Year: 2023
Runtime: 144 mins
Language: Chinese
Director: Cao Baoping
A murder case reveals unknown secrets of the killer and the victim.
Warning: spoilers below!
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Read the complete plot breakdown of Across the Furious Sea (2023), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Jin, a dedicated Chinese fishing trawler captain, embarks on a journey to Kyoto after receiving devastating news about his daughter, Nana, played by Zhou Yiran, who is a student at Kyoto University. When Jin arrives, he is overwhelmed with grief and shock upon discovering Nana’s body. An autopsy reveals a brutal and tragic series of events: Nana had been gang-raped and stabbed, though the wounds were not fatal, her injuries led to her death from blood loss. This finding sets off a chain of intense and emotionally charged confrontations. Jin’s anger and desperation lead him to confront Miaomiao, Nana’s boyfriend, played by Zhang Youhao, but Miaomiao manages to escape, fleeing back to China to evade Jin’s fury.
Once in China, Jin dedicates himself to tracking down Miaomiao, who is being hidden by his own mother, Jing Lan, played by Zhou Xun. Jing is portrayed as a cautious and cunning woman, attempting to secure a German visa for Miaomiao while deceiving Jin about her son’s whereabouts. She hides Miaomiao in a safe house to protect him from Jin’s wrath. However, Miaomiao’s attempts to stay hidden are thwarted when he unexpectedly escapes during a cosplay convention. This leads to a tense and chaotic chase between Jin and Miaomiao, culminating in a comical yet tense fall onto an inflatable figurine. Miaomiao then seeks refuge at his father’s mansion, but the situation quickly escalates when Jing locks Jin in the basement of the mansion. In a dramatic turn, Jin manages to escape by setting a fire, and Jin’s resilience and determination are displayed when he is saved from smoke inhalation by Jing during the chaos.
The narrative intensifies with a gripping car chase amidst a fierce storm, where Jing tries to reach the airport in an attempt to meet Miaomiao and keep him safe. The pursuit ends dramatically with a collision that leaves everyone involved incapacitated except Jin. Despite this, Jin kidnaps Miaomiao and refuses to reveal his location, asserting his own terms by bargaining for three days of freedom to attend Nana’s funeral in Kyoto. During the funeral, Jin’s grief transforms into fury as he tracks down and attacks the three students involved in Nana’s assault, either killing or severely injuring them. In a shocking revelation, Jin exposes Miaomiao’s betrayal of Nana, claiming that Miaomiao was responsible for her injuries and ultimately her death. As the story unfolds, Jin returns home to find that Miaomiao is indeed alive but has been chained in a lighthouse, which Jin releases in the final moments.
In the aftermath, Jin is arrested and later convicted for kidnapping and trespassing on the mansion’s grounds, while Miaomiao faces charges for injuring his sister, a result rooted in family resentment and a recent prank gone wrong. Officer Dai, who mishandled the case, also faces consequences. Jin, reflecting on his actions and the tragic events, donates the proceeds from selling his trawler to a charity dedicated to adolescent mental health, seeking some form of redemption. The film ends with a poignant depiction of Jin’s complex and troubled journey through grief, rage, and ultimately, a tentative hope for healing.
Last Updated: August 19, 2025 at 05:15
Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.
Protagonists consumed by loss embark on a morally ambiguous quest for justice.If you were captivated by the raw, desperate quest for revenge in Across the Furious Sea, explore these similar movies. This collection features intense thrillers and dramas where characters, shattered by loss, descend into morally complex journeys of retribution, marked by heavy emotional weight and dark tones.
These stories typically begin with a traumatic, inciting act of violence that shatters the protagonist's world. The central plot is a linear, escalating series of confrontations and investigations as the protagonist single-mindedly pursues the perpetrator. The journey is as much about the protagonist's internal moral decay as it is about external conflict, often culminating in a resolution that offers little pure satisfaction, instead presenting a bittersweet or bleak reckoning.
Movies are grouped here because they share a core narrative engine of grief-driven vengeance. They possess a consistently high intensity, a dark and somber tone, and a heavy emotional weight centered on trauma. The pacing is often steady or fast, propelling the character forward, and the endings are rarely happy, focusing instead on the costly consequences of revenge.
A criminal investigation unravels into a deeper exploration of hidden familial betrayal and guilt.For viewers who appreciated how Across the Furious Sea used a murder case to expose devastating family secrets, this list offers similar movies. Discover tense mysteries and investigative thrillers where solving the crime means confronting painful truths about betrayal, guilt, and the dark side of family bonds.
The narrative pattern involves a straightforward crime that, upon investigation, reveals itself to be deeply intertwined with complex personal histories. The plot unfolds through a steady pace of discovery, with each clue peeling back another layer of deception or hidden trauma within a family unit. The emotional journey is one of suspenseful unraveling, leading to a climax where characters must face the consequences of long-held secrets, often resulting in a somber or bittersweet conclusion.
These films are connected by their shared focus on the intersection of crime and family dysfunction. They generate tension not just from the whodunit aspect, but from the psychological drama of secrets being exposed. The mood is consistently suspenseful and somber, with a moderate narrative complexity that comes from character relationships and hidden pasts, rather than an overly convoluted plot.
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Discover movies like Across the Furious Sea that share similar genres, themes, and storytelling elements. Whether you’re drawn to the atmosphere, character arcs, or plot structure, these curated recommendations will help you explore more films you’ll love.
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