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In the East Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai spin genre cinema on its head the same way the Coen Brothers do this side of the globe.
Mad Detective’s closest cracked cousin is Takeshi Kitano’s classic policier Violent Cop, and while To and Wai resist the carnage Kitano painted that movie with, they’re still playing on the right side of extreme.
Detective Ko (Lam) is suspected of committing a spree of violent robberies with his missing partner’s gun. Rising star Inspector Ho (On) recruits one-time genius criminal profiler Bun (Lau) to assist him in proving Ko’s guilt.
But, Ho rues his decision as Bun demonstrates increasingly barnpot behaviour in deducing the crimes, claiming he can observe Ko’s seven different personalities - including a businesswoman acting as the brains, a cowardly overweight tourist as his heart, and gang members as his muscle.
It’s clear no-one's in Kansas anymore, but as Bun’s hunches apparently start bearing fruit, has Ho fallen under the mad detective’s spell?
Short, sharp and shocking, Mad Detective may be a minor To/Wai collaboration but it packs more imagination, humour and heart than an entire roll-call of blockbuster actioners.
First seen hacking up a pig and insisting he be thrown down a stairwell in a suitcase to surmise a killer’s identity, Lau maintains the right balance of wearied experience and wide-eyed wonder as Bun, and even wears a superhero’s costume of sorts in a rumpled suit and white bandage wrapped around his crown.
Taking Lau's lead, On and Lam also provide ambiguous performances, and it’s frequently possible everyone may be hallucinating everyone else.
The investigation often takes a backseat to Bun’s warped imaginings and his relationship with his (imaginary) wife (Lin), plus a not so idyllic one with his actual ex (Lin again).
To’s closest Western cousin is David Fincher, who also brings a comic, nightmarish and smoky feel to his procedural thrillers, while never losing sight of the human story beneath the style.
A final showdown in a hall of mirrors pays homage to Orson Welles’ The Lady From Shanghai and is a perfect climax to a nifty thriller where characters’ various reflections hide the real story.
Rob Daniel
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