I make no great secret of my admiration for Taiwanese director Alexi Tan. The man has a simply fantastic eye behind the camera and, in my book, has a fighting chance of becoming one of the leaders of the current wave of Chinese film. Tan has generally been quiet since releasing his feature debut Blood Brothers but he's back and making some noise once again.

Clothing company Diesel are celebrating their thirtieth birthday this year and as part of their celebrations they have commissioned Tan to create a new short film titled xXx: A Forbidden Love Story. Now, don't get the fact that this is sponsored by a clothing company give you the wrong idea. This is not a commercial. Tan retained creative control of the project and says that, in many ways, this is a trial run for his next feature, so what we're seeing here will give a good idea of what to expect from his next major project. He's assembled a very talented group for this one, too, with actors Liu Ye and Gao Yuan Yuan in the leads, Gorillaz and Cibo Matto musician Miho Hattori composing the score, and Oscar winner Tim Yip handling the design work.

Yes, it is rather attractive and you'll find it in the Twitch Player below the break.