Infernal Affairs

It has been pointed out to me that although I am a movie buff in real life my online persona appears to have failed to carry this enthusiasm over. It is therefore high time I rectified this and I am going to start by giving you my top 10 films, in no particular order as that changes depending on what mood I am in!

Godfather (Part 1 & 2)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Police Story

Fight Club

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Spirited Away

Return of the Dragon (aka Way of the Dragon or Fury of the Dragon)

Rashomon

Airplane

Infernal Affairs

That last one is a new one and brings my top 10 up to half Asian cinema and kicked Pulp Fiction out (really started to date that film). For those of you that don't know Infernal Affairs is a Hong Kong made film starring Andy Lau (who is worshipped like a God over here, and no matter what he thinks can't sing!) and Tony Leung (who you might know from Lust, Caution by Ang Lee). This is a cracking piece of cinematic work and has one of the best storylines I have seen in a movie, with unexpected (but explainable) twists that throw you off guard. 

Tony Leung plays Yan who has been an cop undercover in various Triad gangs for the best part of a decade. He is promised that this is his last assignment and that he will go back to normal life after this. Andy Lau is Inspector Lau, a rising young star in the police force a man who is clearly consumed by ambition to get to the top. Unbeknownst set to his colleagues he was inserted along with others into the police force by a triad boss, the triad boss who Yan now works for. Beyond that I am going to say very little about the plot as it gets very complicated and I would probably give away lots of spoilers.

The highlight for me was Tony Leung's performance as Yan where he carried an air of resignation and whimsy to a character of could have been very one dimensional. Andy Lau was reasonable in his work, I have never been a big fan of his but I thought this was possibly the best thing I had seen him in. The real cinematic joy of this film was in the portrayal of Hong Kong as the flashy neon lit city it is with the element of grit and grime tucked not very far below. As many people who live here will know you only have to scratch lightly to see it.

As an added side note to how good this plot was, this film was remade in Hollywood as the multi award winning The Departed. I will confess to not having seen The Departed yet so I will probably post a comparative review on here once I have done so. I will be surprised however if it lives up to the original.