[2] The film's literal title, The Pole-Carrier and the Girl, refers to two of the main characters played by Shi Yu and Wang Tong.

The film follows two migrants, Dong Zi and Gao Ping, as they travel through Wuhan's underground and in the process kidnap a nightclub singer.

His friend and roommate Gao Ping (Guo Tao) is from the same home village, but unlike Dong Zi, is older, more cynical, and has fallen into a life of petty crime.

While Wang participated in self-criticisms and networking opportunities in an effort to be allowed to make films again, he was invited to join Tian Zhuangzhuang's production company to begin work on the screenplay of So Close to Paradise, then called The Girl from Vietnam.

[4] As a result of the shift in season, filming of Paradise proved to be far more complicated in terms of logistics than Wang had initially anticipated.

Combined with extensive edits to meet government censor approval and the production of the film stretched on for years.

[5] Reasons for the problems have been speculated to revolve around both the film's gritty depiction of urban life, as well as the fact that a central character is Vietnamese.

Scott, of The New York Times, compared the film's noir qualities to fellow Sixth Generation director Lou Ye's Suzhou River, though he ultimately states that Paradise generally fails to engage the audience.

At the same time, he showers praise on the film's technical aspects, stating that "Mr. Wang's extraordinary sense of color and composition reanimates some of its secondhand attitudes.

"[1] Derek Elley of Variety, generally praising both the cast performances (as "flavorful") and the more technical aspects of the film.

[5] The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, is generally negative in its review, arguing that the film's simplistic noir story lacks proper "execution" leaving it "heavy-handed and lethargic.