Mad Detective
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| Mad Detective | |
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 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Johnnie To Wai Ka-Fai |
| Produced by | Johnnie To Wai Ka-Fai Executive Producer Charles Heung Administrative Producer Tiffany Chen |
| Written by | Wai Ka-Fai Au Kin-Yee |
| Starring | Lau Ching-Wan Andy On Lam Ka-Tung Kelly Lin |
| Music by | Xavier Jamaux |
| Cinematography | Cheng Siu-Keung |
| Editing by | Tina Baz |
| Distributed by |  China Star Entertainment Group China Film Group IFC Films |
| Release date(s) | November 29, 2007 November 29, 2007 September 6, 2007 (Venice Film Festival) September 12, 2007 (Toronto International Film Festival) |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
| Ratings | |
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| Hong Kong: | III |
Mad Detective (Traditional Chinese: 神探 , Simplified Chinese: 神探; Jyutping: Sun taam; Mandarin Pinyin: Shen tan) is a 2007 Hong Kong crime thriller film produced and directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai, and starring Lau Ching-Wan as a police officer, who decides to come out of retirement to help a rookie cop (Andy On) solve a murder case, involving a missing colleague and a suspected cop (Lam Ka-Tung) suffering from a form of multiple personality disorder.
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[edit] Plot
[edit] Outline
Inspector Bun (Lau Ching-Wan) is a brilliant detective who is forced into retirement after presenting his retiring boss with a severed ear. Bun's gift is that he can supposedly see a person's "inner personalities," or hidden ghosts.
Years later, Inspector Ho Ka-On (Andy On) visits Bun in an attempt to break the case of Wong Kwok-Chu (Lee Kwok-Lun), a colleague who went missing when he and his partner, Ko Chi-Wai (Lam Ka-Tung) were in pursuit of a suspect. Wong has been AWOL for 18 months, and his gun has been used in a series of armed robberies.
Bun comes out of retirement and discovers that rather than being one man, Chi-Wai is a seven spirit collective (with each perhaps representing an aspect of the seven deadly sins with the head, or brain, being a business-like woman (Flora Chan). He also discovers that Chi-Wai had his gun stolen by an Indian, so he killed Wong to steal his gun.
When investigating, Bun takes Ho's gun and identification and runs off. Ho continues the investigation and gets assaulted by Chi-Wai, who wants Ho's gun which Ho doesn't have. Bun meets Ho again later on where he sees Ho's inner person, a scared, bewildered, stupid child. Ho attempts to take in Chi-Wai by himself but, upon finding out that Chi-Wai's gun, which was taken from Wong, matched Chi-Wai's gun (Chi-Wai altered his gun's information online), he begins to trust Chi-Wai. Bun then calls Chi-Wai, telling him that after Chi-Wai gets his old gun back again by killing the Indian, he would kill Ho but Ho does not believe Bun.
Chi-Wai and Ho go to a warehouse and find the Indian and Bun shows up as well. Bun tries to warn Ho what will happen, again, but Ho, not believing Bun and believing that Bun is the enemy, calls Bun in order to reveal Bun's position. A shootout occurs, ultimately leading to the Indian and Bun pointing their guns at Chi-Wai and Ho pointing his girlfriend's gun at Bun. Chi-Wai shoots and kills the Indian while Ho shoots Bun. Chi-Wai turns and shoots Ho, as predicted by Bun. Bun, however, begins to limp towards Chi-Wai, who shoots desperately at Bun to try to kill him. Bun ultimately kills Chi-Wai.
Just as Bun dies, he sees Ho's inner personality, the scared boy, being led by a business-like woman, which looks exactly like the woman that led Chi-Wai. Ho then begins to fabricate a story of what happened in the warehouse.
[edit] Cast
- Lau Ching-Wan as Inspector Chan Kwai-Bun
- Andy On as Inspector Ho Ka-On
- Lam Ka-Tung as Officer Ko Chi-Wai
- Kelly Lin as May Cheung
- Lee Kwok-Lun as Officer Wong Kwok-Chu
- Flora Chan
- Lam Suet
- Cheung Siu-Fai
- Eddy Ko
[edit] Production
The film reunites Johnnie To with Wai Ka-Fai, four years after working together on the 2003 film Running on Karma. The producing and directing duo also reunites with actor Lau Ching-Wan after 2002's My Left Eye Sees Ghosts.
The film was written by Wai Ka-Fai and Au Kin-Yee, frequent screenwriters for films made by Milkyway Image.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Category III Rating
Prior to the film's release, Wai Ka-Fai discussed the film's Category III rating (18+ restriction) for the film, saying that the rating was based on one exceptionally violent scene in the movie and since he felt the scene was crucial to the story he and his partner, Johnnie To, refused to delete it in order to get a Category IIB rating. [1]
[edit] Festivals
Mad Detective was screened at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival's Special Presentations, a showcase for daring and artistic films with high-profile stars or directors. It also premiered in Italy at the 64th Venice International Film Festival.
[edit] Awards
Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
- Best Screenplay (Wai Ka-Fai, Au Kin-Yee)
- Best Screenplay (Wai Ka-Fai, Au Kin-Yee)
- Best Screenplay (Wai Ka-Fai, Au Kin-Yee)
[edit] Nominations
- Best Picture
- Best Director (Johnnie To, Wai Ka-Fai)
- Best Actor (Lau Ching-Wan)
- Best Cinematography (Cheng Siu-Keung)
- Best Film Editing (Tina Baz)
- Best Costume and Makeup Design (Stanley Cheung)
- Best Visual Effects (Raymond Man)
[edit] Box Office
Upon its release, Mad Detective faced stiff competition with American blockbusters 30 Days of Night and The Heartbreak Kid. The film was released in Hong Kong on November 29, 2007, making first place and grossing over HK$3.84 million; the film was considered a great success by its Hong Kong distributor China Star Entertainment Group, which took it out on a midsized 30 prints.[2] Finally, it had grossed over HK$10.67 million in Hong Kong, which is a very good result for a movie that received a Category III rating in Hong Kong. [3]
[edit] Distribution
Independent film distributor IFC Films picked up the distribution rights to Mad Detective. The studio plans to distribute the film in theaters and through VOD on the same day as part of their First Take program.[4]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Mad Detective at the Internet Movie Database
- TIFF '07 - Films & Schedules Mad Detective
- Mad Detective: TIFF Review
- Milkyway Image Official Website
- Mad Detective at HongKongCinemagic.com
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