‘Sheep Without a Shepherd’ review: Joan Chen breaks the rules

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials.

When a year of obsessive movie-watching is used against a suspect by a single-minded police squad in the elaborate Chinese thriller “Sheep without a Shepherd,” it’s both amusing (838 films viewed!) and, if this critic is being honest, vaguely disquieting. Will binge-crimes become the new thought-crimes? (Yikes, what does my fascination with ‘70s TV movies say about my actions?)

Then again, Malaysian-Chinese filmmaker Sam Quah’s Thailand-set yarn — a remake of the Indian noir drama “Drishyam” — is ultimately a loopy, stylized celebration of the kinds of byzantine, trap-laden suspensers…