Cities of Last Things (2018) review

In a futuristic China - with automated buses! - a man named Zhang Dong-Ling (Jack Kao as an older adult) takes a dive off the top of a building, and then the movie proceeds to move backwards to reveal his life as a police officer (surrounded by corruption), his cheating wife, his relationship with a thief (Louise Grinberg) and his days as a teenager, where he has a chance meeting (in a police station) with a female crime boss.  The presentation is choppy and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and the only reason for using the 'reverse chronology' trick is to lead up to the poignant final sequence (Mom's a badass) ... except that doesn't magically wash away the lousiness that preceded it.  Makes one really appreciate what the splendid Harold Pinter did with his stage play Betrayal....