The film consists of four loosely interconnected tableaus set in vastly different geographical and social milieus across modern-day China, based on recent events while also drawing from wuxia stories and Chinese opera.

He goes about the village making his intentions to report the officials to the Central Committee in Beijing known, and is alternatingly met with quiet support, indifference, and annoyance.

After passing by a Peking opera rendition of the story of Lin Chong, he retrieves a shotgun from his house and goes to the village accountant, attempting to extract a written confession regarding the chief's misdeeds.

Dahai continues his rampage, shooting a lackey who ridiculed him, the village chief, a man mistreating his horse, and finally Mr. Jiao himself.

Following the New Year celebrations, San'er buys bus tickets for three cities seemingly at random, avoiding his wife's questions.

The source of San'er's income is revealed when he heads into town and methodically guns down a woman and her husband before snatching her handbag.

[4][5] Xiaoyu meets with her lover Youliang, a married man, in Yichang, and gives him an ultimatum to divorce his wife within six months.

On her way back, she witnesses corrupt local officials ordering thugs to beat up a worker who refuses to pay an arbitrarily set-up toll.

That night, as she leaves her shift, Xiaoyu encounters the same officials, who harass and assault her when she refuses to give in to their demands for sex.

The site's consensus states, "Its screenplay isn't as graceful as the choreography of its action sequences, but A Touch of Sin offers enough stylishly satisfying violence to muscle past its rough spots.

"[7] A Touch of Sin was well received at Cannes, with some critics calling its genre elements, including scenes of graphic violence, a stylistic departure from some of Jia's past works, known for quiet realism and surreal visions of contemporary China.

Dennis Lim of the Los Angeles Times notes that although the style may be different, the disturbing themes of the film built on the social criticism in Jia's earlier work.

[8] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised the film saying "it has the urgency of a screaming headline but one inscribed with visual lyricism, emotional weight and a belief in individual rights".