Lost in the Stars (4 Stars)

This is the fourth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

He Fei and his wife Muzi are having a holiday on a small island that belongs to Thailand. They're celebrating their first wedding anniversary. Muzi goes missing. He Fei reports it to the police, but they aren't willing to help. Eventually, after she's been gone for 15 days, he meets Zheng, a Chinese policeman who offers to help. The problem is that he can only stay five more days until his visa expires and he has to leave. But then he wakes up in the morning and there's a woman in his bed who claims to be Muzi. But she isn't. Or at least, he thinks she isn't. He checks the photos on his phone, and they all look like the new woman, not the wife he remembers. Is he going crazy? 

He Fei hires a lawyer called Chen Mai to do detective work for him. Together they travel around the island looking for clues.

It's an intriguing mystery, but the last hour spoils the film. There's a plot twist. Ah ha, so things aren't what they seem. Then there's another plot twist. Then a third. I found this annoying. Plot twists aren't necessary to make a good film, and they definitely shouldn't be overdone.

"Lost in the stars" was released in China last year and has been a huge box office success. It hasn't been released in European cinemas, so we can be glad it was shown at the festival.