"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Friday, July 24, 2020

A Little TLC(w): Confession of Pain (2006)


I had this Tony Leung Chiu-wai movie on my list of films to see for quite a while, but I needed some time to get my hands on it. While it’s interesting, the jury’s still out on how good I think it actually is. That said, it’s a different sort of role for Leung, one that doesn’t mesh neatly with a lot of other characters he’s played in his career.

When his wealthy fiancee’s father and long-time servant are both brutally murdered, Detective Lau Ching Hei enlists his friend Yau Kin Bong, a former detective turned PI, to investigate the case. The alcoholic Bong’s personal life is a mess, but he’s still very good at what he does, and as he digs into the details of the murder, he starts to uncover a lot more than he bargained for.

This is part noir, part psychological thriller, part character study. There are points where it gets super dramatic and takes itself way too seriously, pulling me out of the story. But there are still good foundations here. Even though the film seems to tip its hand early on re: the mystery, things are more complicated than they seem, and there are some neat twists to be had. Some of the atmospheric stuff is also really well done, especially the unsettling paranoia Susan (Hei’s fiancée) experiences after the murder.

It also has a good cast working for it. I enjoy seeing Shu Qi (J.J. from Seoul Raiders) again as a woman that Bong has an on-again/off-again thing with, and Bong is ably played by Takeshi Kaneshiro. Even if stuff with his character can lean a little too heavily into melodrama, Kaneshiro keeps it from getting too overwrought, and he handles both Bong’s sloppy drunkenness and sharp investigative skills well.

Like I said, Hei is a character you don’t see Leung playing too often. He’s very controlled, which we’ve seen from Leung before (like Mr. Chow in In the Mood for Love or Zhou Yu in Red Cliff,) but for Hei, this precision and control plays out very differently. It’s a cold control, lacking the warmth that Leung usually brings in his quieter roles. It keeps you guessing, as you’re never altogether sure where you stand with Hei.

I’ve seen Leung and Kaneshiro in several films together – the aforementioned Red Cliff, See You Tomorrow, and Chungking Express, although their storylines in the latter are separate. This is another example of them playing well off each other. Although they play close friends here and in See You Tomorrow, and become close friends/allies in Red Cliff, the dynamic is different each time and never looks quite the same.

Recommend?

In General – Maybe. Be forewarned that its opinion of itself is probably too high and it can get overly wrapped up in The Drama!!, but it still has a number of good points.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – I think so. It shows a side of Leung’s acting that we don’t see too often, and he does well with it.

Warnings

Scenes of graphic violence, disturbing images, drinking/smoking, bodily-function stuff, sexual content, and strong thematic elements.

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