Blind Detective

IThe Blind Detective was fairly hard to follow as it jump scene to scene without really giving you a full explanation. We are also exploring multiple cases at once, so sometimes it becomes rather hard to know what case we are talking about. As a result the film becomes a bit convoluted. It is fairly entertaining for what it is (a silly overdramatic Hong Kong comedy]. Andy Lau does give a great performance, not afraid to make himself look wild.

If you want just a silly film with a bit of a mystery, check it out. It's not the worst, it's not the best.

Johnnie To's latest film marks a long-anticipated reunion of Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, the rom-com triad has chalked up magical box-office draw and successes in the Aughts (most victorious ones are LOVE ON A DIET 2001, 7/10 and NEEDING YOU… 2000, 8/10), and after a 9- year-hiatus (since YESTERDAY ONCE MORE 2004, 6/10), this "iron triangle" has notched up an inspiring comeback which ingeniously imbues a lighthearted rom-com into an out-of-left-field detective thriller with an adequate whodunit revelation in the end.

For international territory, Johnnie To is mostly appreciated by his grim and stylized portrayal of Hong Kong's crime and gangster underbellies, a patriarch ruling world of ambitious figures seeking for money, women and power, but his collaboration with Lau and Cheng is a consistent offshoot from To and his own MILKY WAY IMAGE COMPANY's prolific filmography, not to mention is his most popular and profitable ones. So the innovation banks on how To would mingle his trademark darker traits into the audience-friendly couple (Lau and Cheng, indicates their 7th on-screen alliance as lovers), which could allure both To's hardcore fans and a wider general appeal from a maturer demography. Judging by the finished film, the tentative stab is a smart move, BLIND DETECTIVE is on its way of becoming To's most money-earning film in mainland China market (previously the record was just freshly held by To's earlier drug-cartel undercover drama DRUG WAR 2012).

A posh Andy Lau, a former police officer who has been blind in lieu of his negligence of his own health in order to track suspects, teamed with a wealthy policewoman (Cheng), who is obsessed with the disappearance of her friend 20 years ago, together they manage to crack a few unsolved cases while put their own lives in danger. For Lau's method of deducing, if you are familiar with the new series HANNIBAL, imaging oneself at the murder scene and incarnating one's identity as the culprit to visualize what had happened is not new, but the mind-cum-body default (Lau is the mastermind while Cheng is the right-hand woman does all the action labor) works wonder here, with Cheng's ongoing crush on Lau, the pair sparks off a flavorful rib-tickling screwball casualness allies with the horrid cases they are working on, a superb visual stunt comes from the mortuary slaughter, gallows humor galore.

Sammi Cheng is burdened with a great quantity of physical endeavor out of her slim frame, furthermore she is exhorted to deliver her career-best stretches as the film demands, i.e. the myriad avatars of heartbroken female victims, and her comical timing with Lau is another linchpin to the success. Lau, an epicure more than a sleuth, is amiable and emits his deadly debonair all over the devil-may-care script. Among supporting roles, mainland players Tao Guo and Yuanyuan Gao are sidelined only as comic relief, while a cocktail of veteran Hong Kong thespians is shortchanged by the brevity of their presence.

Strictly speaking, the process of disclosing the perpetrators is not as cogent as it seems, the hyperbole of Lau's knack (against his blindness) is sometimes pulling audiences out of the picture a bit, but BLIND DETECTIVE is a paradigm of To and his team's great attempt to concoct a genre-blender which is both entertaining and ruminative, it is an earnest piece of work, a precious gem considering the plight of China's mainstream cinema (potboilers are brimful while the market is rising at an exponential rate), Johnnie To, is the last straw of the once-glorious Hong Kong film industry and he is the trailblazer refuses to compromise or pander for the unique policy-oriented requirements, calling for emulators and successors.

If you like Johnnie To and Chinese cinema, stop reading now and watch this movie! Blind Detective is overt, obtuse, in your face entertainment. The story surrounds one missing persons investigation, but many mysteries are solved during the duration, none of it understated.

Reading the movie's plot summery, even I was slow to finally watch, but I should have known better! No quick description can prepare you for what this movie actually brings to the table. The main character's blindness is captured in a full visual manner, including his interaction with environments, and 'inner eye' sequences by which crimes are solved. The leading lady commissions our hero to help solve a personal mystery, but she is also an energetic detective in training who studies his crime solving process. In ways the story is very predictable, but the fun is in moment to moment details, and the absurdity of how the characters behave. Though Chinese, the loud, exaggerated acting has an almost Japanese flavor.

I can understand why many people would have a hard time with Blind Detective, and would view the experience as contrived. To's movies are very stylized, and like many fans, I love the open admission of film making he brings to the theater. His work is about the medium, like abstract painting, or wood fired ceramic.

There is very little down time with action, humor, intrigue, and lots of eating. Chinese cuisine provides a metaphor for the entire point of this film. Spicy awesome'ness abounds!

Acting and directing is over the top exaggerated, but the camera, sound, and lighting is more subtle and traditional. This combination captures the action perfectly. This is perhaps a Johnnie To signature, and something many western directors can learn from. Film does not have to be all one thing, all one style - mixing stylization in one area, but remaining traditional in another provides juxtaposition and contrast that is a joy as a viewer to behold.

If you have seen To's movies, this is another fantastic entry to his resume. Anyone new to his brand of film making should enter with an open mind, and not allow expectation to ruin the experience. Have fun!

over the top fun 8 out of 10

Directed by Johnny To. Brilliant, hilarious and nerve wracking.

Everything gets thrown into the plot. Blind detective, betrayed by partner, teams up with a young female cop, a missing teenager, serial killers, a jilted woman, an on-screen birth, thrills and spills.

Hong Kong's Sherlock Holms. Depends on empathy rather than deduction.

As sharp as Zatoichi's blade.

Terrific performances by Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng. Strong supporting cast.

I rarely give a rating of 8/10.

This is one movie I can recommend.

This film can't make up its mind if it wants to be a featherweight romantic comedy or a Seven/Silence of the Lambs-style dark thriller.

Without any funny jokes or a credible or even remotely interesting villain it succeeds as neither. Add an unthinkably daft twist ending and you end up with a very confused mess. If it's creepy, it's not in a good way - the creepiness lies in trying to figure out how Johnny To could possibly think it a good idea to put a subplot about a cannibal serial killer of young women in a slapstick romantic comedy.

It's possible something got lost in translation, but I really can't imagine what kind of cultural insight would make this make sense.