Yi Ngoi (Accident) - 2009 Directed by: Pou-Soi Cheang

I love Johnnie To. For my money's worth , he's simply one of the most inventive and brilliant users of cinematic language. His frames are stylish, beautiful creations of a mind who understand and loves the setting and the characters of his films.

I also am a fan of Pou-Soi Cheang. Showing great promise with 'Dog Bite Dog' which was brilliant in representing the brutality of the world in which his characters lived , he once again fell just short of that promise with his next film 'Shamo' which felt patchy and uninvolving.

Now however he has directed what is possibly going to be one of the most important films of his career: 'Yi Ngoi' and it is my belief that his sudden discovery of clear expression has something to do with a certain Mr. To having a hand in as a producer.

The premise of the film is intriguing but at the same very misleading: A four-member assassination unit go about their elaborate murder plans and leave behind fatal ‘accidents’ in their wake. The group’s leader, Brain (Louis Koo), himself traumatised by a previous incident, is not the most trustful of leaders; and after an ill-executed murder results in a loss in his own group, the killer’s growing conviction that he’s being hunted by his professional counterparts leads him to a suspicious insurance officer, Mr Chan (Richie Ren), whom Brain becomes determined to outfox.

Judging by that, it would not be surprising if many audience members would walk into the cinema expecting the same sort of operatic excess that Johnny To so brilliantly does.

But that would be a huge mistake.

You see, in 'Yi Ngoi, Mr. Cheang creates that rarest of beasts: an intelligent thriller that is completely focused on intricate character study.

Brain as played by Louis Koo is a fantastic creation: a lonely man, he spends his day planning, re-planning and further planning each assassination until no detail is left unquestioned. His attitude towards his crew is professional and only professional, in fact although he might not be oldest member of this team, you get the sense that the others fear him to an extent.
As the narrative twists and turns around his efforts to find out just who is taking his team out in even better staged 'accidents', his character becomes more and more unhinged. His loneliness is laid bare at every turn and you feel that his desire to control every aspect of these accident stems from the trauma his life has endured earlier; by never losing control he obviously feels he can stop events from ever affecting him again.
The other members of the cast do a fine job as well: however it is always Koo's film. In a Hong Kong that looks more desolate than usual, he sticks to lonely apartment building and far away rooftops , always watching and observing, always trying to discover a new angle for the other players which he can use to unravel what's happening.
Displaying none of his earlier flash cutting or directing techniques, Cheang quietly explores the psyche of this man and with the help of some clever and timely deus-ex-machina finally answers what Koo suspects all along: that none us can every fully control our fate as there is always someone who can effect the outcome.
Voyeuristic in action and very claustrophobic in terms of its' relationship with its' characters, Yi Ngoi deserves to be hailed as one of the most successful and intriguing films to come out of Hong Kong for a long time.

'Yi Ngoi' does not have a UK release date yet.