Writer/director Chen Sicheng is the man behind the box-office juggernaut that is the ‘Detective Chinatown’ series, not to mention recent wartime thriller ‘Decoded’. For his latest effort, Chen tackles what might potentially be his most sensitive subject, namely palliative care and terminal illness.

After his life falls apart when his beloved aunt dies and with debts to loan sharks mounting, listless youth Zhang decides to kill himself. The attempt is thwarted by a cynical nurse and the sudden realisation that, despite everything, he doesn’t want to die. Following his recovery, Zhang is asked to spend time with the members of Room 10, a disparate group of chronically ill patients who are unlikely to survive much longer. As the room has a special connection to him after his aunt was cared for there – and to avoid the loan sharks – Zhang agrees to study the patients and see if hope can actually provide comfort. Zhang is initially ignored by the patients and has to prove his worth, but he soon helps them on their respective journeys, fulfilling final wishes and building a new family in Room 10.

The English title of this film references Heidegger’s assertion that human existence is defined by our inevitable mortality (I won’t pretend that I didn’t look that up). With such a sobering title, you might expect a thoughtful treatise on mortality, but what you get is a familiar story of plucky patients dealing with the unthinkable. The whole theme of one last hurrah before death is not unusual and has been utilised in tear-jerkers, dramas and pitch-black comedies, but it is such an enduring theme that there is no shame in refashioning it for a new audience. The problem is the execution.

Like another film I watched that dealt with emotional issues, ‘Unexpected Family’, ‘Being Towards Death’ is hamstrung by a desire to be ‘wacky’ but still engender enough pathos to hit home. It’s not that humour shouldn’t be included with such subjects – it often adds a layer of humanity to the story when done well – but everything is undermined when it’s so heavy-handed. The first forty minutes are peppered with quick-cut, oddball comedy and mugging for the camera, almost beat-for-beat the way ‘Unexpected Family’ was. Chen Sicheng managed to show a lot more subtlety with ‘Detective Chinatown’ and that was primarily a comedy.

From the jaws of defeat, however, Chen snatches, if not victory, at least a sense of purpose. Despite having spent entirely too much time trying to ignite an uproarious comedy from wet kindling, Chen allows the characters and situations time to develop. All of a sudden, the pathos comes through and instead of appearing to be contrived, ends up being effective. There are a few stand-out scenes, namely the moment a dying director has dinner with his stuck-up contemporaries, and it appears that the makers are now in control. It drifts off into an unnecessary scene where the characters visit a film set, undermining the momentum, but at least the need to make things goofy has long since subsided.

‘Being Towards Death’ is frustrating because there is certainly something there, but it is often suffocated by the makers’ choices.