyu Chen], and her friend Lily, [Liu Zhengyu], sharing bowls of sweet potato soup. The pair quietly observe a married man as he pays for a prostitute, and they begin timing him, placing bets with Lily on how long he will last in bed with her. The mood stays observational, almost clinical, as their casual curiosity pulls us into a world where desire, money, and performance blur together.

A sharp interruption arrives when a man with a megaphone announces that Shengnan’s cousin has invited her to dinner. The tension rises as she moves through the city streets toward the restaurant, feeling followed by three unseen men. In a moment that heightens the unease, she lets out an awkward yell and runs, seeking safety as she nears the familiar restaurant.

Inside, the table is crowded with businessmen, and Shengnan encounters Wang Jianguo, [Xue Baohe], whose stare lingers and then shifts away. Their awkward exchange creates a quiet tension that runs beneath the louder din of the room. The cousin’s introduction to the table becomes a display of empowerment and performance; she sings for the businessmen while Shengnan awkwardly participates, the whole scene turning on a ritual of validation and financial exchange. The men shower Shengnan with red envelopes, a traditional gesture of favor, but Wang Jianguo’s envelope slides onto the rotating center and spins toward her, catching the eye of the group.

The supper club atmosphere intensifies as Mr. Liu, [Ge Wu], the head businessman, leans into a more personal probe. He mentions Shengnan’s virginity and asks about her horoscope, the kind of old-world matchmaking impulse that contrasts with the modern, transactional world surrounding them. Shengnan responds with a candid history of past relationships, explaining that her academics have always come first and that her partners sometimes faltered under pressure. The businessmen laugh off the tension, and a Taoist priest, [Junjie Shi], sits among them, offering a ceremonial blessing that seems to promise luck if the stars align. The moment lands as both absurd and oddly reassuring, a ritual of luck in a room saturated with money and egos.

From the restaurant, the group moves to a space that blends a brothel and a club. The women introduce themselves to the men, playfully calling them “daddies,” while Shengnan sits beside Wang Jianguo to feel a sense of safety in his presence. The energy here is primal and almost animalistic—the men howl like beasts, and Wang Jianguo responds with a more restrained, wolf-like roar, a contrast that hints at deeper undercurrents.

Before the night ends, Shengnan receives a red money packet from her cousin and contemplates offering it to Wang Jianguo, but he declines, sharing something of his own burdens. He reveals life struggles, including a hair transplant, a humanizing detail that makes him more than a caricature of a successful businessman. Shengnan, in turn, offers him money once more, and something about the exchange loosens the edge between them.

A shocking turn unfolds in a parking garage, where Wang Jianguo and Shengnan witness her cousin in a car with a partner, their loud cries and the command to call her “mama” and “grandma” echoing in the space. The moment is electric and disorienting, a stark reminder of the film’s overlapping worlds of desire, family ties, and danger. They flee the scene, a shared breath of fear giving way to a return to their earlier location.

Back at the soup spot where it all began, Shengnan and Lily sit with the remnants of their day. Shengnan senses something like recognition in the air as two men appear to connect, a moment of what could be love at first sight. She discreetly offers money to the man she senses may be the right match, but keeps the exchange tentative, aware of how quickly these moments can unravel. The scene returns to the simple ritual of timing — a quiet, almost clinical habit that began the night — now reframed as a way to measure something more human than luck or fortune.

As the film circles back to its opening image, the threads of curiosity, power, and longing interweave into a larger meditation on how desire moves through a crowded city. The cast and setting create a mosaic of moments where attraction collides with commerce, where people seek meaning in fleeting encounters, and where the ordinary act of sharing soup becomes a stage for a strange, shifting drama. The final impression is both intimate and expansive, a quiet reflection on connection, risk, and the unpredictable paths that follow when two strangers meet, time and again, under bright lights and in the shadow of a bustling city.