The Sparring Partner (2022)

 

An excellent film that contains all the trademarks of Hong Kong cinema at its height (in the past). Quality speaking, I would give this one a four due to the excessive violence at parts, the too-ambitious intention of the filmmakers to cover too much ground (and too many genres) within just one film (which made the film a little bit longer than necessary), or the subpart production value at parts. But since such excellence in filmmaking is really a rarity in Hong Kong cinema nowadays, and also due to the fact that this film pays a lot of very good homage to Hong Kong cinema and television of the past, I am more than happy to give its another half a star. Watching this film really made me longing to the courtroom TV series that once dominated TVB and ATV, or the hilariously graphical horror/lewd Cat-III Hong Kong films featuring well-known actors like Anthony Wong (The Untold Story, Ebola Syndrome, Erotic Nightmare) or Simon Yam (Dr. Lamb) that actually borrowed a lot from ACTUAL notorious crimes/affairs in Hong Kong - a small land that somehow possesses so many psychopaths or criminals with psychopathic acts even until this very day (the very recent murder of the model Abby Choi, whose body was chopped up by her in-laws is shockingly not much different from the crime retold by this film, which itself took "inspiration" from true events decades ago). Even the blending of themes and rapid switch of settings and roles is also a cerebral trademark of Hong Kong cinema (one can only look at Tsui Hark's most recent section in Septet: The Story of Hong Kong to understand such long-lasting influence of this style of filmmaking in Hong Kong). Therefore, I am absolutely not surprised when it was announced that this film totally dominated the nomination list of this year's Hong Kong Film Award (why Septet has no love in this latest edition of the HKFA, though, I have no idea!). I have no doubt that this film will win most, if not all of these HKFA categories that it was nominated. Really, this film not only has a wonderfully written script full of nuances, emotions, revelations, and twist-and-turns (and also an intriguing ending fully open for different interpretations), but such script was delivered extremely well by the very able cast (that does not have a lot of "star power" like many other Hong Kong films these days with better-known cast) that was able to tell the story of each character, and to share with the audience the uncertain feeling of any juror when facing with the decision of what is "right", what is "wrong", what is "just", what is "unjust" without truly knowing the stories and "characters" behind such horrendous crimes like the parricide depicted in this film (coincidentally enough, Louisa So, who played probably the only true "hero" of the film - the lawyer for the "stupid" defendant, was also a major cast in Detective Investigation Files - THE best whodunit/detective series that TVB has ever produced). In fact, this layered film is much more than "just" a good courtroom film (despite its seemingly "superficial" and greasy look), as it is also a "whodunit", a philosophical discourse on the good and the evil (ALL characters, leading or supporting, in this film are very well-crafted and have a lot of nuance to the point that even by the end of the film, one can hardly tell who is good, who is bad, who is villain, who is hero), and even a commentary about the disarray of the Hong Kong society post-1997. Technically speaking, this is also an excellent product thanks to a very distinctive aesthetics, impactful sound design, and many interesting shots that truly highlight the complexity of its sophisticated stories and characters (among them, I particularly like the "confession-style" shot of the exchange between the prosecuting lawyers and the main villain's cousin). A very memorable film, and might be a tiny glimpse of hope for a revival, if any, of Hong Kong cinema, I truly wish.