Confession of Pain

Aroview: The directorial duo behind INFERNAL AFFAIRS eek out this morose and melancholic policier about two troubled detectives tracking down a killer in humid Hong Kong and Macau.

Each struck down by personal tragedy and guilt, cops Bong (Kaneshiro) and Hei (Leung) reemerge from their slumber three years later in the wake of accusations of murder, and the procedural plays out effectively as the pair pursue a marauding third party in order to prove their innocence. Substituting the gripping momentum of their earlier mega-success for psychologically density and a brooding, sweaty urbanism, the directors can perhaps be excused for treading new territory in spite of the film’s muggy disposition.