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Paul Fonoroff

Starring: Lau Ching-wan, Andy On Chi-kit, Gordon Lam Ka-tung, Kelly Lin Hsi-lei
Director: Johnnie To Kei-fung and Wai Ka-fai
Category: III (Cantonese)
This is shaping up as a month of high concept-low content fare. Following the stylised gimmickry of Triangle and the doppelganger dilemmas of Anna & Anna comes an insane ex-cop who sees the multiple personalities residing within others.
A potentially fascinating concept and, in the hands of director Johnnie To Kei-fung, director-scriptwriter Wai Ka-fai, and scriptwriter Au Kin-yee (the trio's first collaboration since the far more satisfying Running on Karma in 2003), a  fast-paced 89-minute romp that's not without a cultish allure. But even the thespian skill of Lau Ching-wan can't overcome the lapses of the  film's internal logic and  its overall inability to convince rather than confuse the viewer.
The four-minute pre-credit sequence sets the stage, as Inspector Bun (Lau)   solves a murder in a manner that makes TV's Monk seem a pillar of normalcy. Bun's oddball brilliance is quickly followed by a moment of madness that shatters  the audience's just-established faith in his powers of judgment.
It's the dichotomy between Bun's prescience and self-destructiveness that the filmmakers never manage to persuasively resolve. This is especially evident in the narrative's central event, in which Bun's help is sought by would-be protege  Ho  (Andy On,  a Chinese-American whose Cantonese dialogue is dubbed by director Soi Cheang Pou-soi). Initially wary of returning to the force, even on an unofficial basis, Bun quickly becomes obsessed with the  disappearance 18 months earlier of the partner of shady policeman Ko (Gordon Lam).  Complications spiral as Bun interacts with figures who may or may not be figments of his imagination, from cops and killers and their 'inner ghosts' (Bun's term for multiple personalities) to a mercurial wife (Kelly Lin)  who may or may not be alive.
These elements are sporadically gripping, but the sketchy nature of their development and lack of elucidation makes it nigh impossible for us to root for Bun or care enough to figure out the intricacies of the attendant crimes and psychoses. The quirky coolness of the co-directors helps mask the  deficits to a certain degree, most notably in the finale shoot-out  reminiscent of Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai (1948). Even though excitingly staged and visually striking, it comes across as an empty flash since the sequence's raison d'etre doesn't make much sense.
The filmmakers try to make a virtue out of the confusion. Bun admits early on that emotion is more important than logic, as if the admission will somehow make the abstraction work. It doesn't. And when matters teeter on the brink of total unbelievability, they have the detective read the viewer's mind by shouting, 'What's going on?' It's a valid question, but one that To and Wai fail to adequately answer.
Mad Detective opens today



Mad Detective