In fact, the film is so powerful and commanding that it comes as a surprise to learn that Lu is barely forty. Boyish, a bit nerdy-looking, he served in the Chinese army for several years and studied international relations before going to Beijing’s prestigious Film Academy, where, in between learning his craft, he wrote a dissertation on Francis Ford Coppola. Since then, he’s gone on to make three very different movies, from a black comedy about an embattled cop (The Missing Gun), to an ur-western about Tibetan vigilantes (Kekexili: Mountain Patrol), to City of Life and Death. This third movie, which begins a 2-week run at New York’s Film Forum on May 11 and will play in other cities, has taken Lu’s filmmaking to the next level. It’s an important film, an astonishing look into the depths of human brutality, a story that manages to be both dazzlingly clear and admirably complex.
     When I spoke to Lu, he was in the middle of shooting his fourth movie, The Last Supper, a historical epic set during the Qin Dynasty. He graciously took time out of his schedule to discuss making City of Life and Death, and the unexpected controversy that followed its release.