Confession of Pain

Year:2006
Director:Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, Alan Mak Siu-Fai
Cast:Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Xu Jinglei, Shu Qi, Chapman To Man-Chat, Emme Wong Yi-Man, Yueh Hua, Wan Yeung-Ming, Lai Yiu-Cheung, Chan Bo-Yuen, Shaun Tam Chun-Yin, Toby Leung Ching-Kei, Monie Tung Man-Lei
Description:
2006's
most likely Hong Kong Cinema savior has arrived with
Confession of Pain, a new crime drama from
the fellows who brought you those damned Infernal
Affairs movies. When referring to the IA
films as "damned", we're not talking their
quality or reputation, both of which are at insane
sky-high levels. No, what makes the IA movies
so frustrating is their nigh-untouchable position
in HK Cinema history. Aside from arguably saving the
flagging Hong Kong film industry, the IA films
were all commercial and critical successes, and demonstrated
just how powerful and rewarding Hong Kong populist
filmmaking could be. The films can now probably be
considered legendary, such that asking filmmakers
Andrew Lau, Alan Mak, and Felix Chong to ever match
them would be next to impossible. The impossible stays
impossible with Confession of Pain; the film
certainly looks and feels like quality, and possesses
enough attractive elements to warrant a "worth
seeing" classification for Hong Kong Cinema aficionados
anyway. However, there's no other way to say this:
Confession of Pain disappoints.
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
and Takeshi Kaneshiro are the two big men in Felix
Chong and Alan Mak's melancholy and surprisingly uninspired
screenplay. Leung is Hei, a highly-regarded police
detective whose girlfriend Susan is at the focal point of all his worries.
Her father and his personal servant have recently been brutally murdered,
and she's starting to believe someone may be stalking
her. Hei thinks it's just nerves, and has taken to
giving her sedatives to keep her calm. He also makes
his own investigations into her claims, but his actions
go suspiciously unreported. Meanwhile, Susan hires
private investigator Bong to follow
up on her father's murder. A former colleague and
current friend of Hei's, Bong is perpetually drunk,
a state he's been in since former girlfriend Rachel
committed suicide some years ago. Bong
tackles the case along with crappy cop Tsui . Despite some red herrings and more than a few
drinks, Bong slowly moves closer to catching the killer
of Susan's father.
Or not. The identity
of the killer may be shocking to the characters in
the film, but to the audience it's not, because they
give it away early on. With the mystery solved, the
only question that remains is "why". Unfortunately,
we get that answer in the most uninteresting way possible:
verbal exposition, usually foisted upon one character
to another in the form of an accusation, whereupon
the other character basically admits their wrongdoing
and continues on with a few extra tidbits on why doing
bad stuff is justifiable. Confession of Pain
is full of dark and morally murky details, many of
which are actually quite affecting, especially given
the performances. Hei frequently exhibits subtle mannerisms
and portentous gazes, easy stuff for an actor as skilled
and charismatic as Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. Leung has
the unenviable task of playing a potentially unlikeable
cad, but he succeeds in bringing out his character's
complexities and conflicting emotions. Takeshi Kaneshiro
matches Leung, giving Bong tremendous sympathy, despite
occasionally hamming up Bong's drunken stupor. Kaneshiro
has always been an actor who works best when his character's
emotions are naked and tinged with a sense of desperation - which Bong certainly is. It's his story which gives
the film its progression. As Bong moves closer to
the dark heart of the murders, he struggles to cope
with his own darkness and desperation. Felix Chong
and Alan Mak have put admirable effort into creating
these characters. For screenwriting intent, Confession
of Pain musters a strong B-plus.
However, for execution,
Confession of Pain gets a solid C, or perhaps
even worse. The details of Felix Chong and Alan Mak's
screenplay are solid and fleshed-out, but they're
connected poorly to the film's overall story. One
large problem is simply the decision to give away
the killer's identity early. It's likely that they
couldn't have played it any other way, as there are
precious few suspects in the film, but such early
disclosure of the "who" begs a darker, more
devastating "why". That never comes to pass,
as the "why" is well-developed, but ultimately
rather pedestrian. Secrets are revealed, but it's
all in the name of explanation, and not anything deeper
than that. The reliance on after-the-fact exposition
is another big debit, as it gives the audience little
to do besides simply listen to the actors recite the
biggest revelations. Even worse is the fact that the
big discoveries aren't rendered in a cinematic form.
It's usually just Bong sitting in a library with multiple
dissolves and stacks of books indicating that he's
chugging along on his investigation. We would hope
for a little more excitement from Messrs. Lau, Mak,
and Chong, but in a rather uncharacteristic result,
they don't deliver.
The Chinese title of
Confession of Pain translates as "Wounded
City", an accurate description for this motley
group of pained protagonists. We receive an early,
powerful glimpse of this in the film's opening scene,
where Hei brutalizes a rape perpetrator right before
the consenting eyes of his entire police team. In
Confession of Pain, we get that justice is
not easy to attain, and is usually clouded by emotions
or circumstances that are difficult to navigate. The
characters essay this theme nicely through their personal
trials and pained expressions. However, when they
start speaking about their pains, any cinematic experience
grinds to a screeching halt. The film's themes are
frequently expressed in exposition, and only seem
to add extra details to the already detail-heavy plot.
Despite each character's rich backstory, neither Bong
nor Hei possess a particularly illuminating or revelatory
character arc. Worse, the two characters don't connect
very well to one another. They're good friends and
colleagues, but the drama that plays out doesn't seem
to bring them that much closer together or farther
apart. Ultimately, it seems the Bong-Hei relationship
is important only because it's Takeshi Kaneshiro and
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai acting it out. Their relationship
could have been more interesting, and possibly even
dangerous, but ultimately it represents a wasted opportunity
on the filmmakers' part.
Confession of Pain
is probably still worth seeing, especially because
of its insanely quality-heavy pedigree. Andrew Lau
and Alan Mak do give the film some appropriate flashes
of style, and the first half of the film is filled
with promise. Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro bring
acres of screen charisma to their roles, and they
don't neglect to act, either. Xu Jinglei is marvelous,
and delivers the film's most chilling scene, while
Shu Qi and Chapman To are bright spots despite their
questionably necessary roles. Technically, the film
is also quite accomplished, with fine cinematography
and camerawork, an effective score from Chan Kwong-Wing,
and a polished feel that rivals any of those Infernal
Affairs films. In nearly every way, Confession
of Pain seems like it should be an out-and-out
winner, as if all the stars in the Hong Kong Cinema
firmament were aligned to make it happen. However,
whatever promise the film offers is negated by the
disconnected and finally pedestrian execution. Andrew
Lau, Alan Mak and Felix Chong apparently tried very
hard to make Confession of Pain a worthwhile
commercial film, which is a big step up from someone
like Wong Jing, who frequently doesn't even try at
all. But simply trying isn't enough, and the heights
that Confession of Pain falls from are
simply too high to excuse the resulting disappointment.
Frankly, for the ardent Hong Kong Cinema fan, Confession
of Pain's failure is more than just unfortunate.
It could be enough to make a grown man cry.