Johnston (Andy Lau) is the blind detective and Ho Ka Tung (Sammi Cheng) is his side- kick. Due to a case of retina displacement, Johnston is blind but being blind has honed his sixth sense - imagination. He picks up cold police cases which offer monetary rewards to solve. Ka Tung needs his help to solve the mysterious disappearance of her best friend back in 1997. Together they form a cute partnership where Johnston used her to solve his cold cases, while Ka Tung longs for the day the mystery of her missing friend is solved and that Johnston will finally 'see' her.
Earlier this year I have already seen Johnnie To's Drug War. Though excellent, it feels politically sanitized and doesn't quite fit into To's usual oeuvre. Blind Detective is a definite 'welcome back' film from him but sadly it isn't in the gangster vein. It's To doing rom-com again. Lately To's rom-coms are always a miss for me but this one has a detective procedural pulse which I always love.
The last time Johnnie To did a detective genre film was Mad Detective and I totally adored it. The final scene of a guy experimentally placing his gun in different spots still sent a glee to my face. Last week we saw the trailer for Blind Detective and both my wife and I say almost in unison "must see". However there was one moment in the trailer that made us go WTF - Andy Lau driving blind, but more of that in a while.
We love the movie but seriously we are quite biased towards procedurals. The detective portions here work like a charm. We are shown the smoking guns. Then doubts are cast to make us re-think everything. Everything is done right, nothing preposterous, everything is logical and never too much of a stretch. We love the scenes where we are shown the mind space of Johnston where he deconstructs the crime scene, complete with victims 'talking' to him. Brilliantly done. I didn't see Andy Lau in Switch which I heard is a terrible film but his acting here is excellent. I have seen Tony Leung act blind in Silent War and it's very interesting to see two different craft in action. Leung does it serious while Lau does it in a comedic manner. There are some cool stuff that Lau do that entrench his prowess in our consciousness... very clever work. The blind driving part also works remarkably well and never ridiculous because that is exactly how a blind person would drive, plus To uses the sequence to make them confess their feelings.
There is also the rom-com angle which I feel To just managed to pull it off through the palatable chemistry between Lau and Cheng. Cheng as usual acts as the blur one (十三 点) which she always managed to pull off convincingly. Lau and Cheng's partnership is like Hank and Ryan's, a sure win. How Lau and Cheng play off each other is quite funny.
I also love how the tone of the movie can switch from slapstick rom-com to all seriousness within a heartbeat.
Over a dim sum supper, we pulled apart the movie (sometimes these sessions are more fun than the movie ). We didn't like Johnston's unrequited love arc which made the middle act sag. We took that arc out in our heads and it definitely firmed the movie up a lot. We had no doubt why this arc is in there - it features a China actress and it's tailor-in for the China market.
All in all, a nice flick. I love watching movies that entertain and make my mind work. This one does that for us.
Earlier this year I have already seen Johnnie To's Drug War. Though excellent, it feels politically sanitized and doesn't quite fit into To's usual oeuvre. Blind Detective is a definite 'welcome back' film from him but sadly it isn't in the gangster vein. It's To doing rom-com again. Lately To's rom-coms are always a miss for me but this one has a detective procedural pulse which I always love.
The last time Johnnie To did a detective genre film was Mad Detective and I totally adored it. The final scene of a guy experimentally placing his gun in different spots still sent a glee to my face. Last week we saw the trailer for Blind Detective and both my wife and I say almost in unison "must see". However there was one moment in the trailer that made us go WTF - Andy Lau driving blind, but more of that in a while.
We love the movie but seriously we are quite biased towards procedurals. The detective portions here work like a charm. We are shown the smoking guns. Then doubts are cast to make us re-think everything. Everything is done right, nothing preposterous, everything is logical and never too much of a stretch. We love the scenes where we are shown the mind space of Johnston where he deconstructs the crime scene, complete with victims 'talking' to him. Brilliantly done. I didn't see Andy Lau in Switch which I heard is a terrible film but his acting here is excellent. I have seen Tony Leung act blind in Silent War and it's very interesting to see two different craft in action. Leung does it serious while Lau does it in a comedic manner. There are some cool stuff that Lau do that entrench his prowess in our consciousness... very clever work. The blind driving part also works remarkably well and never ridiculous because that is exactly how a blind person would drive, plus To uses the sequence to make them confess their feelings.
There is also the rom-com angle which I feel To just managed to pull it off through the palatable chemistry between Lau and Cheng. Cheng as usual acts as the blur one (十三 点) which she always managed to pull off convincingly. Lau and Cheng's partnership is like Hank and Ryan's, a sure win. How Lau and Cheng play off each other is quite funny.
I also love how the tone of the movie can switch from slapstick rom-com to all seriousness within a heartbeat.
Over a dim sum supper, we pulled apart the movie (sometimes these sessions are more fun than the movie ). We didn't like Johnston's unrequited love arc which made the middle act sag. We took that arc out in our heads and it definitely firmed the movie up a lot. We had no doubt why this arc is in there - it features a China actress and it's tailor-in for the China market.
All in all, a nice flick. I love watching movies that entertain and make my mind work. This one does that for us.