Mai fu

It's superficially a nice story, but "Surveillance" doesn't really show Huang Jianxin at his best. It falls awkwardly between his two unique styles - the overt political symbolism and criticism of his early movies, and the sardonic warmth of his later movies - and ends up being a rather flat movie which doesn't genuinely engage the audience.

Huang's wonderful eye for detail sets him above his Chinese contemporaries in almost all his movies: there are some really enjoyable scenes here, but neither the social observation nor the plot are really enough to sustain a whole film.

The plot of this film is disposable, with the mystery part and the melodrama part largely detached. The plot is also much contrived, and lacks credibility in most of the crucial scenes. Of course, I have to admit that Feng Gong is a gifted actor. All in all, this is a loosely constructed and somehow superficial film.

I don't know what is wrong with me, but I don't think this film is a comedy. Sure there are a few funny parts, but not enough to justify allocating it a comedy rating. Having said that, I did really enjoy this movie. It reminded me of the movie Mannekin Pis.