Mad Detective

When a police officer's service weapon turns up in a string of robberies and killings, and its owner disappears while chasing a suspect, the case lands with Inspector Ho Ka-on. Ho turns for help to his former superior, Chan Kwai Bun, once a brilliant investigator who left the force after a breakdown and now lives in seclusion. Bun claims to see the hidden sides of people, an ability that makes him valuable to the inquiry and unsettling to everyone around him. Together the pair pursue a theory that many of their colleagues reject, one that points to another officer.

Wai Ka-Fai directed and co-wrote the film with Au Kin-Yee, and he produced it with Johnnie To; both are key figures at Milkyway Image, the Hong Kong studio behind it. For Wai the film followed Fantasia, and for To, who also directed, it was the eighteenth of twenty-three features he has directed, coming after Exiled and before Vengeance. Lau Ching-wan plays Bun, with Andy On as Ho, and Lam Ka-tung, Kelly Lin, Karen Lee Choi-Ling and Joseph Lee Kwok-Lun in supporting roles.

Released in late 2007, the film runs ninety-one minutes. It took in about two million dollars worldwide, a modest return for a Hong Kong-France co-production. Audience scores agree on its quality: it holds 7.1 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 8,600 votes and 7.1 out of 10 on TMDB from 227 votes, a consistent result across very different sample sizes.