Gong fan

Huang, a bullied student, is going to school when he finds the body of a girl in an alley. Two other boys appear on the place just after he does. One is the bad boy type, the second the brainy type.

After being taken declaration by the police, they find themselves wondering about the dead girl. And soon thereafter, the three boys, who didn't know each other till that moment, form a team in search of the truth behind the death.

Partners in Crime (共犯 in its original title, more like Accomplices) is a very interesting little movie from Taiwan. The mystery is interesting, but more than that, are the relationships between the three students, all from very different backgrounds, as they bond together. Three young guys that would never have talked to each other are brought together by a random event that changes their lives. It is quite clear that the director is more interested in that aspect than in the mystery, which nonetheless, has a couple of nice twists and surprises . The consequence is that, sadly, the tone of the movie shifts too much (bulling, the search for friends, the death of the girl, etc etc) and there a couple of times when this is jarring.

Worth watching. Specially for the three young actors.

I just saw a showing of this film at TIFF yesterday and it's a solid, beautifully shot movie. It seems to excel when it's minimalist soundtrack meets the nicely done slow motion, most often extreme close up shots. This is balanced out with a few light hearted moments to ease the tension as generally it's a dark movie, especially considering it's Taiwanese (generally producing sugary sweet drama type films as of late). Overall, I'd recommend watching it especially since it should be easy to watch for a foreign film since it's going to be distributed by WB. I stayed around for the Q&A and got a picture with the director after the showing and he seems like a nice, talented guy and should be supported.