SYNOPSIS:
In a city of love and prosperity, a city of lost hope and
premature death, veteran detective Hei (TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI)
feels it all: the hurt, the helplessness, the horror. When
his father-in-law, the billionaire benefactor Chau, is gruesomely
murdered in his palatial mansion, he enlists the assistance
of his former partner turned private detective, Bong (TAKESHI
KANESHIRO).
But no sooner has Bong agreed to crack the case with Hei than
he realizes nothing is what it appears to be.
But Bong has his own demon to fight. Ever since the suicide
of his pregnant girlfriend, he has lost his joie de vivre,
even though he still retains the finest instincts of a man
hunter. As he digs deeper and deeper into the case, all evidence
seems to point to Chau’s daughter and Hei’s hysterical
wife, Susan. But then the killer ups the ante by murdering
Susan as well. Bong starts grappling with the suspicion that
the man they hunt is someone very close to them.
Like lost souls in a city of fallen angels, the cop, the private
detective, and the killer are doing what they must. Every
step of their journey takes them closer and closer to one
another, until a shocking denouement in which no stone is
left unturned and no one can escape unscathed.
MOVIE
REVIEW
Let
me put this up front: Confession of Pain is a better movie
than the Oscar-iginal Infernal Affairs. Seriously speaking,
how can we expect the unholy triumvirate of Hong Kong cinema
- director/cinematographer Andrew Lau, director/writer Alan
Mak and writer Felix Chong - to stagnate after three further
collaborations and a Hollywood stint for Andrew?
With this
movie, the trio tried to work some depth and darker material
into a basic cop thriller storyline. Confessions delivered
as much, with spectacular shots of the cityscape adding much
to the narrative. It is not as good a story as Infernal Affairs,
but its production and execution is one of the best among
Hong Kong movies.
The
cast, including the reliable Tony Leung, stylish Takeshi Kaneshiro,
funnyman Chapman To as well as the experienced Xu Jinglei
and Shu Qi basically brought the movie to the next level.
Xu is a scene-stealer with her quiet but engrossing portrayal
of an innocent victim of cross-generational vendetta. Chapman
To astounds with a hushed everyman role so at odds with his
boisterous personality and Tony made me fall in love with
half-rimmed metal spectacles and neatly groomed hair again.
Now I just need to perfect the look-in-the-eyes.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The disc includes a teaser trailer and trailer; a
making-of; and a stills gallery. Now we know Xu Jinglei is
an accomplished director/actor back in China and Takeshi has
no knee ligament. Nothing amazing here – the focus is
the movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Fantastic audio-visual transfer. These guys take pride in
what they are doing.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Lim Mun Pong
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