A private detective’s work leads him closer and closer to a murder investigation, in Jonathan Li and Chou Man-yu’s modern noir.
Private investigating must not be an easy job – not just the hours and the irregularity of the work, but the pressures of always hiding, peering out from shadows to watch the world. It’s no wonder that there isn’t a private detective in any film that isn’t completely down in the dumps. The same is true for Yip, Louis Koo’s titular investigator (in the Chinese title)
Yip is living in Malaysia with his wife. He is largely unhappy, having gone from hotshot detective in Hong Kong to finding lost pets and cheating spouses. All of a sudden he is given three jobs: a young man called Seo is worried about his missing girlfriend; a gangster (Raymond Wong Ho-yin) has been tasked with finding out about his boss’ girlfriend Betty (Renci Yeung); and a man wants to know what his own girlfriend is up to, believing her to also be unfaithful.
This last one proves difficult, as the girlfriend in question is also Yip’s wife |(Chrissie Chau). With three ongoing investigations and a crumbling marriage, Yip finds himself crossing paths with an ongoing murder case and the detective in charge (Liu Kuan-ting).
Behind the Shadows bucks the trend of films I’ve seen at festivals by being a largely conventional crime thriller. I want to call it basic, but that’s a phrase with so many negative connotations. Behind the Shadows is a film that knows what it is, and it does that well. Honestly, sometimes that’s all I need. The stories are engaging, as is Yip’s personal life. And as a character, he’s got a lot going on.
Yip is dedicated to doing his job, but when he finds Seo’s girlfriend talking to a strange man he is forced to ditch them when one of his subordinates tells him his wife has gone to a hotel with her side-piece. This is one of a few choices he makes that severely derails his entire investigation, and gives Yip a bit more edge and character than a typical by-the-books PI.
Louis Koo does a great job in the role as the dejected, rundown detective, and his interactions with detective Chen Meng make for the great sort of cat-and-mouse tension that Hong Kong crime thrillers have been all about for over twenty years. It’s a film without a great deal of surprises, but the ones it does have (apologies for spoiling the whole wife one) work really well.
Relying on a lot of technical aptitude from its director, editor and cast Behind the Shadows is a solid time if you want to see something that’ll thrill, and stick with you after the credits, like a PI watching you from afar.
Verdict: Safe in both story and execution, Behind the Shadows nevertheless reminds us that sometimes, all we need is a strong premise and cast to carry a film.
Behind the Shadows is screening at this year’s Hong Kong Film Festival
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