Film review: Blind Detective has lowbrow moments, but is fun

You ain't seen nothing yet! That's what director-producer Johnnie To Kei-fung seemed intent on telling viewers with this madcap effort, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival's midnight sidebar.

Conceptually, Blind Detective is a companion volume of sorts for To and Milkyway Image co-founder Wai Ka-fai's Mad Detective (2007) in that they both feature unconventionally gifted detectives who use role-playing methods to investigate crimes. In terms of star power, however, it's more in line with Milkyway's first mega-hit Needing You..., not least because it reunites To with the leading luminaries from that 2000 rom-com.

In this film, their first cinematic collaboration since 2004's Yesterday Once More, Sammi Cheng Sau-man plays sharpshooting cop Ho Ka-tung and Andy Lau Tak-wah as a blind private eye whom Ho calls "Chong Sir" (but is referred to in the English subtitles as Johnston).

The two join forces to track down and apprehend a man suspected of acid attacks in Mong Kok.

Filled with admiration for Chong's masterful sleuthing, which is intact despite being forced to retire from the force after losing his eyesight four years before, Ho decides to ask for Chong's help in finding out what happened to a secondary school friend who has been missing for more than a decade.