Infernal Affairs (2002)

Director: Andew Lau

Starring: Andy Lau, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong

A story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.

This first installment in a trilogy is very stylish and well written. The film is presented and photographed in a very unique way. Unfortunately, though, I didn’t find it captivating enough and slow moving.

There’s a lot of trivial moments taking up running time. Romance feels forced in the film, and quite frankly, there’s no room for it in this film. It’s a very clever script, but also very confusing if you don’t follow closely. At times it felt over-dramatized like a TV soapie.

It is a very good film – just not my type of film. As with most crime thrillers, I doubt I’ll remember this for a long time.

‘Infernal Affairs’ won several award including Best Foreign Language Film, Best Sound, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography.

In Cantonese.