Genre:
Crime
Release Date: 06/19/2008
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: Cantonese
Run Time: 102 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Kino
Hong Kong auteur
Wong Kar-wai makes his feature film debut with this gritty
romantic crime-drama inspired by
Scorsese's
Mean Streets. The film opens with young gangster
Wah (
Andy Lau) getting a visit for the day from his beautiful cousin
Ah-Ngor (
Maggie Cheung), who is coming into Kowloon from the remote outlying Lantau island to receive medical treatment for a lung condition. At first, the short-fused gangster and the quiet country girl have little in common, but gradually the two start to form a bond of sorts. Meanwhile,
Wah's buddy
Fly (
Jacky Cheung), who has an absolutely volcanic temper, is always getting
Wah into hot water. Even though
Wah knows that
Fly is bound to end up dead soon, he stands by his foolhardy friend. After some hesitation,
Wah -- who has fallen for
Ah-Ngor -- visits his cousin on Lantau, hoping to make their relationship more than family.
Fly later infuriates a psychopathic mob boss,
Tony (
Alex Man Chi-leung who, along with his henchmen, beats and degrades
Fly and
Wah. This induces
Fly make amends with
Tony by undertaking the outrageously difficult task of rubbing out an informant who is in the custody of the cops, before the man has the opportunity to testify in a court hearing.
~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide