黑暗压抑的旷野，死亡气息肆意弥漫。在某个屠宰场一般的所在，冰冷的钩子上挂满了人类的大腿和胳膊，有的肢体上被打上了“犯”的烙印。一个女人出卖身体，只为从屠户手中换取给他丈夫救命的大腿肉，但是狡猾的屠户只给了她一只刚被蜈蚣蛀过的手臂。女人背篓中的娃娃呱呱而泣，她担心孩子成为对方的猎物，不敢做更多的逗留，怀抱手臂匆匆向家里赶去。女人气喘吁吁的进了门，他的男人则如同死尸一般僵卧在一根青惨的蜡烛旁边，苟延残喘。帮忙的六嫂拿过手臂，在案板上无情地剁碎，蒸出一锅美味。这是一个人与人相食的黑暗年代，人命毫不值钱，死后的那几斤肉却成为供人果腹的挂念……

故事发生在20世纪80年代初一个春夏之交，刚刚迎来朝阳的清江钢铁厂炼钢车间突发人员坠落事故，一名普通工人当场身亡。在此之后，公安局抓捕了相关责任人进行审讯，然而嫌疑人和证人的证词相互矛盾，在缺少有力证据的情况下，嫌疑人最终无罪释放。与此同时，公安局派出年轻干警严盾继续调查此案。严盾和该厂保卫干事龙晓南是发小，后者又是市委书记的公子。虽然两人有着共患难的交情，但是在这起坠落事故面前龙晓南却似乎隐藏着什么，给严盾的调查设下百般障碍。未过几天，一名知情人在滂沱雨夜遇害，案件愈加扑朔迷离，甚至还牵涉出该厂另一宗鲜为人知的违法事件。真相中就有大白天下的一日……

Passages from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake 1965 16mm film 90minsThis was the first attempt to cinematize the works of Irish author James Joyce. Based more on a stage adaptation by Mary Manning than the Joyce novel itself, the film concentrates on Dublin pubkeeper Finnegan (Martin J. Kelly), who while in the throes of inebriation has a vision of his own death. As the bemused Finnegan lies in his coffin, his friends gather for his wake. The "corpse" tries to cut through the keening and platitudes by probing the innermost thoughts of those closest to him. The surprising aspect of this film is that so much of its difficult text works on screen--a tribute to the loving care of scripter/director/ editor Mary Ellen Bute, who, while preparing this film spent her waking hours picking the brains and burrowing through the resource materials of the James Joyce Society.Although director Mary Ellen Bute’s highly regarded Finnegans Wake (aka Passages from Finnegans Wake) is a unique film that is likely to baffle anyone unfamiliar with James Joyce, it cannot be dismissed merely as a literary exercise. The director was right in claiming that her film was “not a translation of the book but a reaction to it”. It is actually based on a stage play by Mary Manning, who was also responsible for the screenplay. Joyce’s elliptical rhetoric and intricate punning, which might be considered a formidable barrier to the filming of this most opaque of his works, proved to be an attraction to Bute, whose enthusiasm for the ‘visual’ and ‘kinetic’ quality of his language led her to the surprising but well-judged move of running subtitles from the original text to support the dialogue.Visual music pioneer Mary Ellen Bute's final film was also her first feature film. James Joyce's classic story of Irish tavern-keeper who dreams of attending his own wake is brought to the screen with a sparkling energy which highlights its maker's career-long exploration of kinetic abstract animation. Perhaps best described as a 'film poem,' Passages from Finnegans Wake was the first attempt to 'cinematize' the works of James Joyce, featuring the author's highly original language spoken by characters and presented as text on screen.

中世纪的欧洲，某座庄严巍峨的城镇内，夜幕降临，英勇剑客杰瑞带着他那笨手笨脚的小徒弟尼波斯走在空无一人的街道上。突然，杰瑞停下脚步，仔细监听城堡上方某个房间内的谈话。原来城内当晚即将举行盛大的宴会，严厉的长官命令侍卫官汤姆用生命保护桌上的美食，一旦失败他将面临砍头的惩罚。汤姆严阵以待，丝毫不敢懈怠。可是杰瑞早已盯上这桌美食，加上天不怕地不怕的尼波斯制造各种各样的事端，这注定是一个不宁静的夜晚。灯火辉煌的晚宴客厅内，英勇的剑客赌上各自的荣誉和生命展开决战……